Now I Trace My ABCs: A Prewriting, Fine Motor Skills, Letter Recognition Book for Toddlers & Preschool Kids

Froot Loop has known his letters for quite some time now. His preschool teachers are pretty impressed with him and we've been joking about Gifted and Talented placement. The main thing is that we’re working on prewriting skills because his fine motor skills are about 2 years behind! Those skills include drawing, finger strength, and the actual shapes of the letters. Tracing is a great prewriting skill, both with a writing instrument and just using a finger. We’ve tried to encourage him to write letters in sand/rice/etc., but he doesn’t quite have the hang of it just yet, and also due to his sensory issues, these activities are hit and miss. This book is perfect for that in between stage. 

The book is so easy to use. There’s no mess and you can take it anywhere. The letters are indented so the path of the letters is obvious. It gives kiddos a physical sense of the letters in a tactile way. There are numbers and arrows that give further instruction to how to make the letters. I like this because after I showed Froot Loop how to do it once, he only needed help with a handful of letters the second time, and now that we’ve done it together a couple times, I remind him to look at the arrows and numbers if he gets stuck so he can do it himself. 

Once your kiddo gets the hang of tracing the letters with their finger, they can even trace it with a capped marker or an empty pen so they get the feel of writing the letters with a writing instrument. It’s sort of like training wheels for writing. It’s so simple and yet so brilliant. 

The pages are sturdy and I especially love how each page has two pictures of things that begin with that letter. The second item is under a flap, which is always fun for little hands. Plus, this gives a further tactile experience. The pictures are cute and colorful. Even Cocoa Puff loves to look at and play with this book. Since he loves to scribble and color, I'm going to start flexing those prewriting muscles after his second birthday.

On the back cover are some “helpful hints” to get as much out of the book as possible. 

My two issues with the book are as follows. 

The flap that hides the second word on each page is very thin. Babies and toddlers could easily rip it off. Froot Loop is pretty rough on them, but so far he hasn’t ripped off the tabs yet. I’m pretty sure Cocoa Puff could and would tear it right off like he has with his other flap books.
The lowercase letters are not depressed so they cannot be traced. That would be very helpful and I think it is a HUGE oversight that they are not included as well. 

I also like that this book can grow with your kids. I like to show Cocoa Puff the letters and let him “feel” the shapes too, although he doesn’t understand yet. He likes looking at the pictures, especially the surprise ones under the flaps, but I don’t let him turn the flaps by himself since he insists on trying to rip them. 

Overall, this is a great book, especially for the price. We love books in this house that are interactive, and this one fits the bill. There’s also a number version too that I just bought for him as well.  

This one is the same format with the indentations and the flaps, only it’s numbers instead of letters. I really think his prewriting skills are improving with these books, and while I’m not in a hurry to get him writing, I’m not holding him back and he seems to be interested! He’s one smart kid. 

How old were your kiddos when they learned how to write?