If
you're looking for fonts which mimic lettering used to teach printed
letters and handwriting skills, you have come to the right place.
The so-called "ZB Kid Letters" is a complete set of fonts for teachers
and parents which make it fun and easy to teach writing skills to kids.
These fonts have been developed to assits teachers and parents teaching
handwriting.
The "ZB Kid Letters" fonts give you resources to help
students develop:
- Pattern movements and other basic motor skills.
- Proficiency in letter formation and shaping.
- Appropriate letter size and spacing.
The complete set includes dotted fonts, fonts with arrows,
with guidelines etc.
With these fonts, you can create your own exercises and
study books with the phrases and curriculum that you consider most
appropriate for learning handwriting. These fonts have been created
with the help of teachers to ensure best results and ease of use.
Nevertheless, note that my aim is not to substitute the school
workbooks. The fonts are intended to be a supplement to them.
They work within any Windows, Linux or Macintosh standard application
and can be used with such programs as Microsoft Word, Claris Works,
Apple Works, TexEdit, AbiWord, OpenOffice, WordPad and so on. For more
information, please see below.
HANDWRITING
STYLES
Handwriting or
penmanship is the art of writing with the hand and a writing
instrument. Different styles of writing have been popular at different
times and in different countries. Styles of handwriting are also called
hands or scripts. There are a variety of
handwriting styles. The most important methods for teaching children to
write (at least in USA) are the Zaner-Bloser method and the D'Nealian
system. Starting at the beginning of the 20th century Zaner-Bloser
became the dominant method in North America. Starting in the early
sixties, the D'Nealian system from the beginning has gained popularity
in many school districts in the United States.
A school district usually decides to teach one style. If
you have a child who is not yet attending school and is ready to write,
call the school office or contact the kindergarten teacher to learn the
handwriting style used. Naturally you always have the option of
teaching your child another method style, but it can be a needless
frustration for the child.
Homeschool parents have more options. Take time to
familiarize yourself with the various styles. Most start with a
manuscript form for the first several years, and then move into a
cursive form.
Whatever handwriting style your children use, please make handwriting
practice fun!
CHARACTERISTICS
OF "ZB KID LETTERS" FONTS
As mentioned
above there are many styles of handwriting, including: cursive,
manuscript, Italic etc, each with its own letter formation and
variation.
The "ZB Kid Letters" set of fonts belongs to the
Zaner-Bloser manuscript style of handwriting.
The "ZB
Kid Letters" family includes 10 different fonts with the ability to
trace dots, lines, arrows and a combination of these. Please see
samples below.
These manuscript fonts contain all the common signs, as
well as accented characters - acute accent, grave accent, circumflex,
tilde, diaeresis or umlaut mark, ring, cedilla, ae and oe ligatures, o
slash and German 'double s' -for Western European languages (Spanish,
French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian and
Swedish, among others)- and current symbols.
The "ZB
Kid
Letters"
typefaces
offer
a
family
of 10 font styles suited to all exercise sheets and workbooks: plain,
bold (heavy), dotted, with tracing arrows, with or without guidelines.
This typographic pack contains fonts covering all the
method's curriculum.
Here are samples of "ZB
Kid
Letters"
and
a
brief
description
of
each
of the handwriting fonts.
1.- ZB
Kid Letters. Upright
manuscript font without guidelines. This font is the basic.
2.- ZB
Kid Letters Bold. Upright
manuscript font without guidelines. This font can be used by the
teacher to stress indications.
3.- ZB
Kid Letters Guided. Upright
manuscript font with four guidelines (ruled lines).
4.- ZB
Kid Letters with Arrows. Upright
manuscript font with tracing arrows for beginners. Arrows give hints
about how to start letters.
5.- ZB
Kid Letters with Dots and Arrows. Upright
manuscript dotted font with arrows and stroke numbers
which offer guidance in direction and sequence.
6.-ZB
Kid Letters Dotted. Upright
manuscript dotted font for tracing.
7.- ZB
Kid Letters Dotted and Guided. Upright
manuscript dotted font with four guidelines (ruled
lines).
8.- ZB
Kid Letters with Arrows and Lines. Upright
manuscript font with four guidelines (ruled
lines)
and arrows.
9.- ZB
Kid Letters with Dots, Arrows and Lines. Manuscript
dotted font with arrows and four guidelines (ruled lines) which offer guidance in direction.
10.- ZB
Kid Letters Outline. This
manuscript font is an another approach to where to start letters.
Note that
the guided fonts have been designed so that the guidelines print out at
the same time as the letters.
To create continuous lines without letters (only
guidelines) use the space bar (space key), the logical sign (key ¬) or
the vertical line (key |).
VARIATIONS
ON ZANER-BLOSER STYLE
There are two variations of the Zaner-Bloser handwriting styles:
-Old or traditional style.
-New or simplified style.
The main differences between the two variations are in the
design of upper-case letters J and R.
