“Trace the alphabet” scavenger hunt (upper and lowercase)

Turn boring handwriting practice into a fun game with this free printable “trace the alphabet” scavenger hunt activity.

My kindergartner is brilliant and creative…he also has awful handwriting. That’s okay. He’s only five, but as I say to him:

“How do we get better at something? We practice.”

So we’ve been practicing this year (even back in the ancient days when we actually went to public school…remember that? Faintly?).

He’s made a lot of progress; however, he still struggles to consistently form many of his letters properly. One thing that I’ve found is helpful for him is to trace the letters of the alphabet. I give him lots of opportunities to write on his own as well, but practicing forming the letters over a guiding line helps build his confidence and reminds him how the letters are supposed to look.

But he’s not the kind of kid who just loves to sit still and work on handwriting packets (do those kids exist?), so I recently I came up with a way to make his writing practice into a game.

Scavenger hunts have been extremely successful with my kids in the past, so I pulled out our favorite alphabet flashcards and used them to create a “trace the alphabet” scavenger hunt game. It was a hit!

Read on for all the details about how to learn and play!

But first, download the free printable scavenger hunt tracing pages:

“Trace the Alphabet” scavenger hunt

Materials needed:

• Printable tracing page (download it for free above)
• pencil/crayon
• Clipboard (or book to write on)
• alphabet flash cards

Set up:

1. If you don’t already have them, download and print the alphabet flashcards (or use any that you already have on hand).
2. Download and print the “Trace the alphabet” scavenger hunt page (choose whether you want to practice upper or lower case today…save the other for another day!)
3. Hide the flashcards around the house (or take the game outside for a change of scenery).

How to play:

1. Explain to your child that you have “lost” the alphabet and you need his/her help to find it. I always find that hamming up the story a bit helps to get my kids excited for the activity. Maybe the letters ran away, maybe they are playing “hide and go seek” and your child is “it”…whatever works for you.
2. Give your child a clipboard (or a book to write on) with the “trace the alphabet” page and encourage your child to hunt down all the letters of the alphabet.
3. Encourage your child to trace the letters as they are found, so you can keep track of which ones are still missing.
4. Once you have found and traced all the letters of the alphabet, celebrate!

Want more fun alphabet activities? Try these!

• 23 unconventional (and fun) ways to play and learn with alphabet flashcards
• Alphabet KABOOM!
• Pirate alphabet treasure hunt game
• 12 awesome alphabet books for kids