Moving through the alphabet, we are ready to learn how to teach the letter C with our free Letter C Worksheet! Keep an eye out for posts for all accurately forming all 26 letters! Each post will offer information on how to teach the highlighted letter, including a free download. Today’s post will address letter “C” and include a free printable Letter C Worksheet. All the alphabet posts will have tips to the teach the selected letter, review the prewriting skills needed, and highlight different letter rhymes and prompts that are helpful to teaching the letter.
You’ll also want to check out our letter formation worksheets resource, where we have other writing printables as well as a full list of these printable pages.
letter c worksheet
The Letter C Worksheet is designed for students to cut the page into sections, then staple all the pieces together to create little alphabet tracing books by grouping the dotted, tracing, playdough, and color sections together.
Today we are talking about the Letter C, both in its upper and lowercase form. There are many terrific ways to teach letter recognition and formation.
It is beneficial to find multiple different ways to teach each skill, as not all students learn the same way. Multisensory learning meets the needs of different types of learners
The Letter C Worksheet is divided into six sections:
- Build Letter C
- Tracing Letter C
- Do-a-Dot Letter C
- Write Letter C in Size Boxes
- Write Letter C on Lines
Each section covers uppercase C and lowercase c for size awareness as well as the motor plan needed to form the letter. Motor planning in handwriting is a concept that ensures accurate formation of letters.
Play Dough letter C
This section of the worksheet is great for building a motor plan for making letter C. hands-on learners will love the building section of the letter C worksheet. You’ll fund a playdough uppercase C and lowercase c in the image.
Students can mold the letter C out of play dough, clay, sticks, or other manipulatives. Keep reading for more great ideas to build letters out of common items.
This section of the worksheet can be cut out and used as copy cards or as a mini play dough mat, if letters are formed right over the images.
The letter C has arrows for proper stroke sequence.
Tracing letter C
Kinesthetic learners learn by doing, and will benefit from all the sections in these handouts, especially this section on tracing letters. Kinesthetic learners like to touch and engage in order to learn and retain information. That’s where this Letter C tracing activity on the printable comes in.
Students can use their fingers, a wand, popsicle stick, or add a writing tool to trace the letters. You can also laminate the letter pages, place them on a tray covered with sand, salt, or shaving cream, and have students trace the letters this way.
Do a Dot Letter C
The Do a Dot Letter C printable section of the page is a mini version of a full Do a Dot worksheet. We created the page with this in mind so that a smaller version can be practiced, using broken cotton swabs or the end of an eraser dabbed in paint or a stamp pad.
Users can dab the dots to make the letter C by following the lines of the letters.
Then, copy the letter onto a larger piece of paper by using bingo type markers or dabber stampers to fill in the letters. Kids love the banging movement and sound of these dot markers. Students can also dip Q-tips or fingers into paint to make dots on the paper. There are all kinds of stampers available on the web. What else can kids use to make dots on paper?
Color letter C
The Color the Letter C and c section of the worksheet page encourages several areas of motor skills:
- developmentally appropriate grasp patterns (broken crayons work wonders for developing a tripod grasp)
- work on coloring inside the lines
- color selection
- attention to detail
- hand strength
- fine motor skills
Explore different mediums for coloring including markers, gel pens, pencils, crayons (of all types), paint, glitter, or glue and small items to fill the space.
Write letter C
Next on the worksheet page are two sections for using a pencil to write uppercase C and lowercase c.
These two sections are for students to put their practice into letter formation. They will practice writing the letters on the lines with correct sizing, formation, line placement, and details. Students also practice fitting the letters inside the small boxes to improve letter sizing and accuracy.
As with the other sections, this section can also be laminated for reusability. Be mindful that some students do not write well with dry erase markers.
To print your copy of this Letter C/c PDF, you will need to enter your email address into the form at the bottom of this blog post. Then, click the button and check your email to get the FREE downloadable PDF letter C worksheet.
how to teach letter c
This letter C worksheet is a great start to teaching letter formation. Whether you are using the Handwriting (Learning) without Tears curriculum which teaches the letters by group, or teaching the letters in alphabetical order, these great worksheets provide a consistent method for teaching and tracking letter formation and understanding.
