Nearing school-going years, one of the most powerful tools an educator or parent can gift a child is the ability to get familiar with their own name.
In this blog we delve into some fun-filled name activities for preschoolers – it’s not just about scribbling letters but giving them a little nudge of confidence and a whole lot of love for learning! Incorporating letters into everyday adventures and exploring the differences between letters and words is more fun for the kids than given credit.
A few tips to keep in mind about learning the name…
Most young children are very interested in their name and it is incredibly personal to them. Often, a child’s name is the first word they learn how to read and write, which leads to further interest in reading and writing activities.
Senior toddlers or pre-schoolers are typically best placed to start fostering an interest in their name. This often helps children settle into their learning environment as they feel more confident being able to recognise their named belongings amongst their peers.
Name games
1. Sign-in area: Everyday when a child enters the home-based educator’s home, they must find their name card and place it into an “in” bucket to indicate they are present.
2. Playdough stamp: Many early childhood teachers would argue that there is no better resource than playdough. It is such a fabulous manipulative that can help develop fine motor skills and it can be used in many different ways. Many of our home-based educators talk up using alphabet dough stampers to stamp out our names, which builds children’s confidence in recognising and spelling their names.
3. Sensory writing trays: No stress of holding a pencil. Simply writing out letters in a sand of tray. Every day extend the letter play to a more structured name creation.
4. Alphabet pebbles are a favourite with children due to their texture. Simply collect a bunch of pebbles or slightly larger stones, paint letters on each and tell the children to find letters for their name. Make it more exciting by putting these pebbles in a secret toy chest or at the back of a toy dump truck to add further excitement into finding alphabets for their name.
5. Threading letter beads: Build motor skills while learning the name by using letter beads to create necklaces and bracelets. For advanced learners, a combination of upper and lower case beads can be used.
6. Get one with nature: Next time you take the children out for a walk, ask them to collect leaves. Back at your home-based childcare, children can stamp or paint letters of their names of these leaves. Much more engaging than stamping on the paper, or some would argue using playdough!
7. Using arts and crafts. Setting up a quick craft session can be a fun and creative way to get your little learners to start recognising their name. Write your child’s name in big letters on a larger piece of paper. Then give your children some craft items, using these to trace over or decorate their name a large sheet of paper.
8. Shaving cream and names: Spread shaving cream or a similar textured cream on the table. Now encourage the children to write their names using their fingers on the cream.
Conclusion
This is our little treasure trove of hands-on name activities! And remember, this isn’t just about keeping the kids busy – it’s about nurturing those tiny steps towards big and exciting learning adventures.
