Tracing Worksheets
A tracing page that also gives a child something to look at. Every sheet prints landscape with a huge hollow number or letter on one side, dashed guides waiting inside it, and a drawing on the other side that says what the number means.
2 collections ·
Drawn and checked by 
Iris Calder
Most tracing sheets are a wall of grey dotted characters, five to a line, twelve lines deep. Children finish the first line, lose interest somewhere in the second and the rest of the page goes in the bin. The problem is not the tracing. The problem is that there is nothing on the paper worth returning to.
These sheets are built the other way round. The character is drawn once, hollow and as big as the paper allows, with the tracing guides tucked inside its body so a child works down the shape instead of across a grid. Then the other half of the page carries a drawing, and the drawing is doing real teaching: three ducklings next to a three, one sun next to an S. The picture is the answer key and the reward at the same time.
The only words on these pages are a small grey caption along the bottom edge. No instruction line, no name box, nothing a child has to read first. That keeps the paper quiet enough for a four year old to work on, and the caption prints in the language of the page you downloaded it from.
What age are tracing worksheets for?
Roughly three to six. A three year old will follow the dashes inside the big shape and count the pictures out loud with help. A five year old will trace the guides, then write the character freehand in the empty space that is left. Same sheet, two different jobs.
Common questions
Should we start with letters or numbers?
Start with the letters of your child's own name; they are the ones a child most wants to learn. Then alternate with numbers while you count the pictures together. Both sets live in this category: letter tracing and number tracing.
What should my child trace with?
At three or four, a chunky triangular pencil or a crayon, which small hands grip better. At five or six, a normal pencil. The dashes inside each big character follow real handwriting stroke order, so encourage your child to start where the dashes start.
Do the sheets come in Spanish?
Yes. Every sheet has its own Spanish PDF with its caption in Spanish, and the alphabet includes the letter Ñ. Download them from the Spanish version of each page; the language switcher is in the footer of every page.
Can I laminate a sheet and reuse it?
Yes. Slip a sheet into a plastic pocket or laminate it, and your child can trace with a dry-erase marker again and again. And if a page gets scribbled past saving, printing a fresh copy costs nothing.
Can my school print these for a whole class?
Yes, classroom use is free: full class sets, homework folders, writing corners. What you cannot do is sell the sheets or re-upload them to another website; the details are on our licensing policy page.