Today I’m sharing a free alphabet tracing book, perfect for kids who are struggling to learn letter names.
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If you have students who struggle to remember their alphabet, this post is for you!
I’m sharing a printable alphabet tracing book, a free sample from my collection of Alphabet Games & Activities. It’s perfect for three types of children:
1- Young learners who struggle to remember their letters
2- English language learners who need to learn the alphabet quickly to catch up with their peers
3- Preschoolers who know their alphabet but need help with letter formation
I created the book for my three-year-old. She knows all of her uppercase letters and at least half of her lowercase letters by sight – but she’s developed her own way of writing letters.
I’m thrilled that she loves to write letters on her own, even though we haven’t done any formal handwriting practice. The above picture is a computer she made out of a pizza box. Those letters in circles are the keys. 🙂
However, I’m realizing that the more she writes those letters her own way, the harder it’s going to be to teach her correct letter formation.
She’s not ready for worksheets. What’s a mama to do?
The alphabet tracing book is my answer!
It’s a collection of cards with an uppercase letter, lowercase letter, and picture cue on each one. Each letter has a green dot to show the child where to begin tracing.
You’ll also notice that each letter has arrows to show you how to correctly form the letter. When I say you, I mean the adult. I don’t expect my toddler or even an older child to know how to follow those arrows to write the letter. But you can use them as a reference when showing your learner how to form the letter.
As you can see, I recommend that you hold the child’s hand as s/he is learning to form the letters correctly.
You’ll probably find that your learners don’t need guidance with some of the easier letters, like this one.
Here’s a good procedure to follow:
1 – Have the child trace each letter with a finger. Remind him/her to start at the green dot and go down (or around, depending on the letter). If necessary, hold the child’s hand for proper letter formation.
2 – Next, have the child point to each item on the card and name it. For this card, my daughter said, “G g, guitar.”
If you’re doing these with a preschooler, as I am, you can expect that they will not have the stamina to go through the entire book. After letter H, my daughter told me that she’d had enough.
Other teaching tips
- Make sure you laminate the cards and put them on a ring for durability and ease of use.
- If you’re doing the cards in a classroom setting, have a tutor or aide work with the learner to do the entire stack at least once a day.
- If a learner knows fewer than ten letters, start small. Have him/her trace only the letters in his/her name and the letters s/he knows for a month before doing the entire stack.
- If your focus is letter recognition, have your learners use their finger and not a dry erase marker. It’s the tactile experience that helps learners remember the letter names.
If you’d like to learn more about the letter tracing book, you can read about it in Jan Richardson’s book, The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading. She’s been using alphabet tracing books for twenty years and has some great data to show how well they work!
Get your free alphabet tracing cards!
GET MORE ALPHABET ACTIVITIES
Alphabet Games & Activities
$18.00
Get the full bundle of activities with letter tracing and play dough mats, editable games, and much more!
MEMBERS GET MORE!
Members of The Measured Mom Plus get access to even more printables – plus helpful video trainings and no-print resources! Not a member yet? Learn more here.
WATCH THE MEMBER WORKSHOP
In this 16-minute workshop, you will get quick, powerful strategies for helping children of different ages remember letters of the alphabet.
The training also includes the following printables:
- Editable letter sorting activity
- Play dough mats
- Name & dot it pages
- Editable letter game
- Letter name assessment
- Alphabet intervention book
Not a member yet? Learn more here.
Free Alphabet Printables
Join our email list and get this free sample of alphabet activities from our membership site! Students will practice identifying and forming letters, matching upper to lowercase, and identifying beginning sounds.
This resource could not have come at a better time! Thank you so much! I am currently reading Jan Richardson’s book (which is wonderful!) and trying to pull together the best resources to meet the differing needs of my kindergarteners. I googled alphabet tracing books tonight and did not find what I was hoping for. Then, your email with this resource arrived a few hours later… perfect timing! Thanks again for creating such awesome resources!
I love that! So glad you can use these, Jessica!
thank you very much Ma’am…you’re such a blessing to many mom out there 🙂 God bless you more 🙂
Thank you Anna it’s of great help
Thanks so much for sharing!!!
Do you have your abc books in Black and white?
Hi Devon!
This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. This resources is not available in black and white. We do have a wonderful alphabet bundle that includes many black and white activities. It’s available in Anna’s shop at this link: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/product/alphabet-games-activities/
All the best in your teaching!
Thank You so much for this – I have a few children that will really benefit from this….
As you say it is much easier to start from scratch before they get into bad habits..
Thanks again for your time and effort!
