Dino Kids
Alphabet tracing app for kids: letter names, A–Z tracing and counting to 20
Dino Kids starts with an alphabet board of 26 cards, Aa to Zz: tap one to hear the letter's name, then an example word — “ay … apple” — with a picture for a child who cannot read yet. From there your child traces every capital and small letter in stroke order with a finger, following an arrow that shows which way to go.
- Free
- No advertising
- No in-app purchases
- No account needed
iPad and iPhone (iOS 15 and later) · Android phones and tablets (7.0 and later) · Rated 4+
- 26letter cards, Aa to Zz
- 52capitals and small letters to trace
- 0–20counting cards in English
- 354characters with stroke order
An ABC app for toddlers: tap a letter, hear its name
Each card on the English alphabet board has the letter, its name, a picture and an example word that begins with it. Tap the card and the app says the name first, then the word, so a three-year-old learns the shape and the sound of the name together without needing to read.
- Letter names: “ay”, “bee”, “see” — the name first, then a word that starts with the letter.
- Counting 0–20: the numeral, a row of dots to count and the English word on one card.
- Digits 0–9 to trace in stroke order, in the Math section.
- English and American folk tales such as Goldilocks and The Little Red Hen, read aloud in English, for when the letters are done.
Letter tracing in stroke order, one stroke at a time
Each letter sits on faint guide lines. A blinking dot marks where to put a finger down, arrows flow along the stroke in the direction to write, and a line such as “Stroke 2 of 3” says how far there is to go. A stroke that matches stays on the page and the next one begins.
- Easy letters first. Capitals open with straight lines — I, L, T, E, F, H — then slanted ones, then curves. Small letters open with o, c, e and l.
- Mistakes are just another try. A stray stroke fades so your child can have another go, with no limit, no red and no “wrong”. Going the opposite way plays the model stroke at once, and the “Watch it again” button is always there.
- Stars at the end. The result screen puts your child's letter next to the model. Stars not yet earned are drawn as outlines, so nobody ever gets zero.
- Hear what you write. The “Listen” button says the letter being traced.
The app was built for children who hold the device in one hand, so a resting finger on the glass does not spoil the stroke, and every button is at least 88 points across.
More alphabets: kana, Hangul and first Chinese characters
English is one of five alphabets in the app, and the others work the same way: tap to hear, trace in stroke order.
- Japanese: all 104 hiragana and 46 katakana, with kana tracing; 2,141 kanji in ten levels for older children.
- Korean: 40 Hangul letters, consonants and vowels, with tracing.
- Chinese: 39 first characters with pinyin, in mainland Chinese stroke order.
- Vietnamese: 29 letters, tone marks and Grade 1 syllable building. Its 22 shared Latin letters use the same strokes as English, so an a is written one way everywhere.
You choose which languages each child sees. More on the learning languages page.
See which letters your child is stuck on
The “Three things today” card on the home screen picks three tasks a day for each child, and the first is usually the letter they get wrong most often — one tap goes straight to it. The 7-day report in the parents' area lists three letters to practise next week. All of it is worked out on the device and sent nowhere.
You can also replace the app voice with your own for letters and words; anything you have not recorded keeps the app voice, so there is no rush. The steps are in Record your own voice for lessons, and if school is coming up, see Is my child ready for kindergarten?
Questions parents ask
Is this alphabet tracing app really free?
Yes. Dino Kids is free on the App Store and Google Play, with no subscription, no in-app purchases and no advertising. The alphabet board, letter tracing and counting are all open from the first launch.
What age is it for?
From age 3. A child who cannot read yet can still play alone, because every card speaks when tapped and every letter shows where to start and which way to go. Older children have the other alphabets and 2,141 Japanese kanji to grow into.
Does it teach letter names or letter sounds?
Letter names. Tap B and it says “bee”, then an example word that starts with B. There is no English phonics blending in the app; the step-by-step syllable building it does have is for Vietnamese.
What happens if my child traces a letter the wrong way?
The stray stroke fades so your child can try again, as many times as they like, with no red marks and no “wrong”. If a stroke goes the opposite way, the app plays the model stroke straight away. Every finished letter earns at least one star.
Does the alphabet tracing app work offline?
Yes. The stroke data for every alphabet and the voice for the letters, example words and numbers are inside the app from the moment it is installed.
In the same app
Letters are one part of it. The same app also has:
- Over 250 colouring pictures, colour mixing, free drawing and dot-to-dot
- Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese for children
- Maths and thinking puzzles for ages 3 to 6
- Piano from zero
- 100 English and American folk tales to read free
- 999 picture word cards in five languages
- Look up 2,141 Japanese kanji
Install it and hand it over
Free, no advertising, no in-app purchases. Your child can start tracing letters straight away, with no account to create.