In the old style the letter J has not top stroke, and the
diagonal leg in the letter R extends from curve, whereas in the new
style the letter J has top stroke, and the diagonal leg in the letter R
extends from vertical.
The "ZB
KidLetters"
fonts follow the Zaner-Bloser new style rules, however the fonts also
contain the old
style J
and R.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Teach children how to write numbers and the alphabet by
tracing the characters of these dotted fonts.
Make writing a connect-the-dot game using a dotted font.
Creating your own worksheets is fun and will often produce an
enthusiastic response from your children!
These fonts for children offer a unique material to let
children experiment and discover the first letterforms. Teach your
child to write the fun way.
Start with the kid's name, then progress to the names of
everyone in the family, favourite teddies and friends, and then on to
easy words and so son. Type your words in large letters.
There is no theoretical limit to the size of letters,
besides the practical limit of the application used to manage layout.
They can be printed very big to post on the blackboard, for instance.
Like any standard font, the "ZB Kid Letters" family of
fonts can be used in colors for personalized layouts and color-coded
exercises.
Use color to make the worksheets appealing, and add small
images using clipart from within Word or from graphic sites on the net.
For further
information about these fonts including more visual examples and
worksheets, please read the User's Manual (21 pages, PDF
format) included in the package you can download below.
SOFTWARE
REQUIREMENTS, INSTALLATION AND USE
The "ZB Kid
Letters" fonts are compatible with Windows (any version), Mac OS9 and
OSX, and Linux.
In fact,
this product is not really a program. It is a set of 10 fonts to be
used with other applications.
These
are standard fonts (8 bits, TTF format), so they can be used running
any Windows version and any word processor.
You can
also use them running Linux. I have successfully tried them under
Debian with OpenOffice.
These fonts
should be usable on Macintosh running OSX9 and OSX. This is not a
problem, since Mac recognizes PC TrueType fonts without complaint.
In any case, if you are very interested and you wish to
get a Mac version of these fonts (bin and dfont formats), I can produce
them in a Mac native format for you.
Installation is very easy, simply copy and paste the font
files into your Fonts folder located somewhere in your hard disk
(Library/Fonts in a Mac or Windows/Fonts in a PC).
After installation they can be used in any program such as
word processing or graphic programs, like any other standard
font. Simply access the font list and you will see the new fonts appear
with the existing fonts from before.
Select the font you wish from the font list, (a dotted
font, for instance), choose the correct size*, enter the sequences for
your child to trace and print. Your child can then begin to connect the
dots and learn the shape of the letters and numbers.
*You may use large sizes for better display (suggested
size-30 points or up).
EXERCISE
SHEETS
The
"ZB Kid Letters" fonts allow teachers and parents to create custom
hand-lettered exercise sheets and classroom
signage.
Doubtless these fonts will make your job so much easier
since you will be able to build custom assignments for your kids and
individualized practice sheets for each student in your classroom in minutes. They save a
lot of preparation time.
The worksheets below were developed with Kindergarten children in mind.
They provide letter recognition, phonics, reading and writing practice.
Please pass the cursor over the following images to see worksheets
created with these fonts:
(Aa) Letter formation -
(Bb) Letter formation -
(Cc) Letter formation
(Dd) Letter formation -
(1 and 2) Number formation
On
the other hand, children have a wonderful time using the "ZB Kid
Letters" fonts to tell stories. It gets them excited.
Click on the following link to see a document in PDF
format (222 kb, 14 pages) which contains samples of worksheets
created in Word with the "ZB Kid Letters" fonts. It will give you an
idea of what you can create yourself with these fonts.
I recommend you to print it to see exactly how this will
look on paper, because all these fonts are intended primarily for print
and may not show as well on the screen. Please keep in mind that what
you see is not always what you get. These typefaces are best rendered
on the printer, so they print legibly, not to display at small sizes on
the screen.
FREE
DOWNLOAD: EVALUATION VERSION OF "ZB KID LETTERS" FONTS
A
package which contains three "ZB Kid Letters" fonts in demo version and
an extensive user's manual (21 pages in PDF format) is available for
free download from this site.
It will let you play with the fonts so you can see if they work
for you before buying.
Please note that fonts in the package are identical to the
complete product except that the annoying watermark "TRYOUT" appears
accompanying some letters.
Click on the link below to download the evaluation font package.
Font package
500 kb (Manual in PDF format
+ 3 Demo
fonts )
This is a large file; therefore, please be
patient!
IMPORTANT:
Remember that you must unzip (extract) the files into a temporary
directory and then install the fonts.
PRICE AND
LICENSES
The "ZB Kid Letters" font package is very cheap, really! A single user license for the complete set of 10
fonts costs only
$20; that's just $2 per each font. It is a real bargain!
With the single user license you are allowed to use the
fonts at school and at home but not to share them with other teachers
or friends. Other friends should purchase their own copy of the fonts.
The font package is sent you as atttachment to an email message
(electronic delivery). It is important that you have an account which
can receive attachments.
