Last Updated on June 3, 2023 by Editorial Team
Letters written and arranged in a logical sequence make a language, isn’t’ it? Reading and writing difficulties associated with the letters can pose hindrances in the attainment of language proficiency. So, it is important to cover every aspect of language development in its entirety. In the present world of technology-driven solutions, language development is not being done through handwriting sheets and practice books only. There are online and offline games available for the purpose. These games are providing support for learning basic activities like tracing letters or alphabets, reading and identifying numbers, and others.
Best advantages of letter tracing games based activities
Educators employ tracing games and activities as a positive reinforcement tool to build interest in early writing learners or those born with writing difficulties.
Also, the letter tracing activity develops the brain to start learning to write.
Easy engagement achieved by the enticing graphics and use of real-life situations as backdrop in games drives better interest in practice, which is very important for attaining proficiency in reading and writing skills.
So, look no further than below, if the idea of using letter tracing games has turned your curiosity button on.
We’ve curated a list of 7 skillful online letter tracing games and apps for little learners to develop handwriting skills in passive time.
7 Skillful online letter tracing games and apps for early learners
1. Alphabet Tracing Game
It is an exceptionally engaging online game for driving kids’ interest in letter tracing activity. Kids are asked to choose the color of their choice.
With the simple act of pointing and dragging the cursor, kids can trace on the dots to create the letter. There is an eraser provided, too, if the kids want to rectify their errors and achieve perfection. The kids improve their motor skills, learn how to align the stroke to the shape of the letter, and also get knowledge of letter and color recognition.
Game Link: Web App
2. Letter & Number Tracing
This game can rightly be called the digitized form of letter and number tracing books and practice sheets designed for teaching tracing to kids. There is a digital prompt provided that guides children on the starting and ending points of strokes required to make a letter.
The prompt guides you to repeat if the stroke is not near to the shown dotted lines. Thus, the kids learn to attain better stability and alignment to the line. Students have reported a considerable improvement in the legibility of the letters after they practiced regularly on this game.
This tracing game is for letters as well as numbers and comes with an enriched menu, allowing you to pick themes or learning options like uppercase letter tracing, lowercase letter tracing, and so on.
Game Link: Web App
3. ABC Kids – Tracing & Phonics
This online alphabet tracing game is designed for both kids and adults. When you want to learn the shape, sound, and strokes required to understand the letter formation, this game serves the need the best. You can do letter tracing, pairing phonics and matching letters, and a lot more in this game.
This game’s smart interface keeps the child engaged in tracing activity and allows making the most of the game time in learning rather than struggling with features.
Game Link: App Store | Playstore
4. Numbers, ABC, and Spelling Tracing
Up next is a totally free app by Crawling Babies. It is an all-in-one app through which kids can learn letter tracing, number tracing, and word tracing. A set of arrows highlights the directions in which the hand must move to draw the letter or number. As kids complete tracing a letter, the respective letter sound is played so as to provide a complete learning experience.
New learners can start with the basics of letter tracing and later move on to word tracing. Regular practice on this fun letter and number tracing app can help kids learn to write and recognize numbers, letters, and common words in no time. Install this app on your phone or tablet and let your kid make the most of their screen time.
Game Link: Playstore
5. My Melody ABC Tracing
My Melody ABC tracing is available to play online; you can download it for playing offline as well. This game teaches kids to draw in a very engaging manner. The strokes are designed in a pre-defined manner by putting some engaging figures like mushrooms or flowers at the starting point and endpoint.
The next stroke is available to draw only when both points are met perfectly. Thus, the game is designed to bring perfection in drawing letters activity among children who have just started with a pencil-paper writing activity.
Game Link: Web App
6. Tracing Letters & Numbers – ABC Kids Games
Make letter tracing truly painless for kids with this interactive online letter tracing game app. Designed to offer writing practice for letters, numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and letters from different languages, this gaming app is a delight-filled initiative for using technology in preliminary education.
Kids can log on to this game wherever they want and catch-up with their daily dose of letter tracing practice. Scorecards, different difficulty levels, and surprises allure the users to this game repeatedly, which is imperative for reinforcing the concept of handwriting by driving kids to try their hands-on practicing more and quite often.
Game Link: Playstore
7. Write Lowercase Letters – Alphabet Game
The lowercase letter writing game from Turtle Diary spots a special focus on the small letter writing practice. After learning capital letters, kids realize the need for lowercase letters more often than the uppercase ones. Thus, they feel overwhelmed by the thought of learning letters in lowercase right from scratch.
This game relaxes the kids by providing efficient practice by bringing in the fun factor in the learning and practicing process. They also support interactive audio to learn to sound out the letter while tracing it in this letter tracing game.
Game Link: Web App
How can letter tracing games boost writing skills?
Letter tracing games for early learners act as a primer on which the users develop the writing skills. However, its role is not entirely supported by researchers. Some research claims its impact slows down the learning process; others call it a redundant activity that, in fact, takes away the attention from actual letter writing activity.
Still, if we weigh the pros against the cons, the pros outnumber the cons definitely. Listed here are some of the benefits that letter tracing helps boost the skills of writing:
- According to the paper titled ‘The Effects of Tracing Prompts and Discrimination Training on Kindergarten Handwriting Performance‘ by Edward Hirsch and Fred C. Niedermeyer, published in The Journal of Educational Research, the letter tracing supports gradual learning, which reinforces the concept of handwriting in the minds of early learners strongly. The authors suggest that letter tracing can start from mere copying; then kids can graduate to trace bold lines, followed by faded dots, ultimately asking to write without the support of dots. Thus, this process prepares the mind well for writing letters independently and confidently.
- The tracing games allow children to learn stroke directions that help in forming legible letters. Since the children are given help in the form of arrows, they show significant improvement in writing letters as they can produce the correct shape by learning strokes.
- Lays a strong foundation of learning graphemes that are crucial for developing writing skills. (Turnbull et al., 2010)
- Tracing games employ kids’ tendency to copy and to compete to build writing skills in them.
Wrapping up,
Letter tracing games online are truly responsive to the needs of early handwriting learners. These games are designed to encourage teachers and parents to use technology to improve the learning levels of the child. With the help of props, graphics, and sounds, the child gets a completely engaging environment for learning that helps to amplify the concentration and interest in the letter tracing activity.
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,