Turn your child's handwriting into a font
Children's handwriting changes every year. Turn this year's into a font, and type notes, cards and gifts in it long after it's grown up.
A keepsake you can use
A drawing goes on the fridge. A font of your child's handwriting lets you write new things in it: a letter to Grandma, a birthday card, the label on their lunchbox. Some ideas:
- A card or letter to grandparents, typed in your child's own letters.
- Captions for a photo book or a family calendar.
- Mugs, T-shirts and tote bags, with a Cricut or a print shop.
- Name labels for school bags, books and lunchboxes.
- A little book of the stories they tell you.
- A new font every September, to see how their writing grows.
Two ways to start
| The printable template | Pages they've already written | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | One box per character. The first page alone makes a complete font. | 5–10 pages of their notebooks, stories, cards or letters |
| Good for | Younger children: every letter has its place, and empty boxes are fine | Older children who already write a lot, and pages you've kept |
| Time | Two or three short sittings | About 5 minutes to photograph |
Children usually print separate letters, which is what works best. For uploaded pages, pick ones that are mostly their own writing, rather than worksheets full of printed text.
Step by step
Print the template, or gather their pages
The template comes in A4 and Letter. For pages, look for ones with lots of different letters on them.
Hand them a dark pen
A felt-tip or a gel pen works better than pencil, which is often too faint. Use the same pen throughout, so the letters match.
Let them write the way they always do
Wobbly lines and big loops are the point, so don't correct them. Ten minutes at a time is plenty; the template can be filled in over a few days. Lowercase letters matter most, because they're most of what you type.
Photograph each page
From straight above, in good light, with the whole page in the frame. On the template, make sure all four corner squares show.
Check the letters
You see every letter we found. If one came out smudged or cut off, swap it for another version or take it out. Letters they skipped get stand-ins drawn in their style, which you can replace later with a photo of a few more words. That's free.
Try it, then download it
Type anything with it in the browser, for free. When you're happy, download it for $9 and install it on your computer like any other font.
For more detail on each step, see how to turn your handwriting into a font.
Questions
What age can a child do this?
As soon as they can write most letters on their own. Younger children can fill in just the lowercase letters on the template; everything else gets a stand-in drawn in their style.
My child's letters are messy. Will it work?
Yes. Messy is fine, as long as the letters don't touch and they're written in a dark pen. You see every letter before paying, and can swap or take out any that didn't come out well.
Is my child's handwriting safe with you?
The photos are deleted as soon as the font is made. There's no account: the font sits at a private link only you have. If you buy it, we keep it so you can download it again, until you delete it.
Can grandparents have the font too?
Yes. Once bought, you can share it with the people you made it for, and use it for anything, personal or commercial.
What does it cost?
Making and trying the font is free. Downloading it costs $9, once per font.