Free · print at home · ages 3 to 5
Letter Z worksheets and tracing
Across, slant back, across: the last letter of all, fast asleep in a zip.
“There, in the zip of your pajamas, is little z, fast asleep.”
Watch it write itself
See z 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 Z 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 z and Z, 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 z
- Start at the green dot on the middle line, on the left. Go across to the right, then, without lifting the pencil, slant down to the left, to the base line, and go across the base line to the right.
Capital Z
- Start at the green dot on the top line, on the left. Go across to the right, then, without lifting the pencil, slant down to the left, to the base line, and go across the base line to the right.
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Letter Z tracing worksheets and coloring page
Five sheets for Z and z: tracing the capital and the small letter, the small z only, the capital Z only, a coloring page and a find every z page. US Letter and A4, black and white first, then color.
Letter Z z tracing worksheet
Z and z on the road with arrows, then fainter, then from the dots alone. Then the word zip.
1 page · PDF
Small z only
Four rows of z, from the road to the dots alone. Then the word zip.
1 page · PDF
Capital Z only
Four rows of Z, from the road to the dots alone, and a line to write on.
1 page · PDF
Letter Z coloring page
A big Z and z with eyes to color, and a box to draw the zip it hides in.
1 page · PDF · black and white
Find every z
A page of letters, many of them look-alikes. Color every z, 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 Z
Everyday things a child can carry to school for letter Z day. The first one is where z hides in our book.
- zebraa toy one
- zucchini
- zeroa card with the number 0
- zigzagdrawn on paper
- zoo animala toy one
- zip-top bag
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: in a zipped pocket, inside a zip-top bag, or next to the toy zebra.
- Say the sound together, softly: “z, z, z... Where can z be?” When your child finds it, they trace it slowly with a finger. z is asleep, so they don't shout. They whisper “Got you, little z.”
Animals
Animals that start with Z
- zebra
- zebua kind of cattle with a hump on its back
- zorillaan African animal with black and white stripes, a little like a skunk
- zebra fincha little bird from Australia
- zebra sharkstriped when young, spotted when grown
- zandera big fish from the rivers and lakes of Europe
- zebra swallowtaila striped butterfly from North America
- zone-tailed hawka hawk from the Southwest and Mexico
Good to know
The sleepiest letter
In our book, z is the very last letter to be found: fast asleep in the zip of your pajamas, right there on you.
So z is caught differently. Your child follows the path slowly, and instead of shouting, whispers: Got you, little z.
z is the buzz of a bee, and the sound of sleeping in comics: zzz.
Questions
Grown-ups ask
- How do you write a lowercase z?
- Start on the middle line, on the left. Go across to the right, slant down to the left to the base line, and go across the base line to the right, all without lifting the pencil. Across, slant, across.
- My child writes z backwards. Is that normal?
- Yes, it's a common one, and it passes. Say it while your child traces: across, slant back, across. The slant always goes down to the LEFT.
- What starts with Z for show and tell?
- A zip or a zipper, on a jacket or a bag (that's where z hides in our book), a toy zebra, a zucchini, a paper zigzag or the number zero.
More letters
Our own book
Catch the Letters! A Bedtime Alphabet Book
By Katia Sunn · for grown-ups · coming soon
In the book, z hides in the zip. 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.