I also offer the possibility to use the fonts for your
whole school. A school site license allows all teachers at the school
site to use the fonts at school and at home. This license costs only
$100. For that moderate price, you will be allowed to install the fonts
on all school's computers, as well as teacher's laptops and home
computers.
However, please note that price is for ONE school, and not
for whole district. In this last case I offer discount for several
schools.
Publishing houses are entitled to use the fonts in printed books or to
produce electronic documents which can be sold in their web pages.
This type of license is also appropriate for
software developers who wish to use the fonts in free or commercial
applications.
Click on
the corresponding button below to purchase the fonts online.
For other alternative methods of payment, please read the
information given in the user's manual or email me for further details.
Whatever license you choose, please do not make illegal
copies of this software. The software you are using was produced after
months of effort and hard work. Properly purchasing and licensing the
fonts will support this effort and will help the modest designer of
these fonts get the just reward for his work. Thanks.
After making the payment you will receive the fonts as
attachment to an email message sent to your email acount.
If you have questions or doubts, please do not hesitate to
contact me.
ONLINE
PAYMENT
If you own a
credit or debit card (Visa®, MasterCard®, Discover®, Maestro® and American Express®),
you can pay online, which means purchase can be made in a matter of
clicks.
This payment is being backed by PayPal®,
a
global leader in online payment solutions and credit card processing.
To make payments with PapyPal is easy, fast, free and secure for
buyers. Naturally, your transaction will be confidential and the
information you give will not be used for any reason other than the use
intended. PayPal protects your security.
(Note:
You are not required to have a Paypal account. By following the
instructions on the Paypal page, you may make your payment by credit
card or bank transfer.)
Depending on your choice, click on the corresponding
button below to purchase the "ZB Kid Letters" fonts online. In order to
avoid errors, please read carefully the information given below before
clicking on the PayPal button to order. Please be careful with your
choosing since depending on it you will get one item or other.
Option 1) – Complete font
package. Single
user license. "Electronic-only" delivery. The full package of 10
fonts costs US $20.
The 10 "ZB Kid Letters" fonts will be sent as attachment (ZIP file) to
your email account. With the single
user license you are allowed to use the fonts at school and at home,
but not to share them with other teachers or friends.
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Option 2) – Complete font package. School site license. "Electronic-only"
delivery. US
$100. You will receive the ZB
KidLetters font package as attachment (ZIP file) to
an email message.
The
fonts have not restrictions at all. All features are enabled. Even the
embedding feature is allowed: this means that the fonts may be embedded
in documents to produce PDF documents running Adobe Acrobat.
For that moderate
price, you will be allowed to install the fonts on all school's
computers, as well as teacher's laptops and home computers.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Option 3) – Complete font package. Publishing license or developer license "Electronic-only"
delivery. US $50.
You will receive the ZB
KidLetters font package as attachment (ZIP file) to
an email message.
The
fonts have not restrictions at all. All features are enabled. Even the
embedding feature is allowed: this means that the fonts may be embedded
in documents to produce PDF documents running Adobe Acrobat.
For that moderate
price, publishing
houses are entitled to use the fonts in printed books or to produce
electronic documents which can be sold in their web pages.
This type of license is also appropriate for software developers who
wish to use the fonts in free or commercial applications.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT
THINGS TO NOTE :
1.- Whatever option you choose, please send me a message after making
the payment through PayPal in order to confirm that you are really who
ordered the font.
In
most cases I will reply to your message in due time (normally within a
day or so), unless I was on holydays, then it will take a little more
time, since I only will able to check my emails from time to time,
(usually every four days, more or less or even a little more during the
summer) so be patient, however, be sure that you will receive my
response. Sorry for this inconvenience.
2.- Orders can be placed 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Your order will
be processed within 24-48 hours after receiving the payment.
3.- Evidently, any modification or public distribution of these fonts
is not permited under any circumstance.
AUTHOR
Just
in case you are wondering who is Juan-José Marcos, click here and you will find some
information about the author of these fonts and this website.
More fonts designed by the same author HERE.
SUGGESTIONS AND QUERIES
I have taken
care to see that these fonts work as well as possible, nevertheless, if
you find any fault, feel free to email me.
Although you do not purchase the fonts, please, send me
comments, suggestions for improvements or anything else regarding my
"ZB Kid Letters" fonts. I would like to know your opinion about my work.
I really would appreciate having users' feedback.
Such reaction from users will be the deciding factor in my
decision of carrying on with the development of more fonts for kids
(Handriting Without Tears style, for example). Do not hesitate to
contact me. Thanks.
If you are
looking for fonts in the D'Nealian style of handwriting, please
click on the following link to visit my webpage devoted to
fonts based on the D'Nealian style of
handwriting. There you will find a package of 10 fonts that follow the
guidelines of the D'Nealian method.
juanjmarcosgmail.com
Juan-José Marcos
Plasencia. Spain.
This page last updated on January 2024.
Online since 2006.