How to Get Your Toddler Interested in Tracing

By the Print and Learn team · 4 min read

Most three-year-olds are not ready to sit and trace for long, and that is completely normal. The goal at this age is to build hand strength and enjoy making marks, not neat handwriting.

Start with the hand, not the paper

• Play dough, tearing paper and picking up beads all build the small muscles a child needs to hold a pencil.
• Chunky crayons are easier to grip than thin pencils.

Keep it short

Five minutes is plenty. Stop while your child is still having fun, so they want to come back tomorrow.

Make it about them

Trace the first letter of their name, or a number that is their age. Children try harder when the work is about them.

Our Trace 1 to 5 sheet is a good place to start.