A tracing font is a unique type of font characterized by dashed lines or dots. It’s a fantastic tool for helping individuals learn how to write, and its versatility makes it a favourite among various groups.
Here’s who can benefit from these fonts:
- Kids: They’re perfect for youngsters just starting their writing journey.
- Teachers and Parents: These fonts can transform learning into a fun and engaging experience.
- Designers: Tracing fonts can help create unique printable products for sale.
- Bloggers: They’re excellent for sharing interactive tracing activities on websites.
- Language Learners: Whether you’re a child or an adult, if you’re learning a new language with a different alphabet, these fonts are incredibly helpful.
And here’s a little insider tip: most of these fonts aren’t exclusive to Canva (except for two). So, if you’re on the lookout for traceable fonts, you’re not just limited to Canva – you can find and download these fonts elsewhere too!
Table of Contents:
Pre-Cursive Tracing Fonts on Canva
Pre-cursive writing is when kids start forming letters but don’t link them yet. It’s important because:
- Cursive Prep: It’s a stepping stone for learning cursive writing later.
- Easy Start: Pre-cursive letters are simpler and less intimidating for kids to learn than cursive.
- Brain Boost: It helps improve kids’ memory, focus, and logical thinking, just like cursive writing does.
Neal
Neal is a charming dotted cursive font, steeped in the simplicity of the D’Nealian method. Its design makes it an ideal choice for crafting worksheets aimed at preschoolers just beginning to familiarize themselves with letters and numbers.
Here’s a tip from my experience: When you’re creating tracing worksheets with Neal, remember to adjust the font size to a minimum of 60 pt. This will ensure the tracing lines are clearly visible, making the learning experience smoother for your little learners.
Font designer: Teresa Knezek
Canva Student Font Dotte
While there isn’t any official documentation available for the Canva Student Font Dotte, its name gives us a clue. Likely developed by the creative team at Canva, this font seems purpose-built for crafting worksheets with ease right within the Canva platform.
The Canva Student Font Dotte is a delightful, easy-to-read handwritten dotted font. It’s got everything a teacher could ask for: uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, and all other keyboard symbols.
Cursive Tracing Fonts on Canva
Though cursive writing may be falling out of favor generation by generation, it certainly holds its own unique advantages:
- Better Motor Skills: Cursive’s fluid style helps kids improve their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
- Less Letter Mix-Up: Cursive’s unique letter shapes can help kids who confuse or reverse letters in print.
- Quick Writing: Once learned, cursive is usually faster than print because it’s a smooth, continuous style.
UKIJ Elipbe Chekitilk
This is the only cursive tracing font I’ve managed to find on Canva. UKIJ Elipbe Chekitilk is straightforward and easy to read, acting as an ideal aid for learners getting to grips with cursive writing and the art of connecting one letter to the next.
The font is comprehensive, equipped with both lowercase and uppercase letters from the Latin alphabet, and it even includes the Cyrillic alphabet for good measure.
Font designer: Tursunjan Sultan
Print Tracing Fonts
Printing is key for kids’ handwriting. Here’s why print tracing fonts are great:
- Letter Learning: Kids write what they see in books, helping them read and understand letters.
- Easy and Fun: Print writing is simple to learn, keeping kids excited and eager.
- Universal Use: Print is used everywhere, from books to signs. It helps kids understand their world.
- Building Skills: Good print writing is a stepping stone to learn cursive and typing.
Trace
Trace is a beautifully simple tracing font, rooted in the D’Nealian method. It’s meticulously crafted to be a perfect companion for preschoolers who are just starting out on their handwriting journey.
Main characteristics:
- Free font on Canva
- Traceable dashed line font
- Includes upper- and lowercase letters, numbers and punctuation
- Multilingual support for Latin characters
Design tip: When you’re setting up tracing worksheets using the Trace font, remember to amp up the font size to a minimum of 60 pt. This will ensure the tracing lines stand out clearly.
Font designer: Teresa Knezek
Raleway Dots
Raleway Dots is a dotted version of Raleway font. It isn’t classified as a tracing font (it is originally created as a display font for posters and headlines) but I decided to add it to the list as it could perfectly work for creating hand lettering sheets for adults and why not kids? It’s clean, modern and readable.
