Is H a good first letter?

Yes, for a child who is still learning to hold a pencil. It is three straight lines, no curves, so the hand can focus on starting at the top and stopping on the line.

Which words can come up on the H words sheet?

Six of these eight, in a new mix each print: hat, house, horse, hand, hook, hut, ham and hammer.

How do I explain the h sound?

Breathe out on your hand with your mouth open, h, and have your child copy you. Adding a vowel, huh, is the most common mistake, and it makes blending hat harder later.

Letter H worksheets for preschool, free printable PDF

Letter H worksheets

Letter H tracing worksheet for preschool, capital and small letter on penmanship guides — The picture follows the options you pick. Tap to see another version.

Letter H worksheets for ages three to five, at preschool or in the first year of kindergarten. One sheet has capital H and small h as dotted outlines on alternate rows. The other shows six pictures, a hat or a horse, with words to trace.

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 words you'll trace

Say each picture's name. Listen for the first sound. Then trace the word beside it.

hat
house
horse
hand
hook
hut
ham
hammer

Every picture's name starts with the letter's sound, and beside it the word is printed as a dotted outline on a writing guide. The key page writes the words out in ink.

These are every picture the sheet has for this letter. Each print takes 6 of the 8, so the next sheet is a different mix.

What's on each 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 of the 8 words, a new mix every time you print.

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

Every other letter prints from one form on Preschool letter tracing.

How to teach this

Capital H is all straight lines, so it is a good early letter. Pull a line down from the top on the left, then a second line down on the right, then join them with a line across the middle. Small h is a tall line down from the top, then back up to the middle line and over in a hump that comes down to the bottom line. Say: down, up, over, down. The h sound is only breath, like fogging a mirror, h, not huh. Hold your child's hand in front of their mouth so they feel the air when they say hat.

Watch for: Small h and small n look alike. The difference is the tall line: h starts at the top line, n starts at the middle. Run a finger up the stick before tracing. A line across that floats near the top, or slants, makes H hard to read. It goes straight across the middle, touching both tall lines.

Common questions about letter H

Is H a good first letter?: Yes, for a child who is still learning to hold a pencil. It is three straight lines, no curves, so the hand can focus on starting at the top and stopping on the line.
Which words can come up on the H words sheet?: Six of these eight, in a new mix each print: hat, house, horse, hand, hook, hut, ham and hammer.
How do I explain the h sound?: Breathe out on your hand with your mouth open, h, and have your child copy you. Adding a vowel, huh, is the most common mistake, and it makes blending hat harder later.