Alphabet Coloring Pages
Letters A–Z, each one a big bold outline a child can fill in and trace with a finger. Alphabet coloring pages are one of the easiest ways to make letter shapes familiar before a child is ready to write them — the letter is the picture, so there is no confusion about what to look at. Pair them with the phonics and ABC games in the play zone. Print them as a set for a classroom wall, or color them online with tap-to-fill.
Letter shapes before letter writing
There is a long gap between a child recognising a letter and being physically able to write it, and it is a gap worth filling. Coloring a letter means spending a minute or two inside its shape — following the curve of an S, noticing that a B has two bumps and a P only one. That is the same visual discrimination that later stops b and d getting confused, and it costs nothing but a crayon.
The letter is the picture on these pages, which matters more than it sounds. On a page where A sits next to an apple, most children color the apple and glance at the letter. Here there is nothing else to look at.
Which letters to start with
- Start with the letters of your child's own name — motivation is already there, and it is the first word most children want to write.
- Then the high-frequency, easy-to-sound letters: s, a, t, p, i, n. They combine into more real words than the alphabet's opening run does.
- Save the visually similar pairs — b and d, p and q, m and n — for after the easy ones are secure, and teach each of the pair well apart from the other.
Finger-tracing the letter before coloring it adds the movement memory to the visual one. Say the sound rather than the name while they trace — 'sss', not 'ess' — because the sound is what reading actually runs on.
Read: teaching letter sounds, step by stepFrequently asked questions
- Should I teach letters in alphabetical order?
- No. Alphabetical order is a filing system, not a teaching order. Start with the letters in your child's name, then the common, easily-sounded letters like s, a, t, p, i and n, which combine into readable words much sooner.
- Uppercase or lowercase first?
- Uppercase is easier to tell apart and easier to draw, which is why these pages are uppercase. Lowercase matters more for reading, so introduce it alongside once the uppercase shapes are familiar.
- What age should a child start letter coloring pages?
- Around three for recognition and enjoyment, and four to five when it starts feeding directly into writing. There is no benefit in pushing it earlier than the child's interest.