Crayon Box Name Craft
Craft projects are one of my FAVORITE elements to add to the kindergarten learning routine from the very first day of school! This crayon box name craft is the perfect option for the beginning of the school year.
Benefits of Crafts in Kindergarten
Crafts are such a helpful part of the curriculum all year long. However, there are many reasons why crafts are an especially great addition to your lesson plans at the beginning of the year.
- Fine Motor Practice: Young students need lots and lots of practice with fine-motor skills during the school year in order to become more comfortable with using school tools. Crafts are great for practicing skills like coloring, cutting, and gluing! Your students can improve their hand strength and coordination as they cut out and assemble a craft project. They will quickly learn the appropriate amount of glue needed to attach craft pieces, which is knowledge that will serve them well for the rest of the year (and save a lot of glue sticks)!
- Community-Building Display: When students complete a craft (especially a craft about themselves) and see it put on display in the classroom, students will feel like they belong. This is such an important way to build community at the beginning of the year!
- Engaging Skill Practice: Learning crafts are a great way to help your students practice listening to and following step-by-step directions, spatial awareness skills, and fine motor skills, all WHILE learning important concepts and facts.
How to Create a Crayon Box Name Craft
In kindergarten, we focus a lot on name practice at the beginning of the year. Young kindergarten students often need plenty of repetition with skills like name identification and writing the letters in their names. This is why kindergarten teachers are always looking for ways to make this repetitive practice more fun and engaging for students. This crayon box name craft is a perfect example! Creating this fun craft is a great way to help students practice spelling their names, plus it makes an adorable classroom decoration for the beginning of the school year.
Step One: Prep Crayon Name Template
To make the craft, each student will need a crayon box craft template and enough crayons to spell out their name. If you just want your students to work on recognizing and ordering the letters in their name, you can give them crayon pieces with the letters of the name already on them.
If you want students to practice letter formation, you can give them blank crayon templates for them to write on. You can have them write their names on a piece of paper first so they can count the letters in their name and decide how many crayons they will need. This paper can also serve as a reference as they fill out their crayons. (If your students have name tags on their desks, they could reference those instead.) You can have students write the letters on the crayons now or after the next step of the craft.
Step Two: Attach Crayons to Box
Next, have students arrange the crayons so they fit inside the crayon box. Make sure to show them how to apply the glue only to the bottom of the crayon so the letters still show when they are attached to the box. If you want your students to practice writing the letters in their name, they can write each letter after they glue the crayons down.
Step Three: Count Letters and Write Name
After they complete their name, have them count how many letters are in their name and write it on a red circle. Then they can glue the circle onto their crayon box. You can also write or have your students write their name on their crayon box as well. This craft is also editable if you’d like to have the name printed onto the crayon box instead.
Step Four: Create a Display
These crayon box crafts make the cutest bulletin board display at the beginning of the year or any time of the year, really! Just glue the completed craft onto a 9″x12″ piece of construction paper for stability and staple them onto the bulletin board. This is a great way to add some name recognition practice to your day, since students will love to look for their name craft on display! Over time, they’ll also start trying to find the names of their friends on the bulletin board, as well. This is such a fun way to build community at the beginning of the year!
Printable Crayon Box Name Craft
Would you like to use this craft in your classroom? I have put together an easy-to-use template that will help you plan this craft project in no time at all! The templates are editable if you’d like to have the letters and names printed onto the craft, or you can print off blank versions so students can practice letter formation.
The crayon box template includes both English and Spanish language options and the boxes are wide enough to accommodate first names of varying lengths. Just click below to find this craft in my shop so your students can practice their names with a hands-on and engaging activity.
Crayon Box Name Craft
More Back to School Activities
This crayon box name craft is also included in my Back to School Activity Bundle. You can get a jump start on your lesson planning for the beginning of the school year with this bundle that includes morning work printables, editable name practice booklets, centers, and much more! These engaging activities are a great supplement to your lesson plans and will help you create fun memories with your students. If you’d like to take a closer look at everything included in this bundle of low-prep activities, just click below to find it in my shop.
Back to School Activity Bundle
Save This Crayon Box Name Craft
Be sure to save this post so you can come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite Pinterest board of classroom crafts. You’ll be able to quickly find this crayon box craft when you’re working on your lesson plans for the beginning of the year!
