Handing a child a page of identical dotted letters teaches them to follow dots. Taking the dots away too soon teaches them that writing is something they fail at. These sheets walk down a fading ladder instead, in small enough steps that the child mostly does not notice them. The dots thin out by about a sixth each rung — and shrink and lighten as they go — so no single line is much harder than the one above it.
Start with the most help a child can get — a finished letter to watch, then dense dots — and withdraw it one notch at a time. Errors stay rare, so the movement that gets practised is the correct one.
Improvement is fastest at the very start and then flattens. The demonstration row needs one repetition; the middle of the ladder, where the real motor learning happens, gets the most rows.
Five short sheets on five days beat five sheets in one sitting. Each new day reopens one rung easier to re-prime the movement, then carries on down the ladder.
Two-inch letters with wide dots suit a whole-hand or fist grip and gross-motor arm movements. Small boxes demand finger control most toddlers do not have yet.
Rough guide, not a rulebook: most children trace before they copy and copy before they write from memory, somewhere between about three and five years old. Follow the child — if a row is a struggle, go back a sheet. Short and cheerful beats long and correct.