Trace Lowercase Letter d

On d the ring comes first and the tall line second. The model's one start dot is tucked just under the middle line, on the right of the ring, with an arrow sending the pencil back to the left. From there the pencil goes up and over, touches the middle line and travels all the way around to the dot again. Staying on the paper, it climbs to the top line, then comes straight back down the same line to the baseline and out in a flick.

Starting with the ring is what separates d from b. A child who begins d with the tall line is making the first move of b, and the round part tends to land on the wrong side. Plain print d stops on the baseline, and this one finishes with a flick to the right, the way a does.

For d words, try dog, duck and door. "Ring first, then climb" is worth saying out loud for every d on the page. A d that comes out looking like an a is only a line that stopped early. Point to the top line and ask for a taller one.