Letter A
Preschool · 3–5Color the big letter A, with Apple, ant and alligator to name as you go. Capital A is three straight strokes with no curves — two slides down from the peak, then the bar across the middle — so it is one of the easier capitals for a four-year-old to attempt. Filling a letter in at this size does something tracing does not: the child's eye follows the whole outline slowly, so the shape registers before a pencil ever has to reproduce it. Say the sound rather than the letter name while you color — the sound is what reading actually needs. Print it on A4 or US Letter, or color it online with tap-to-fill.
Forming the letter A
Capital A is three straight strokes and no curves, which makes it one of the friendlier capitals for a four-year-old: down-slant from the peak to the left, down-slant from the peak to the right, then a bar across the middle. The bar is where it goes wrong. Children who draw it first end up with a triangle balanced on a line, because there is nothing yet to attach it to. Say the order out loud as you colour the letter in — two slides down, then the bridge — and the shape tends to fix itself.
Lowercase a is a different letter to a child, not a small version of the same one. It is a circle with a straight back, built from the same anticlockwise curve as c, d, g, o and q, which is why teachers usually introduce those six together. If your child can already draw a c, they are one stroke away from an a.
The two sounds of A
A is the first letter children meet and also the first to break its own rule. The short sound is the one in apple, ant and alligator — the one on this page. The long sound says the letter's own name, as in acorn, apron and acorn squash. Almost every phonics programme teaches the short sound first, because it appears in far more of the words a beginner reader will meet.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does my child write A but not a?
- Capital letters are made of straight lines and children can draw straight lines a good year before they can close a circle reliably. Writing everything in capitals at four is completely typical and not something to correct — lowercase follows once the circular stroke is comfortable, usually around five.
- Should I teach the short or long A sound first?
- Short A, as in apple. It is the sound used in the great majority of simple three-letter words — cat, hat, bag, man — so it unlocks reading faster. Introduce the long sound later, when your child meets words like cake and rain.