There are several sites online with different phrases available for teaching letters.
- The HWT curriculum lowercase “c” narrative says: magic c. For the uppercase letter C, HWT says: big curve. While the HWT curriculum does not use cute poems and rhymes, the consistent language that is taught using straight and curved lines is beneficial to learning.
- Songs for Teaching’s rhyme for lowercase c says, letter c’s like a circle, but it does not close up. C is for cotton candy and carrots and cups
- Songs of Sounds UK, teaches lowercase c: Curl around the curled-up caterpillar. Uppercase C: From the top, curl around to the left to sit on the line.
- Twinkl, teaches lowercase c: start drawing a circle and curve around slowly, stop before it has finished and you have made a c!
- Uppercase C says: capitol C is easy, don’t you know? Just start like a little c and make it grow! A curved line from the start to the end, move your pencil slowly around the bend.
specific skills needed to learn letter c
In addition to the skills above, students will need to know how to form curves to make upper and lowercase C.
For forming a Letter C, a curved line is used. This is a beginner pre-writing skill, so the curve should be an earlier one that is achieved.
However, letter C requires pencil control in order to start and stop the lines of the curve.
- Teach them about starting at the top, and pencil control to stop the curve before making a circle.
- This is a good time to start demonstrating talking about the similarities between upper and lowercase C.
Because uppercase C and lowercase C are the same form, this is a good beginner letter to practice. However, targeting size awareness is a good idea for controlled use of the pencil as well as visual motor skills needed to differentiate between the upper case and lowercase forms.
There are dozens more additional skills children need to learn before they are truly ready for handwriting. Children who are missing these important skills may struggle with handwriting, along with other fine motor tasks. A lack of these foundational skills can lead to poor letter formation, fatigue, compensation strategies, and inefficient writing.
prewriting skills needed to learn to write letters
If forming a letter C is difficult, it might be wise to step back and take a look at the pre-writing skills.
As you are working on the Letter C Worksheet, be sure your students have the prewriting skills needed for writing letters. Here is a comprehensive post about the Prewriting Skills needed before letter formation.
Some of the prewriting skills for letter formation include:
- grasping skills for holding the writing tool – it is preferable to work on forming a correct tripod grasp, but not essential for starting letter formation. Children begin to form a tripod grasp around age four. You can improve pencil grasp by working on hand strengthening activities
- finger isolation is what is needed to be able to tuck fingers into the palm when writing
- in hand manipulation – start working on training the intrinsic muscles of the hands
- following directions – this is a key to learning any new skill and quite often the biggest barrier
- hand strength needed hold pencil and manipulate objects. Students with weak hand strength often have shaky, lightly written letters, and hold the writing tool lightly
- crossing midline is an essential skill for letter formation, otherwise letters like “t” are written in four pieces rather than two intersecting lines
- beginning hand dominance – do not worry if it is not solidified by age four, just encourage fine motor tasks, and watch for signs that one hand is stronger than the other
- imitating movements is important as many children do not respond to verbal directions only
- visual perception is making sense of what is written or seen. These might include same/different, scanning, or discrimination
- prewriting strokes – being able to write lines and circles is important, as these are the foundation for forming upper and lowercase letters
- copying from a model
- social function skills such as attending, work tolerance, controlling impulses and body, taking turns, waiting, sharing, and more are needed skills for effective learning.
Activities to teach letter c
In addition to the rhymes above, there are other great activities to teach letter formation and letter recognition for letter b/B:
- Letter immersion: surround your students with letters. Use games, activities, books, gross motor games, and whole lesson plans to immerse students in learning the letters. Hang up letters, sing songs and rhymes, point out letters, and talk about them. The Dollar Store is a great place to buy all kinds of supplies
- Matching uppercase C to lowercase c: Matching upper case and lowercase letters is a great way to work on letter recognition skills.
- Letter I Spy: ask your child to identify and find letters as you go about your day together. Use the letter of the week as well as previously learned letters.
- Making letters using nature: Take a nature walk and gather materials found on the ground. Use these supplies to form letters. Note: Rocks and leaves are easiest for forming rounded letters like letter C, and sticks are best for letters with straight lines (A, J, T). These rock letters are a fun way to practice letter C.
