Lying Figure Eights Tracing Worksheet — Large Patterns, Draw from the Model, 4 Rows, Ages 5–6
Lying eights, also called lazy eights, sit on four large rows; each row shows one solid and one dashed eight, then 5–6 year olds draw the double loops on their own.
1 A4 page · for home and classroom use
Lying figure eights
How to use this worksheet
- Start at the dot in the middle where the two loops meet, go up and round the left loop and back to the middle, then up and round the right loop and back again.
- Trace the solid and dashed eights without lifting the pencil inside a figure.
- Draw the remaining eights along the row, each one standing on the bottom guide line with two loops of equal size.
What this worksheet teaches
A lying eight asks the hand to pass through the same central point again and again and to switch the direction of turning between the left and the right loop. Teachers and occupational therapists often use lazy eights as a warm-up because they combine continuous flow with a crossing point in the center. Drawing them from a model trains the child to keep both halves symmetrical and the same size. At a large size the whole forearm takes part, which makes the rhythm easier to feel before it is done smaller.
Play idea
Race track: each eight is a little race track. Your child drives a finger round each loop twice before drawing the next eight freehand, saying “left loop, right loop” out loud.