Tracing Letters & Shapes with Toothpicks

Fine Motor
Literacy & ABCsPreschoolersKindergartnersTracing
Writing Activities6 Comments

I cannot take credit for this toothpick tracing idea. A fellow huddler, Tabitha, shared a photo of her son tracing in The Huddle. I thought the idea was fantastic and did it with my boys as well.

Originally, I prepped the paper to trace for Louis, my three year old. I thought this would be a great way for him to learn shapes and a few letters.

Of course, my preschooler, George, jumped at the chance to do an activity though. He knew the shapes and letters, so it wasn’t too much of a learning experience for him.

I prepped the paper by grabbing a few toothpicks, and using one as a guide to how long to make each line on the paper.

Some letters needed to be two toothpicks long to make the rest of it work.

George then traced the letter by laying the toothpicks on the lines to form a letter.

It’s a fantastic pre-writing exercise and great for fine motor control!

I also made shapes for Louis. A triangle, square and a long rectangle.

Louis had a hard time placing the toothpicks on. He always bumped the paper and they moved. I taped the paper down on the corners to help, but by this time, he lost interest and just wanted to play with the toothpicks.

More fine motor activities like this:

• Triple the Name Tracing Fun
• Find & Erase the Matching Shapes
• Practice Name Writing in 12 Fun Ways for Preschoolers