Time: 10-15 minutes per worksheet

Age: 3-6

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In our house, we are currently navigating how to get our almost-4-year-old to comfortably hold a pencil so she can start practicing writing.

Honestly, it hasn’t been the greatest.

It’s pretty obvious that she’s uncomfortable and trying to figure out how to make that mind to muscle connection instead of just gripping it like a cave person and scribbling everywhere.

She picked up writing her name pretty quickly (her shortened name, which is only three letters and two of them are the same…ha) but basically has no interest in learning to write anything else.

Most of that reason is because she gets frustrated when she tries to copy a letter (or trace one) and it doesn’t come out of her hand automatically. She’s fumbling her way through figuring out how to make the curves and lines of the letters and has a hard time keeping the pencil still and controlled. For every good one she does, she gets about 4-5 really rough ones and, as we know all too well, toddlers have less patience than a mama who has asked her kids to get their shoes on three times and everyone still has sock feet. IYKYK. They want that instant gratification, so it’s tough to get them to focus and practice something when they don’t get it on the first try.

Enter: Line tracing. After looking at a few resources online, someone suggested doing some line tracing to help her learn to control the pencil so that she will have an easier time writing letters.

She already loves mazes, so giving her these to do was a big hit. Hopefully your little one will like them too!

There are five here we have used and enjoyed. As usual, feel free to download the PDF versions so you can print them out for yourself. Or, if you prefer a link, you can access each one on my Canva account, still totally free to you.

Click to access the Puppy Line Tracing Activity here on Canva.

Click to access the Bug Tracing Worksheet here on Canva.

Click to access the Construction Tracing Worksheet here on Canva.

Click to access the Vehicle Tracing Worksheet here on Canva.

Click to access the Shapes & Lines Tracing Worksheet here on Canva.

These are just a few that I have used with Viv to help her gain some control over gripping a pencil. If you have a Canva account you can do a search for line tracing activities and take your pick. There are lots to choose from! If you do not have a Canva account, did you know they have a free version? All you have to do is download the app and select the free option. Even though it is a bit more limiting than Canva Pro, there are still plenty of resources to use, again, totally free to you.

Hope you found these helpful for you and your little ones!