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Finger tracing: hiragana and katakana, stroke by stroke

For parents of children learning to write Japanese kana. Your child traces each stroke with a finger, in order, from the blue dot; the page checks that the stroke goes the right way. Free, no sign-up.

This week's practice, to send to family →

How to use it with your child

  1. Choose hiragana or katakana and a row (あ行, か行 …), or Mix for 10 at random. The animation on this page shows the first one's stroke order.
  2. Tap Start on this device. Trace the darker grey stroke with a finger, starting from the blue dot and its number.
  3. A stroke that follows the line in the right direction turns to ink. If it goes the wrong way or misses, the page says why and shows the stroke.
  4. Show me plays the whole character's stroke order at any time. For pencil practice on paper, print the tracing sheets.

Which school years it suits

Preschool (age 4–6) and Year 1 (小1), when kana are first written; also for older children learning Japanese.

Where the stroke order comes from

The strokes and their order come from KanjiVG, a free stroke-order database by Ulrich Apel, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 licence. The page compares the shape and direction of each traced stroke with KanjiVG's, with room for small hands; it doesn't judge neatness.

Hangul and zhuyin aren't in KanjiVG, so finger tracing covers kana for now; the paper tracing sheets cover all four scripts.

Ready-made links

Questions parents ask

My child's stroke looked right but didn't count.

The stroke has to start near the blue dot and follow the grey line to its end. A stroke that is very short, or goes from the end back to the start, is shown again so your child can watch the way it goes.

Can my child use a stylus or a mouse?

Yes. A finger, a stylus or a mouse all work; a tablet gives the biggest box to trace in.