- Guess the magnetic letter: Have your child close their eyes before handing them a single magnetic letter of your choice. See if your student can identify the letter in their hands by touch. For children who are still learning, provide choices for them to guess between (“Do you have a ‘T’ or a ‘B’ in your hands?”).
- Letter matching cards: Start by cutting out rectangles of paper or cardboard for your cards (or use index cards), one for each uppercase and lowercase letter. Write a letter on each of the cards, or have your student practice writing it themselves.
- Your child can decorate the cards, or glue an object that corresponds to each letter as a visual aide (like an apple on each of the “A” cards, a balloon for the “B” cards, and so forth).
- When you are finished making the cards, mix them all up on the table and have your student select one. Their task is to find the matching upper or lowercase version of that letter from the pile. Here is a set of cursive letter flash cards.
- Make a Letter C craft: Have your student form the letter using your chosen material. You can supply every student with the same material to work on copying from a model, or let them try their creativity. These will be great to try on the “build or trace” template included in the letter C worksheet.
- Post it notes letter C: Write an uppercase letter C on several Post it notes. Then, use the remaining ones for lowercase letter c. Next, alternate placing uppercase and lowercase letters onto your wall or whiteboard. Point to the uppercase “C” and ask, “Can you find the lowercase letter that matches?” If your child correctly identifies the letter “c,” have them pick it up and stick it below the capital “C.”
- Screen time: If your curriculum includes a bit of educational screen time, the HOMER Learn & Grow app is a great way to let them practice their letter identification skills.
- If you set up a free trial, send us an email at contact@theottoolbox to let us know! We’ll email you a few accompanying resources to support letter formation activities!
- Letter similarities and differences: Make or buy flash cards. Work with your student to help you sort them into two groups: those that look the same in upper and lowercase and those that look different.
- You may need to model this for your child a few times. For example, hold up the capital “S” card and ask, “Do you see a lowercase letter that looks like this?”
- Let your child examine both letters and highlight similarities and differences between the uppercase and lowercase versions.
- Continue sorting, letter by letter. Once your child sorts all the letters, have them count the cards in each bowl and see if there are more that look alike or more that are different. This is a great visual perception activity for attending to details.
more tips to teaching letter c
- surround your students with letters. Use games, activities, books, gross motor games, and whole lesson plans to immerse students in learning the letters
- here is a list of 20 different activities to practice forming letters
- write letters in the air with big arm movements
- make letters in sand, shaving cream, chalk, sandpaper
- teach the letter names and sounds before forming the letters so students understand what they are writing
- use the whole body to teach letter formation
- sing songs and rhymes about letters
- practice prewriting skills through activities and play
- encourage family to practice with their children at home
- follow the same curriculum throughout the teaching for consistency. Whether you use Learning without Tears, Teaching Mama, Songs for Sounds, or another curriculum, being consistent helps students learn the language and follow the prompts
- The OT Toolbox has some great resources to add to this packet for working on letter recognition and formation.
how to use the letter c worksheet
As described above, this free Letter C Worksheet, can be cut into sections and made into mini workbooks. There are many other great options for using these work pages:
- Laminate the pages to make them reusable. Punch holes in them, and create a binder. This is especially helpful with the play dough cards
- Take a photo of the letter made of playdough, rather than having students trying to keep their dough formations stuck in their books
- Enlarge each section to make them full page sized. This might be helpful for younger learners who may need more room to write and color
- Separate each kind of activity, and group them together to make an alphabet book. For example, make a book of all the “do a dot” letters. Keep going until your students have six mini alphabet books
- Cut the pages into six sections, then staple together. Each book with have six pages, all relating to the same letter. For example, the Letter C Worksheet would be turned into a small booklet with a traced C, written C, colored C, dotted C, playdough C, etc.
