How it works
- Pick your letters: the whole alphabet, the vowels, or just this week’s letter.
- Choose capitals, lowercase or both, and a handwriting style.
- Set the size and rows. The sheet on the right updates as you go.
- Download and print. All the letters you picked come out in one PDF.
What’s on each sheet
Every row starts with a model box: the letter in solid ink, a colour picture and its word, like an apple for A and a kite for K. (X shows a fox, as many phonics programmes do, because so few words start with x.) Beside it are three-line handwriting guides with the letter in grey, dotted or hollow outline to trace, and empty space at the end of the row to write it alone. With start dots switched on, the first letter to trace in each row shows a green dot where the pencil starts and a red arrow for the first move.
Teaching letter formation
Start at the top
Almost every print letter starts at the top line or the dashed midline and moves down. Children who learn this early write faster and more neatly later, and it stops habits like drawing an o clockwise from the bottom.
Group letters by how they start
Many teachers introduce letters in families rather than in A to Z order: the “magic c” letters (c, a, d, g, o, q) all start with the same curve, and the down-stroke letters (l, i, t) are the easiest of all. Pick a family with the letter tiles.
Say it while they write
Talk through the strokes out loud (“start at the top, pull down, lift, cross”) and have children say the letter’s sound and the example word.
Curriculum links in England
- ReceptionThe Writing goal asks for recognisable letters, most of them formed correctly, and Word Reading asks for a sound for every letter.
- Year 1Pupils start and finish lower-case letters in the right place, form capitals, and practise letters in handwriting “families” formed the same way.
- AlphabetYear 1 spelling includes naming the letters of the alphabet in order.
The DfE reading framework asks Reception teachers to teach the correct start and exit point of each letter without lead-in strokes from the line, and notes that many schools leave joined writing until later. The 2025 writing framework adds that joining should wait until print letters are formed correctly and consistently.
That makes Print with start dots a safe default for Reception. The Pre-cursive option adds lead-out flicks rather than lead-ins, so it suits schools whose handwriting scheme uses them. The letter families on this page match the Year 1 idea of practising letters that are formed in a similar way.
Summarised in our own words from the EYFS statutory framework, the National Curriculum in England: English programmes of study, and the DfE reading framework and writing framework.
