Trace Cursive Letters
Pick a letter and trace it with your finger, a stylus or the mouse. Start on the green dot and follow the arrow. If something goes wrong, the board says what: the wrong starting point, the wrong direction, or a line that left the letter.
Put your finger, stylus or mouse on the green dot and follow the arrow without lifting.
0 of 52 letters traced on this device.
Stuck on a? The cursive a page breaks it into numbered steps and has a printable sheet.
What the board checks
Your line is compared with the same pen path the letter pages animate, one stroke at a time. It is forgiving on purpose: a fingertip on glass is much wider than a pencil point.
Where you start
The line has to begin near the green dot. That is the one habit that decides whether the letter can join the next one.
Which way you go
Your line has to follow the letter in order. Drawing an oval clockwise, or a loop from the wrong end, does not count even if it covers the shape.
Staying on the letter
Most of the line has to stay on the grey letter. A line that doesn’t pass stays on the board, faded, so you can see where it went.
Letters with more than one stroke — the dot on i and j, the crossbar on t, the second stroke of x, and capitals such as F, H and T — are checked stroke by stroke, and a new green dot appears for each.
An order to trace them in
A to Z is not the easiest route. Grouped by the stroke they start with, each letter reuses a movement from the one before:
- i u w t — the undercurve and exit tail that almost every other letter reuses
- e l b h k f — the same undercurve grown tall — loops for all but k, which has a plain stem
- a c d g o q — the oval, drawn anticlockwise from the midline
- n m v x y z — the overcurve hump
- r s j p — the odd ones out — save them for last
The beginner’s guide explains the four strokes behind these groups.
Finger, stylus or mouse
- A stylus is the closest thing to a pencil. Rest your hand on the screen the way you would on paper.
- A finger is fine for learning where a letter goes. Use the pad, not the nail, and go slowly on loops.
- A mouse is the hardest: hold the button down for the whole stroke, and expect curves to come out wobbly. The check allows for it.
Then take it to paper
A screen can check the path, but it cannot feel how hard you press or keep your letters the same size along a line. Once a letter passes here, write it on ruled paper: every letter page has a one-page sheet, the alphabet worksheets cover all 26 at once, and the worksheet generator rules any words you type.
Tracing questions
Is it free, and does it need an account?
Yes, and no. All 26 lowercase letters and all 26 capitals can be traced as often as you like, with nothing to sign up for or install. The ticks on the letter buttons are kept in your own browser, not on a server.
Why does it say I started in the wrong place?
Every cursive letter has a starting point, and starting somewhere else usually means the letter is drawn the wrong way round — which is exactly what makes the join into the next letter go wrong. The green dot marks it, and there is some room around the dot: you do not have to hit it exactly.
Does it work on a phone or tablet?
Yes. The board takes touch, a stylus or a mouse. While your finger is on the board the page does not scroll, so scroll from outside the board.
Is this the cursive my school teaches?
It is a traditional looped cursive. A few letters — Q, G, Z, F, I and T among them — look noticeably different in older handwriting, and each of those letter pages shows the older Palmer Method form beside this one. If your school uses its own model, follow the school's shape for those letters.
Can it check my handwriting on paper?
No. The board checks the path: where you start, which way you go and whether you stay on the letter. Size, slant and how evenly you write are things to check on paper, against the printed sheets.