Early learning
Letter Z Tracing Worksheet
Printable tracing practice for capital Z and lowercase z, on proper writing lines with dots showing where the pencil starts. Z is for zebra, zip, zoo. Print it straight away or save it as a PDF.
Four steps
How to practise the letter Z
- 1
Say the stroke aloud
Line across the top, slant down to the left, line across the bottom.
- 2
Trace the guided row
Start on the dot each time, not wherever is nearest.
- 3
Try the blank row
The second row has no guide, so the child writes it unaided.
- 4
Finish with a word
Trace zebra to connect the letter to its sound.
Writing capital Z and lowercase z
Capital Z. Line across the top, slant down to the left, line across the bottom.
Lowercase z. The same zigzag, smaller.
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
Z is reversed almost as often as s. The first stroke always goes left to right.
The sound Z makes
A buzz, like s with the voice on, as in zebra.
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 zebra, zip, zoo, zigzag.
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
Lowercase z: The same zigzag, smaller.