We focus a lot on teaching kindergarteners the alphabet and numbers, but there is one other important skill they must master right away…writing their names! Some kiddos come to school having never spelled or written their name before, so it’s crucial to get in as much name writing practice as possible.
Over the years, I have come up with tons of hands-on centers and activities to practice identifying their names, ordering the letters in their names, and writing their names correctly (uppercase at the beginning and the rest lowercase). Read on for helpful tips and ideas to freshen up name writing practice in your classroom! These activities will be perfect to incorporate into your back-to-school plans!
Hands-On Name Practice
When it comes to kindergarteners, hands-on activities are the way to go! Not only are they fun and engaging for the kids, but it also encourages them to use fine-motor skills and coordination. You can have your students practice writing their names using sensory bags. Simply fill large, gallon zipper baggies with a variety of materials, such as colored rice, shaving cream, hair gel, glitter, cereal, etc. They’ll have a blast forming their names in the baggie of fun. Plus, there’s no mess to clean up! ??
Another fun idea is to have them build their names using tools such as wikki stix, unifix cubes, or play dough. This will help them with letter formation and letter attributes. Your kinesthetic learners will love this! Their coordination and fine motor skills will be put to use as they manipulate the objects into the letters of their name.
Turn Names Into Art
Name writing practice can also easily be turned into simple art projects. For an easy, artsy way to practice name writing, break out the sidewalk chalk, head outside, and write names on the sidewalk. Fresh air and a change of scenery is always refreshing for everyone. ☀️Another colorful activity for name writing practice is to paint their names using watercolors or kwik stix paint sticks. You can even just use water and paintbrushes and have them water-paint their names on the sidewalk! Easy, fun, and no clean up required!
One of my favorite name writing projects are these name caterpillars! Your students will be so excited to have their names hanging up in the hallway or classroom. You can also keep the letter pieces in baggies and have them practice over and over again!
To set up this project, give each student enough construction paper circles and have them write the letters of their name on each circle, or you can have the letters already printed as shown above. Have your students spell out their name with the letters, then add a face using a different colored circle, googley eyes, and pipe cleaners for the antennae.
Make a Name Book
What better way to practice name writing than creating a book all about your name?! Name writing books are a fun way to build students’ confidence as they learn to write their names. By including a variety of ways to practice, fine motor skills get involved. My name writing books are editable, making prep super easy! With these books, your students will practice:
✏️tracing their name
✏️writing their name
✏️counting the letters in their name
✏️building their name with blocks
✏️building their name with stickers
✏️painting their name
The BEST thing about these books is you can make a class set in minutes! Just add your class list into the editable PDF and voila- all your books are made! You can find these name books as part of my Back to School activity bundle too!
Do you have any other fun name writing activities that you do? I’d love to hear about them!