I’m so glad you can use them, Fiona!
Thank you for your wonderful resources and especially for providing so many free ones! I love the resources that have actual photos!
As a grandmother, with 2 4yr old grands that come for “play dates” once a week, I so appreciate that I can use so many of your resources to make our time fun, educational, and memorable without breaking the bank! May God abundantly bless you and your family.
Thank you so much, Janet!
These look great but would like the J with the top line off.
Thank you for the feedback, but I won’t be modifying this free printable.
Thank you seems so small for all you’ve done but it is MUCH appreciated.
You’re very welcome, Dominique! Thank you so much for the kind words!
Thank you for this! I am a kindergarten teacher and read about tracing books last year (and started them then). This year I will be starting them earlier, and I like how your tracing books shows the correct letter formation, making it easier for parent volunteers or 5th grade helpers to use with the students.
You’re very welcome, Jennifer! I hope you find many helpful resources on my site.
Hello,
I speak frensh ! It’s that possible to have your work for change the picture with frensh words ?
I’m sorry, Laure, but due to limits on my time I only provide my resources in English.
Thank you so much for these. They are going to be a wonderful addition to activities in my classroom. My students will benefit greatly by these. Your pictures are fantastic.
You’re very welcome, Nancy! Thank you so much for the kind words!
Thank you very much for these!! I am a reading teacher and have been helping the kindergarten teachers with students that are really behind. This will help me to show those students how to make each letter. It will also be a great resource for those that need a reminder on how to write the letter!
You’re very welcome, Kim! I hope my resources work well for you and your students.
Thank you so much. I have started with a small homeschool and this will help me alot.
You’re very welcome, Valery!
Thank you for your amazing resources. I am a Teacher Aide and its always good to have something up my sleeve in case students require extra work. I am also gathering some resources for next year when i work with a special needs student. These resources (play based and games) are perfect.
Thank you
You’re very welcome, Natalie! I hope you find many helpful resources on my site.
This a great resource! Thank you!
You’re very welcome, Virginia!
I printed them off to use with my 4-year old at home for his preschool. This is perfect! Just what I was looking for! He’s not ready yet to write his letters with a pen, but tracing activities and writing letters in salt are perfect. Thanks!
You’re very welcome, Erica! I’m glad it works for your son!
Thank you for sharing. I will be able to use this. Very soon!
You’re welcome, Doris!
can not download
I would need more details to know how to help you.
Anna!
Hi, I am also a teacher and want to say thanks to you for sharing such great resources for parents and teachers. I created a separate folder with ‘The measured mom’ at my PC desktop because I use your printable for my early year classes.
Keep it up with your great effort!!
You are so amazing. I have been searching for resources and games to make learning fun with my preschool class and every time I find something I want on Pinterest, it brings me right back here to your site! I need to remember to come here first and skip Pinterest all together because you have EVERYTHING! Your printables are beautiful and the fact that most things are free makes me love you even more. Thank you so much for your time and talents. I hope you are receiving blessings from heaven- because you are a blessing to me!
Wow…thank you for sharing these great resources for free!
You’re welcome, Abby!
muy buen material gracias ……
You’re very welcome, Angela!
Hi Anna, I really like many of the resources you make. They are useful, bright and with simple design. I would like to download the Alphabet Tracing Book for upper and lower-case letter writing. However, I wondered if you could alter the upper and lower-case ‘Yy’. We use SA Font and teach the letter to have a rounded body and tail and the lower-case to (have its tummy) sit on the line. TIA!
Unfortunately, I can’t. I used purchased clip art for the letters, and I had to use what came with the set.
How can I get the traceable books and cards? I’m not seeing a link. Would love to get these for my niece to start her writing
There’s a green box that says “to get your free printable, click here.”
Hi, Anna! You are a heaven sent! This site is such a big help for struggling moms like me, who do not know where to start and how to start! I’ve learned a lot from this site. Keep it up! Thank you so much!
I’m glad you like this!
thank you so much im really enjoying the abc tracing book the kids love it!
You’re welcome, Sarah!
Hello,
First I’d like to thank you for all the wonderful stuff you have on your site…I can’t tell you how much it’s been helpful teaching my kids as well as our homeschooling co-op.
secondly, would it be possible to have the same file but each letter on a separate page? I would like to have the printout back to back so I can laminate it (lamination will separate if page if folded – even with glue)
Thank you so much!
Yasmin
I’m sorry, that isn’t something I can make time for right now. Thanks for understanding!
What a brilliant resource. Thank you.
You’re very welcome, Ila!
where can I get the resources? where’s the link ?