- Make your own modifications to some of the sections. Instead of tracing, students can fill the section with glue and glitter! In the coloring section, students can fill them with small manipulatives. Wikki sticks can be used instead of Playdough. Water color, paint, or any other creative medium you can find to fill in the spaces
- Have bins of manipulatives ready for creative play with this Letter C Worksheet
- Glue and bits of paper, or other findings are always handy to have around
- Making an activity fun will hopefully encourage the reluctant learners
- Add this letter C worksheet to part of your bigger lesson plan including gross motor, sensory, social, reading, math, or other daily fun activities
a final word on letter c
When you get excited about teaching, it will become contagious. Your students will feed off your positive energy. Teaching is not one size fits all, so it will take some trial and error to find something that works. Find something that you feel you can teach over and over again. Sometimes the lessons become repetitive, so you need to like what you are teaching.
Free Letter C Worksheet
Want a free printable letter C worksheet that you can use to work on learning the motor plan for letter C? We have a free worksheet that offers several multisensory letter formation strategies. Print off the page and use all of the sections to create uppercase letter C and lowercase letter c. Or, cut the worksheet into sections to create mini booklets to form the letter in a single sensory style.
Enter your email address into the form below to access your copy.
This printable is also available inside our membership club!
Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.
Want printable handwriting and sensory motor activities to target the visual motor skills needed for letter writing? Grab a copy of our Letters! Fine Motor Kit. The printable PDF contains 100 pages of hands-on letter writing practice for multisensory handwriting!
Inside the Letters Fine Motor Kit, you’ll find:
- A-Z Multisensory Writing Pages: Roll a ball of dough letters, ASL sign language letters, gross motor movement, small-scale letter box writing task, finger isolation letter trace, and writing practice area
- Alphabet Fine Motor Clip Cards– Clip clothespins or paper clips to match letters with various fonts to strengthen the hands and focusing on eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, visual processing skills, and more.
- Cut and place Fine Motor Mazes– Cut out the letter pieces and trace the maze with a finger to work on eye-hand coordination and finger isolation. Place a small letter on the letter spots to address in-hand manipulation and dexterity skills.
- A-Z Cotton Swab Cards– Includes upper case and lower case letters. Dot the cards using a cotton swab or laminate the cards and use them over and over again.
- A-Z Pattern Block Cards– These cards include a section for tracing with a finger tip for separation of the sides of the hand, eye-hand coordination, and finger isolation during letter formation. There is also a space to “finger write” the letter using the fingertip. This multisensory letter formation activity can be a great brain break during handwriting or literacy tasks. Learners can then form the letter using parquetry blocks.
- Fine Motor Letter Geo-Cards– These geo board cards include A-Z in upper case forms. Users can copy the letter forms in a variety of multi-sensory strategies.
- A-Z Color and Cut Letter Memory Cards– These upper case and lower case letter cards can be used to color for letter formation. Then use them in fine motor matching tasks or in sensory bins.
- Color By Size Sheets– Help learners discriminate between tall letters, small letters, and tail letters. This visual perception activity invites learners to color small areas, using hand muscles for strengthening and handwriting endurance.
- A-Z Building Block Cards– These LEGO block cards invite users to copy the cards to form letters using small building blocks. Users can place the blocks on the cards or copy the letter to address visual shift and visual memory. This activity set comes in upper case and lowercase letter forms.
- A-Z Play Dough Letter Formation Cards– Print off these cards and laminate them to create play dough mats. Learners can form the letters using the arrows to correctly form letters with play dough while strengthening their hands and visual motor skills. Each card includes a space for practicing the letter formation, using a dry erase marker if the cards are laminated.
- Graded Lines Box Writing Sheets– Users can trace and form letters in boxes to work on formation of letters, line awareness, starting points, and letter size.
- Alphabet Roll and Write Sheets– Roll a dice and form the letter associated with the number of dots on the dice. This is a great way to work on letter formation skills using motivation. Which letter will reach the top first? This activity is easily integrated with a rainbow writing task to increase number or repetitions for letter practice.
- Pencil Control Letter Scan– Use the letter bubble tracks to scan for letters. Users can fill in the letters of the alphabet to work on pencil control skills.
- Color and Cut Puzzles– Color the pictures to work on hand strength and letter formation skills. Then cut out the puzzles and build visual perceptual skills.
Get your copy of the Letters Fine Motor Kit today!
Want the rest of the worksheets in this series? You can also grab:
- Letter A Worksheet
- Letter B Worksheet
- Letter C Worksheet (this blog post)
- Letter D Worksheet
