Animal Tracing Worksheets

Free Printable Animal Tracing Worksheets

Animal names are some of the first words children want to read and write, because every word comes with a picture they already know. This worksheet gives each animal its own line: cat, dog, pig, hen, cow and more, with dotted letters to trace and three-line guides to write on.

Page one has ten short, easy animals (cat to fish). Use the Quick layout buttons to print all 20 words on one page (smaller letters) or on two pages (bigger letters). Edit the list to match your lesson, for example by adding rabbit, camel or zebra. The words are in lowercase because they are common nouns, but you can type capital letters if you prefer them.

Activities to Go With the Worksheet

Make the animal sound as you say each word: moo, oink, quack. Turn on Show animal pictures to print a simple outline of each animal beside its name, ready to color. After tracing a word, draw the animal beside it, or glue a small picture of the animal next to its name. Sorting the words into farm animals and wild animals is another easy game.

Short words such as cat, dog, pig and hen are great for early spelling because they are easy to sound out. Start with those, then move on to longer words like horse, sheep and mouse.

Spelling Patterns in Animal Words

Many animal names are short and easy to sound out, such as cat, dog, pig and hen. A few have trickier spellings: sheep and bee use a double e, mouse has an ou sound, and bird has an ir sound. Some have unusual plurals too, like one mouse and two mice, or one sheep and two sheep. Tracing the word slowly helps these spellings stick.

Labeling Activities

Ask your child to draw a farm or a zoo and label each animal with the words they have traced. For a game, call out an animal sound and let children find the matching word on the worksheet.

Topic Links for Teachers

These words fit well into a farm topic, a pets unit or a zoo and wildlife lesson. Edit the list in the text box to match your lesson. For a full set of pages with pictures to color, try the free Animals Tracing and Coloring Book.