Click on the big green button that says “Click here to get your free printable”.
What’s happening when you click on the green button, Jessie? You should see a pop up where you enter your information, and then you will get the file in your inbox.
Hi Anna,
I am having the same issue. I would love these, but everytime I click and then enter my information, it jumps to an ad for another one of your wonderful collections and says to check my email. It has not come in an email and does not appear in your resources that come with the passcode. I have also tried your troubleshooting techniques, but it has not worked since it is a subscription link. If there is another way to get these I would truly appreciate them. Thank you for your hard work.
-Anna
Hi Anna!
This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. I’m sorry you’re having trouble, and thank you for describing it so clearly. I just tested it with my yahoo address and it worked. So I think you should check your gmail spam folder. Gmail is great at weeding out spam, so that could be where it went. If that doesn’t work, I would try a different email address. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Hi Kim!
This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. I just tested this with my own email address, and it worked. After you enter your email address, you’ll be sent the email right away. In the email, click on the blue link that says, “CLAIM YOUR OFFER.” Enjoy your free file!
I cannot download too. I put my email but not worked. The link you have sent me is also not reached here again to download. I prefer the previous that you just give the direct link to download. Thanks.
Hi, where is the link to download the trace book please?
Hello Ying!
This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. There is a green box that says, “CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE PRINTABLE.” The box is under the blog post, but before the comments section. 🙂
Thanks for the great resource
Just wondering why you chose a fox for the letter X?
Or is it a animal that looks like a fox but starts with the letter X? I’m confused 🙂
Could you change it to a image of a xylophone?
The book can also be used to teach letter sounds, which is why I used “fox” for x. Since there aren’t really any words (unless you count X-ray, which isn’t a great example) which have the /ks/ sound of x at the beginning, I use words with x at the end.
Thank you very much
I have been a fan of your site for several years. I needed more resources to teach my 6 year old handwriting and you do not disappoint. Thank you for such wonderful resources and for making them free. I thank you as a mom of four homeschooled special-needs children. Thank you!
Thanks so much for your kind comment, Kayla! :))
Dear Kate,
I got the alphabet tracing resource after a minute, I love the resource so much. Thanks for sharing the resource
I want this alphabet tracing so much
But I can’t download this resource 🙁
Hi Momo!
This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. I tried the link, and it was quite slow, but still worked after about 30 seconds. That felt like a really long time, but I still got the file. Please give it another try. Some files on Anna’s site take a bit longer to load, but usually after one or two minutes, they always work. I’m sorry some are slow! It feels like it’s never going to load…but I promise, the file is there. Let us know if you still have trouble!
Hello, I love this resource but I cannot print it. Is there another way it can be sent?
Hi Natalie,
This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. What happens when you click the green download box? If you can’t click on it, you need to disable your adblocker. If you click it, please be patient as it sometimes can take a minute to load (which feels like a very time on a website!) You can also try using Google Chrome for your browser; this site works best that way. Thanks for giving it another try!
I click on the link that says “click here to print” and it pulls it up, but then it never prints out.
Hi Natalie,
You need to download the file and open in Adobe Reader. Then print it from within Adobe Reader. If you don’t have the latest version of this free file on your computer already, you can get it for free here: https://get.adobe.com/reader/ Hope this helps!
These are awesome! I just thought that you might want to know that your photo of an iguana is actually a bearded dragon. 🙂
oops, I meant to post this under your alphabet cards…
Hello Anna, l am super excited for the letters tracing resource. God bless you for sharing your efforts with us.
Thanks a lotttt! You are so kind to share such a useful document!
Do you still have the file with elephant for e? Or would it be possible to switch to egg? Having a person with a nametag saying Ed can be very difficult for ESL learners. If not I understand thank you for the wonderful resource.
In my new Alphabet Activities and Games bundle I included both options. At some point I may add that option back to the free set, but I don’t currently have time to do that. 🙂 Here’s the full bundle if you’d like to see what’s included! https://www.themeasuredmom.com/product/alphabet-games-activities/
Hi Anna,
I do not have a green box that allows me to download the tracing book. Please help 🙂 This looks like a fabulous resource.
Sorry about that! You can download the file now. 🙂
I had the same issue – the green box that says “to get your free printable, click here” that Anna was referring to just didn’t seem to exist on my screen (on multiple devices), so I ended up looking up an old cached version of the website, and alas, the green box appeared. Thank you for sharing this great resource, Anna. I really appreciate it!
I actually JUST updated the post with the freebie in our new style. You can do a hard refresh if you want to see the new page. 🙂