G is the first letter many children meet that drops below the line, and that tail is where most of the practice goes. These free printable letter G worksheets cover capital G and lowercase g for preschool and kindergarten writers.
Writing capital G and lowercase g
Capital G starts as a capital C: the same curve, beginning at the top right and travelling left and round to the bottom. Where C stops, G adds a short horizontal shelf that turns in towards the middle of the letter. Children who have already learned C pick up G quickly, which is a good reason to teach them close together.
Lowercase g begins with a small c as well, then takes a straight line down the right-hand side that continues below the baseline and hooks to the left. The descender is the part that needs attention: it should drop below the line by roughly the height of the round part, and hook, not curl into a loop. A g with no descender reads as an a, and a g whose tail sits on the line looks cramped.
Letters that live below the line
G belongs to a small group of lowercase letters with descenders, alongside j, p, q and y. It is worth naming this group for a child, because the idea of a letter hanging below the writing line is new and a little strange. Lined paper with a clear baseline makes the concept visible, and the letter G tracing pages show where the tail should stop.
Children also notice that printed books often show a different g, with a closed loop underneath instead of a hook. Both are correct. Nobody is expected to write the printed version by hand, and saying so avoids a child thinking their own letter is wrong.
Hard G and soft G
Like c, g has two sounds. The hard g in goat, go and bag is taught first. The soft g in giraffe, gem and giant sounds like a j. The pattern is similar to c as well: g is often soft before e, i and y, and hard elsewhere, though g breaks this rule more often than c does, in words such as get and girl.
Hard g words for early practice: goat, girl, gum, game, gate, gift, green, grass. Hold the soft g words back until the hard sound is automatic, and use the beginning sounds worksheets if a child needs more help hearing which sound a word begins with.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far below the line should the tail of g go?
About as far below the baseline as the round part of the letter sits above it. On standard lined paper that means reaching towards the next line down without touching it. Paper with a dotted descender guide makes this much easier to judge.
Why does the g in books look different from the one we write?
Printed type often uses a two-storey g with a closed loop below, a shape that comes from typesetting rather than handwriting. The handwritten g with a simple hook is the standard taught in schools, and children are not expected to copy the printed form.
Which g sound should come first?
The hard g, as in goat. It covers most early reading words. Introduce the soft g later, and expect some exceptions, since g follows the soft rule less reliably than c does.
My child writes g like an a. What should I change?
The missing piece is the descender. Practise on paper with a line below the baseline and ask the child to take the tail down to it every time. Saying round, down, hook while writing gives the hand a rhythm to follow.
