Dot to Dot Generator

Make a printable dot to dot puzzle from eight pictures with 5 to 100 dots. Dots are spaced evenly, and the answer can be shown as a dashed outline.


Download SVG
Anything from 5 to 100 dots. The dots are spaced evenly around the outline, so a low count gives a simple angular picture and a high count a smooth one. Tick the answer to see the finished shape as a dashed line.

This is the Star with 30 dots. Join them in order from 1 and the last dot closes the shape back to the first.

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How the puzzle is made

Each picture is stored as a closed outline, and the dots are then resampled evenly along it by distance rather than being placed at the outline's own corners. That is what lets the dot count be anything you like: ask for 12 and you get twelve dots the same distance apart, ask for 80 and you get eighty. It also means the shape stays recognisable at every count, because no part of the outline can be skipped. The numbers sit on the outward side of each dot, worked out from the direction the outline is travelling at that point, so a label never lands inside the picture where it would be joined up by mistake.

Choosing the number of dots

The dot count is really an age setting. Five to fifteen dots gives a big angular shape that a child who is still learning to count can finish, and the picture is obvious before they start. Twenty to forty is the usual range for a puzzle that takes a few minutes and still reads as a picture at the end. Sixty to a hundred turns it into a proper drawing exercise with smooth curves, and is where the number sequence rather than the picture becomes the point. If you are using it to practise counting in twos or tens, pick a count that divides neatly.

Worth knowing

  • The last dot joins back to dot 1, so every picture is a closed loop and there is no loose end.
  • Tick Show the answer to print the finished outline as a dashed line, which is useful for checking a child's work.
  • The drawing is measured in millimetres, so printing at 100% and not fit to page gives a full size sheet.
  • The SVG download is a vector, so it can be scaled up for a wall display without going blurry.
  • Nothing is stored. The puzzle is generated on our server and discarded once the page has been sent.

Frequently asked questions

It depends on the child rather than the picture. Five to fifteen suits a young child still learning to count, twenty to forty is the usual range for a few minutes of work, and sixty to a hundred makes it a drawing exercise with smooth curves. Every count keeps the shape recognisable because the dots are spread evenly round the whole outline.

Tick Show the answer and the finished outline is drawn as a dashed line through the dots. It prints that way too, which is handy if you want a copy to check against rather than working it out yourself.

Yes. Every outline is a closed loop, so joining the last dot back to dot 1 completes the picture. There is no loose end to work out and no ambiguity about where to stop.

The sheet is drawn in millimetres and comes out around 20 cm square, so as long as your printer is set to 100% and not to fit to page it prints at that size. Press Print the puzzle and everything except the drawing is hidden.

Yes, print or download as many as you like. The SVG download is a vector, so it can be dropped into a worksheet, scaled up for a display or recoloured without losing quality.

So they cannot be mistaken for part of the picture. Each label is pushed outwards along a line at right angles to the outline at that dot, which keeps it clear of the lines a child is about to draw.

Not here. This tool works from a set of built in outlines, which is what lets it guarantee that the dots are evenly spaced and the shape stays recognisable at any count. Tracing an arbitrary photograph is a different and much less reliable job.

From around three, once a child can recognise numerals and put them in order. Below about ten dots it is mostly counting practice; above forty it becomes pencil control and concentration. The same picture works across that whole range simply by changing the dot count.

How do you make a dot to dot puzzle?

Pick a picture, choose 5 to 100 dots, and the puzzle is drawn straight away. The dots are spaced evenly around the outline, so the shape stays recognisable at any count, and the last dot joins back to the first. Tick the answer to see the finished outline, then print at true size or download the SVG.