How it works
- Type or paste your text. A sentence, this week's spelling words, a poem, a Bible verse or a short story. Long lines wrap onto the next line on their own; press Enter where you want a new line to start.
- Pick the letters. Print for ball and stick letters, D'Nealian for slanted letters with exit tails, or Cursive for joined writing.
- Pick a line size. Extra large and large for pre-K and kindergarten, medium for first grade, small for second grade and up. Smaller lines fit more text on a page.
- Print, save as PDF or download PNG. Longer text runs on to as many pages as it needs, up to 30.
Trace, then copy
Each line of your text is printed in dotted letters to trace, followed by an empty line where the child writes it again without help. That pairing is what makes the practice stick: tracing shows the shape and the stroke order, copying checks that the child can make it alone.
Under More options you can change how many empty lines follow each line (none to three), add a solid example above each traced line, turn the green starting dots on or off, and switch the name and date line at the top.
Ideas for what to type
- Spelling words. Put the week's list on one line; it wraps to fit.
- Sight words in a sentence. "I see the big red dog." reads better than a word list and practices spacing between words. For one word per page, use the sight word tracing worksheets.
- Pangrams. "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every letter of the alphabet, a good weekly check.
- Copywork. A short poem, a quote or a memory verse, a few lines a day.
- Their own sentences. Write down what a child tells you, then let them trace their own words.
To practice one name over and over, the name tracing worksheet generator repeats it across every line, and the whole class page makes one page per student.
Letters drawn the way they are taught
In print and D'Nealian style, the letters are single stroke paths, so the dots sit on the line the pencil should follow rather than around the edge of a fat outline font. Commas, periods, question marks and exclamation marks are drawn the same way. Cursive uses a traditional US cursive font so the letters join.
Not sure which print style your school uses? Compare Zaner-Bloser style and D'Nealian style letters.