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Early learning

Letter C Tracing Worksheet

Printable tracing practice for capital C and lowercase c, on proper writing lines with dots showing where the pencil starts. C is for cat, cup, car. Print it straight away or save it as a PDF.

Capital CLowercase cStarting dotsPDF · SVG
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Four steps

How to practise the letter C

  1. 1

    Say the stroke aloud

    Start near the top, curve back and around like a crescent moon.

  2. 2

    Trace the guided row

    Start on the dot each time, not wherever is nearest.

  3. 3

    Try the blank row

    The second row has no guide, so the child writes it unaided.

  4. 4

    Finish with a word

    Trace cat to connect the letter to its sound.

Writing capital C and lowercase c

Capital C. Start near the top, curve back and around like a crescent moon.

Lowercase c. The same curve, only smaller and sitting on the line.

Say the instruction out loud while the child writes. A spoken cue is what a preschooler can actually follow, and it builds the habit of starting the stroke in the right place, which matters more than how tidy the first attempts look.

The mix-up to watch for

C is the parent shape of a, d, g, o and q, so it is worth mastering early.

The sound C makes

Usually a hard k sound as in cat, but soft like s before e, i and y.

Pair the shape with the sound from the start. Tracing the letter while saying its sound links handwriting to phonics, so the practice does double duty. Words worth using here are cat, cup, car, caterpillar.

Where this fits

Work through the whole alphabet in whatever order suits, then move on to the name tracing worksheet, which uses the same writing lines for a child's own name. When guide letters are no longer needed, handwriting paper gives the same rulings blank.

Answers

Frequently asked questions

Capital C: Start near the top, curve back and around like a crescent moon.
Lowercase c: The same curve, only smaller and sitting on the line.

Usually a hard k sound as in cat, but soft like s before e, i and y.

Good first words for tracing practice are cat, cup, car, caterpillar. Short words with familiar meanings work best, because the point of the exercise is the letter shape rather than the reading.

C is the parent shape of a, d, g, o and q, so it is worth mastering early.

Yes. The line height goes from 12 mm to 32 mm. Younger children need the taller settings, because a bigger letter needs less fine control. Drop the height as the hand steadies.

Practise the rest of the alphabet

Every letter from A to Z has its own sheet, with the stroke instructions and beginning-sound words that go with it.