Main characteristics:
- Free font on Canva
- Dotted Font
- Includes upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation and basically all keyboard symbols
- Multilingual support for Latin characters
Designed by Matt McInerney, Pablo Impallari, Rodrigo Fuenzalida, Brenda Gallo. Published by Google Fonts.
Kg Primary Dots
Kg Primary Dots is one of the most beloved free tracing fonts out there, and for good reason. This gem was created by the gifted font designer Kimberly Geswein, specifically with the goal of teaching handwriting to kids in mind.
The beauty of Kg Primary Dots lies in its simplicity – it’s incredibly easy to trace. But what makes it truly stand out is its versatility. All of Kimberly’s fonts, and I’ll introduce you to a few more shortly, are designed to work seamlessly on any device – be it a desktop, smartphone, or tablet. Kg Primary Dots is freely available on Canva, but if you wish to use it in other programs like Word or PowerPoint, you can easily download it from other platforms.
Main characteristics:
- Free font on Canva
- Traceable dotted font with lines
- Includes upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation and other keyboard symbols
- Multilingual support for Latin characters
Font Designer: Kimberly Geswein
Kg Primary Dots Lined
Kg Primary Dots Lined is not just a variation of the Kg Primary Dots font (see the description above), but it’s also a fantastic learning tool. Its design cleverly incorporates lines to guide young learners in understanding the spatial relationships of letters – a crucial aspect of early handwriting development.
This font is distinguished by its ability to simplify the creation of learning worksheets, taking the legwork out of designing a clear, concise structure for budding writers.
Main characteristics:
- Free font on Canva
- Traceable dotted font with lines
- Includes upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation and other keyboard symbols
- Multilingual support for Latin characters
Design tip: first provide examples with the font, typing out the letters or words for learners to observe. Then, by using the “Space” key, create blank lines, providing space for students to practice their writing independently. This method encourages self-reliance while ensuring learners have a clear model to follow.
Font Designer: Kimberly Geswein
KG Primary Penmanship Lined
KG Primary Penmanship Lined is a sturdy rendition of the tracing fonts we’ve been discussing. Its solid lines provide a different approach to penmanship, offering another tool in the handwriting teaching toolbox.
Main characteristics:
- Free font on Canva
- Solid line font with lines
- Includes upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation and other keyboard symbols
- Multilingual support for Latin characters
Design tip: While this isn’t a tracing font in the traditional sense, you can certainly transform it if that suits your needs. By simply reducing the text transparency to around 20-50%, you create a faint outline that’s perfect for tracing.
Remember, versatility is key in teaching tools. With a bit of creativity, you can adjust and repurpose resources like KG Primary Penmanship Lined to fit your unique teaching style and meet your students’ individual learning needs.
Font Designer: Kimberly Geswein
Hollywood
Hollywood is a standout all-caps dotted font that you can find exclusively on Canva. I did my homework and searched high and low for more information about this font, but it appears to be a unique offering from Canva.
Though Hollywood is technically a dotted display font, I firmly believe it holds its own as a tracing font as well. That’s why it’s earned its spot on this list. It’s clear, it’s modern and very easy to read. This font would work perfectly for hand lettering worksheets for adults or children.
Main characteristics:
- Free font on Canva
- Traceable all caps dotted font
- Includes uppercase letters, numbers, punctuation and other keyboard symbols
- Multilingual support for Latin characters
Layiji คัดลายมือ
Layiji คัดลายมือ is a tracing font from the family of Thai typefaces. This versatile font also includes Latin letters, making it a truly multicultural asset. It features both uppercase and lowercase Latin letters, along with numbers and punctuation marks.
A few design tips when using this font:
- When using Layiji คัดลายมือ, remember to set your font size to at least 36 pt. Any smaller, and the dots start to disappear, diminishing the font’s traceability.
- Personally, I find this font a tad dark for tracing purposes. If you share this sentiment and prefer this font over others on the list, try reducing the transparency. This will give the font a lighter appearance, making it more conducive to tracing.
Font designer: Numchoke Sinmongkolraksa
That wraps up all the traceable fonts currently available on Canva. Keep an eye on this article, as I’ll be sure to update it whenever new fonts are added to Canva’s impressive font library.
Whether you’re teaching, designing, blogging, or learning a new language, tracing fonts are your secret ally. They’re simple, effective, and versatile – a true win for everyone!
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