Free · print at home · ages 3 to 5
Letter S worksheets and tracing
One curvy line, like a little snake slithering out of a sock.
“It slithers out... and there is s, curvy as a little snake.”
Watch it write itself
See s 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 S 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 s and S, 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 s
- Start at the green dot, just under the middle line on the right. Go up and round to the left, curve back to the right across the middle, then down and round to the left along the base line.
Capital S
- Start at the green dot, just under the top line on the right. Go up and round to the left, curve back to the right across the middle line, then down and round to the left along the base line.
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Letter S tracing worksheets and coloring page
Five sheets for S and s: tracing the capital and the small letter, the small s only, the capital S only, a coloring page and a find every s page. US Letter and A4, black and white first, then color.
Letter S s tracing worksheet
S and s on the road with arrows, then fainter, then from the dots alone. Then the word sock.
1 page · PDF
Small s only
Four rows of s, from the road to the dots alone. Then the word sock.
1 page · PDF
Capital S only
Four rows of S, from the road to the dots alone, and a line to write on.
1 page · PDF
Letter S coloring page
A big S and s with eyes to color, and a box to draw the sock it hides in.
1 page · PDF · black and white
Find every s
A page of letters, many of them look-alikes. Color every s, 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 S
Everyday things a child can carry to school for letter S day. The first one is where s hides in our book.
- spoon
- shell
- stara paper one
- sticker
- scarf
- sunglasses
- sponge
- sandal
- seed packet
- sandwich
- stuffed animalany one at all
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: inside a sock, under the sofa, or in a sandal.
- Say the sound together, as the book does: “s, s, s... Where can s be?” When your child finds it, they trace it with a finger and shout “Got you, little s!”
Animals
Animals that start with S
Tap one with an arrow to meet it on our dinosaur pages.
- snake
- spider
- squirrel
- sheep
- shark
- seal
- snail
- swan
- sloth
- skunk
- Stegosaurusa big, spiky dinosaur with a tiny head
- Spinosauruseven bigger than T. rex, and it could swim
Good to know
Start s like a c
s is one of the letters children most often write backwards. That's normal, and it passes.
The fix is the start. s begins exactly like c: just under the middle line on the right, going up and round to the LEFT. Then it changes its mind and curves back the other way.
Say it while your child traces: round like a c, then back like a snake.
Questions
Grown-ups ask
- How do you write a lowercase s?
- Start just under the middle line on the right. Go up and round to the left, like a c, then curve back to the right across the middle, and down and round to the left along the base line. One curvy line, no lifting the pencil.
- Why does my child write s backwards?
- Lots of children do, and it passes. Start it like a c, going up and round to the left first. When the first move is right, the rest usually follows.
- What starts with S for show and tell?
- A sock (where s hides in our book), a spoon, a shell, a sticker, a scarf, sunglasses or a sponge. Or any stuffed animal: stuffed starts with s too.
More letters
Our own book
Catch the Letters! A Bedtime Alphabet Book
By Katia Sunn · for grown-ups · coming soon
In the book, s hides in the sock. 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.