Good first characters
Pick characters with few strokes that look like what they mean: 人 (person), 口 (mouth), 山 (mountain), 日 (sun), 月 (moon). Kids remember pictures more easily than abstract shapes.
Settings for little hands
- Large boxes, so there is room for wobbly strokes.
- Five tracing boxes with fading on, so they trace more before writing alone.
- Three or four characters per session is plenty at this age.