What is a letter tracing worksheet?

One letter to a page, capital and small on alternating rows, printed as dotted outlines to trace with room to write the letter alone. You pick the letter and the number of rows.

What age is letter tracing for?

Three to five. A preschooler starts with the letters of their own name, in print; cursive letters are for older children.

Which letters should a preschooler learn first?

The first letter of their name, then the rest of the name, then the letters with straight lines (L, T, I, H, E, F) before the curved ones. There is no fixed order beyond that.

The first letter of the child's name, then the rest of the name, then the straight-line letters. Curves come easier after that.

How many rows for a preschooler?

Four. Choose it above the print button; six and eight are for kindergarten and up.

Preschool letter tracing

Preschool letter tracing worksheets

A letter tracing sheet for preschool, for three and four year olds, takes one letter at a time, capital and small on alternate rows, as dotted outlines on penmanship guides with room after each to try the letter alone. Pick the letter above the print button; the child's own initial is the usual first.

Free printable PDF worksheet.

One page for every letter

Each letter has its own page, with its strokes in words, its sounds and, for most letters, a sheet of words that start with it.

The kind of words you'll practice

Trace the letter on each line. Then write it yourself on the rest of the line.

NnEeFfHhWwTtUuPp

Each word appears twice in light gray for tracing, then once as a blank line for writing it without help.

This sheet doesn't change from one print to the next. The same choices always give the same page, so a whole group can work from matching copies.

What's on a preschool sheet

Letter tracing. Trace the letter on each line. Then write it yourself on the rest of the line. 6 rows per page.
Words that start with the letter. Say each picture's name. Listen for the first sound. Then trace the word beside it. 6 questions per page.

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

One letter a day, four rows, and the first copy traced with a finger while you say the strokes. Start with the letters in the child's name and the straight-line letters, L, T, I, H, before the curves. Stop while the hand is still steady.

Watch for: The whole page is one letter on purpose. Ten different letters on a page is a review; one letter, capital and small, six times each, is how a shape gets into the hand. Bottom-up letters look fine and stay slow. Watch where the pencil starts on the first copy of each row, not how the row looks when it is done.

Common questions about preschool letter tracing

What is a letter tracing worksheet?: One letter to a page, capital and small on alternating rows, printed as dotted outlines to trace with room to write the letter alone. You pick the letter and the number of rows.
What age is letter tracing for?: Three to five. A preschooler starts with the letters of their own name, in print; cursive letters are for older children.
Which letters should a preschooler learn first?: The first letter of their name, then the rest of the name, then the letters with straight lines (L, T, I, H, E, F) before the curved ones. There is no fixed order beyond that.
Which letter first?: The first letter of the child's name, then the rest of the name, then the straight-line letters. Curves come easier after that.
How many rows for a preschooler?: Four. Choose it above the print button; six and eight are for kindergarten and up.