12 Free winter tracing worksheets for preschool hands-on learning fun
Are you looking for some winter tracing worksheets for your littles? This free set of twelve printable cards offers a creative way to help them hone their fine motor skills, practice mindfulness, learn to self-calm, develop creativity, and get off the electronic devices!
I highly recommend slipping them in page protectors, covering them with clear contact paper, or laminating them for long-term use and wear.
Six Ways to Use These Winter Tracing Worksheets
Trace with your finger
The simplest way to use these worksheets is to print them out, cut along the colored squares to separate each image, and give them to your child to trace with his finger. Each image is one continuous line, so find the broken place and instruct your child to use one finger to follow the line to the end. The focused attention on following the line encourages mindfulness and calm. There are twelve images in all, so if they do them one right after the other, you can get your sweet child back from the edge in about 15 minutes.
Trace with crayons
If you use my suggestion of protecting your printed sheets, your child can write on them. They can trace the lines of the images with a dry erase marker or a crayon and practice their handwriting fine motor skills. They could also use some creativity and color inside the images after they’ve traced the outline. This activity also helps with drawing skills as it teaches them how to make pictures using a continuous line.
Trace with Wax Craft Sticks or yarn
See what I’m doing in the images below? Hands-on learners love this! Just grab some rainbow wax craft sticks and you have a no-mess fun activity that’s creative and helps kids improve hand-eye coordination. It also introduces them to a different artistic tool for self-expression.
Make these winter tracing worksheets a game!
Since you can print more than one set, you could create a game out of these winter tracing worksheets. Kids can use crayons or markers and see who can trace the image on the line with the most precision in the least amount of time. You could use a sand timer and kids can compete against themselves to see how fast they can do it.
You could also do the reverse and see who can take the longest to trace the image.
Once kids have traced the images a few times, you could have them try to duplicate it from memory. Or, you can make it a super-sized memory game by printing two sets of the images.
Busy bag activity
Have you ever heard of a busy bag? A busy bag is a bag that contains activities and small toys that only comes out when you are going out somewhere. This “somewhere” is often a doctor’s office, restaurant, bank, post office, or other place where a child is expected to be calm and quiet. These days, we often just hand kids our phones or bring a tablet along. However, it’s better if we don’t do that and give them analog things to do instead. These winter tracing worksheets are perfect to put in the busy bag!
Calming corner activity
Lastly, I highly recommend a calming corner. I used a play tent with cushions and stuffed animals inside. I learned about this when my younger daughter was diagnosed with autism and my younger son had sensory regulation issues. A calming corner is a safe space where an overwhelmed, overstimulated kid can go. Usually, it is a quiet, enclosed space with very little sensory stimuli except maybe a weighted blanket or a favorite comfort toy. These cards might also be a great addition because they help kids calm down, reset, and recharge.
