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FREE Dinosaur Tracing & Cutting Printable Pages

Updated: Feb 19

Fun dinosaur printable pages to help your child develop their fine motor and early writing skills. Keep reading to download your copy ...

Free dinosaur tracing and cutting pages
Dinosaur Tracing and Cutting Freebie

Printable resources can be fantastic for supporting your child’s learning about a range of topics. There are so many great websites with access to both free and paid resources that can be used as part of an invitation to play and learn.

I recently made these fine motor tracing and cutting printables for Miss 5. She has been learning to write her name and numbers at preschool. To support her learning at home and further develop her fine motor skills I made some traceable early writing lines. The great thing about these is that they can also be used for cutting too.



*Please note all of the above activities were completed with supervision. Small parts recommended for ages 3+. Always supervise your child when they are using scissors.


Dinosaur themed line tracing sheet in page protector
Catch the dinosaur - A fun way to develop early-writiting skills

These dinosaur themed printables are great for children who are interested in learning to write. They support the development of fine motor skills through developing the muscles in your child's hands and pencil control when handwriting. They can also help to improve hand eye coordination and develop scissor skills.


Print and trace or use with scissors ... it’s that easy.

Read on below to see some of the ways that you could use this resource to support playful learning at home or in the classroom.



 

How to use:


Here are some tips and suggestions for using these with your children from my experience of working with my students and my own child to develop these skills.



Use with a whiteboard marker for tracing the lines

Tracing with a whiteboard marker is a great way to begin using these because they are thicker to write with, easier to get them to leave ink (you don't need to press hard) and they are easy to erase, making them a great tool to start tracing with.


Wipeable pouch with dinosaur traceable pre-writing lines
Wipeable pouches mean the pages can be used again and again

Using a whiteboard marker to write puts less pressure on your child to get it right as they can easily rub it out and have another go, versus using a pencil or texta. It is also not permanent, which can help to encourage children to have a go at tracing, because it is erased at the end.


Triangular whiteboard markers can be bought, which I would recommend as they help to encourage the correct grip and are a thicker than lots of the regular size whiteboard markers. Ours pictured are not, but I think I will order some as developing the correct grip is important.



Laminate or Use Reusable Pouches

These pages can be laminated which makes them reusable, just erase with a damp cloth after use.


The pages can also be used in wipeable and reusable sheet protectors like the ones pictured above. I bought ours from Officeworks in a pack of three. You can find them here. (not an affiliate link). Other educational suppliers sell them too. They are fantastic to use with a whiteboard marker for a range of activities when your child is beginning to trace. They are also great to use when your child is learning to write their name, just slip in a printed copy of their name or a handwritten one for them to trace over again and again.



Use with Textas

Once your child has developed confidence with tracing the line with a whiteboard marker you can offer the printed pages for your child to try tracing with a texta. Once again the texta is easier to make a mark on the paper without a lot of pressure. They glide easily too.



Use with Crayons or Pencils

Another way you can use these pages once your child is feeling more confident is with a grey lead pencil or crayons. I recommend choosing pencils and crayons that are triangular shaped to encourage the correct grip and/or buying crayons like the crayon rocks (not an affiliate link) pictured below that are specially designed to encourage your child to hold the crayon correctly. These crayon rocks are fantastic for promoting the correct grip while holding them.


It is harder to trace the lines with a crayon or pencil, so I would suggest trying this after your child has worked with easier materials first and has grown in confidence. Miss 5 found this trickier with the rock crayon. She has been tracing lines and her name at preschool and home with a whiteboard marker. It will become easier the more often she does it. Another way to make this easier is to cut the strips up so that your child only traces a few lines at a time, instead of all of them, as it does require lots of concentration.


Tracing pages with rock crayons
Using Rock Crayons to trace the lines


Cutting with Scissors

Most of the pages in the dinosaur tracing and cutting pages document can be used for cutting practice too. To make this simpler you can cut apart the lines first before you give them to your child. Taping one end to the end of the table is a really handy tip when children are first beginning cutting.


The straight line pages are the easiest to start with, with the zigzag and curvy lines more challenging. Miss 5 has really been enjoying cutting out the dinosaurs and has gone back to this activity again and again.


Strips of paper with dinosaur pictures for cutting practice with scissors
Dinosaur cutting strips

Finally there is a dinosaur shapes page at the end. Miss 5 enjoyed cutting these dinosaurs out and decided to make them into puppets by adding popsticks.


Dinosaur pictures cut out to and stuck to popsticks to make dinosaur puppets
Dinosaur shapes cut out to make puppets

Make a dinosaur themed table

These pages would be perfect as part of a dinosaur themed play invitation. You could pair them with some dinosaur figurines, flashcards and books about dinosaurs too.



How to access this freebie:


Download your free copy of our dinosaur tracing and cutting pages by clicking the link below. If someone you know would like a copy, please let them know about this blog.



DINOSAUR TRACING AND CUTTING PRINTABLE



If you like this freebie and would like access to more free resources subscribe to the email list below or click here to get access to the VIP Free Playful library with 40+ free printables to support your playful learning journey!



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Fruit, transport and animal themed + more




 

Thank you for reading this blog post!


I hope you found some inspiration for supporting your children to develop their fine motor skills while learning to trace and use scissors.



Until next time have fun learning in a playful way!


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