Handwriting and tracingPre-K and K
Number tracing 0 to 20
Twenty-one lines, one for each number from 0 to 20, with a dark model number followed by grey copies to trace. It is for preschool and kindergarten children learning to write numerals.
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On this page
What prints
The title is "Number Tracing 0 to 20". Below the Name line, a short instruction asks the child to say each number out loud and trace it across the line. There are 21 lines in all, one for 0, one for 1, and so on up to 20. On each line the first number is dark, and the copies after it are light grey to write over.
Two-digit numbers like 14 and 20 print as a pair of digits close together, so the child learns that they are written side by side and start from the left. Each line has a thin top line, a dashed middle line and a darker baseline, and all digits stand between the top line and the baseline.
The numerals are plain Helvetica, drawn in grey. Some digits, such as 1, 4 and 7, are shaped a little differently from the way a teacher writes them on a board, so show your child the stroke path before they begin.
The settings
- Practice. Set to "Numbers 0 to 20". The Letters, Name and Sentences boxes do not apply here.
- Line size. The page opens on Large (pre-K and K), with seven lines to a page and three pages for the whole range. Medium (grades 1 to 2) prints ten lines to a page, and Small (grades 3 and up) fits 14.
There is no answer key, since the numbers are the answer. Tracing is a handwriting task, and nothing in the sheet is scored.
Using the sheet well
Do not start at zero and push on until you reach twenty. Choose a short range, say 0 to 5 on the first day, and tie each numeral to a quantity. Hold up that many fingers or lay out blocks, count them, then trace the number. The sheet practices writing, and counting objects teaches what the number means, so the two together work better than either one alone.
Look at the digits that children turn around most often: 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9. A backward 3 or 5 at this age is normal. Praise the count, and then practice the shape on a whiteboard with a big arm movement.
Say the number as the child traces. For 13 to 19 the spoken name comes in a different order from the written one ("fourteen" starts with the four), which confuses many children. Slowly say "one, four, fourteen" as the two digits are traced.
Worked example: a week for a five-year-old
A parent prints all three pages and tapes them to a clipboard. On Monday, Leo does 0, 1, 2 and 3. For each one, he first builds the number from toy cars, then traces the dark model with his finger, then traces the grey copies, and writes one on his own at the end of the line.
By Thursday he reaches 10. The parent points out that 10 has a 1 and a 0, and that the 1 is the same one from the first line. On Friday Leo does 11 and 12 and then stops, because he is tired. The remaining lines wait until next week.
For counting practice that matches, try counting worksheets. For letters, use the uppercase letter tracing page.