Free · print at home · ages 3 to 5
Letter R worksheets and tracing
Down, then a little curl over the top: the letter racing round the rug.
“It's r, racing so fast the rug begins to ripple.”
Watch it write itself
See r write itself
It starts at the green dot and goes the way the arrows go, in the same order your child traces it. Press Slowly and follow it with a finger.
Tap R to see the capital write itself too.
On a phone or tablet, Bring it into your room puts the letter on your floor or table, through the camera. No app to install.
How to write it
How to write r and R, in words
One line for each stroke, to read aloud while your child traces. On the sheets: the top line, the dashed middle line, and the base line, where the letters sit. If your child's school uses a different style, follow the school.
Small r
- Start at the green dot on the middle line. Go straight down to the base line.
- Dot 2, on that line between the middle line and the base line: go up and over to the right, and stop just after the top of the curve.
Capital R
- Start at the green dot on the top line. Go straight down to the base line.
- Dot 2: from the top of the line, go out to the right and round a bump, back to the line at the middle line. Then, without lifting the pencil, slant down to the right, to the base line.
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Letter R tracing worksheets and coloring page
Five sheets for R and r: tracing the capital and the small letter, the small r only, the capital R only, a coloring page and a find every r page. US Letter and A4, black and white first, then color.
Letter R r tracing worksheet
R and r on the road with arrows, then fainter, then from the dots alone. Then the word rug.
1 page · PDF
Small r only
Four rows of r, from the road to the dots alone. Then the word rug.
1 page · PDF
Capital R only
Four rows of R, from the road to the dots alone, and a line to write on.
1 page · PDF
Letter R coloring page
A big R and r with eyes to color, and a box to draw the rug it hides in.
1 page · PDF · black and white
Find every r
A page of letters, many of them look-alikes. Color every r, then count them. The answer is upside down.
1 page · PDF · black and white
Free for home and classroom use. To pass them on, please share the link to this page and not the file. The whole alphabet at once (the ABC chart, the A to Z tracing booklet and the desk strip) is on the alphabet page.
For show and tell
Things that start with R
Everyday things a child can carry to school for letter R day. The first one is where r hides in our book.
- ribbon
- ring
- robota toy one
- rock
- rocketa toy one
- ruler
- raisinsa little box
- rattle
- rabbita stuffed one
- race cara toy one
- rain boots
The book's game, with no screen
- Print the letter. The coloring page works well: your child colors it first, then it goes into hiding.
- While nobody is looking, hide it in something that starts with its sound: under the rug, inside a rain boot, or rolled up in a ribbon.
- Say the sound together, as the book does: “r, r, r... Where can r be?” When your child finds it, they trace it with a finger and shout “Got you, little r!”
Animals
Animals that start with R
- rabbit
- raccoon
- rat
- reindeer
- rhino
- robin
- rooster
- raven
- red panda
- rattlesnake
- roadrunnera bird that would rather run than fly
- raya flat fish that glides through the sea
Good to know
r is an n that stops halfway
Start an n, and stop just after the top of the hump: that's an r.
So the two start the same way: down from the middle line, then up and over. r just stops early, with a little drop at the end.
If your child's r keeps turning into an n, the curl went too far. Stop at the top.
Questions
Grown-ups ask
- How do you write a lowercase r?
- Start on the middle line and go straight down. Then start again on that line, between the middle line and the base line, go up and over to the right, and stop just after the top. A short line and a little curl.
- What starts with R for show and tell?
- A ribbon, a ring, a toy robot, a rock from the garden, a ruler, a rattle or a little box of raisins. The rug, where r hides in our book, can stay on the floor.
- What animals start with R?
- Rabbit, raccoon, reindeer, rhino, robin, rooster and red panda. And the roadrunner, a bird that would rather run than fly.
More letters
Our own book
Catch the Letters! A Bedtime Alphabet Book
By Katia Sunn · for grown-ups · coming soon
In the book, r hides in the rug. Your child finds it, traces it with a finger, and catches it. Every letter hides somewhere in the house, inside a thing that starts with its sound.
Every letter page has a code: scan it with a phone or tablet and the letter comes into your room.