Name chanting in preschool

I had one more activity that I wanted to share on names (for now)...   Play this little name chant with the preschoolers in your class....

What you will need...

1. A bag
2. Each child's name printed on a sentence strip (upper and lower case letters).

What to do...

1. Place all the names in the bag.

How to play...

1. Reach your hand in the bag and pull out one name and hold it up for the children to see.
2. Ask the children to guess or tell you whose name you are holding.
3. Have that child stand up next to you.
4. Have the children help you chant each of the letters in the child's name with the following cheer...

Give me a T...    T!

Give me an a...   a!

Give me a b...     b!

Give me an e...   e!

Give me a t...     t!

Give me an h...    h!

Give me an a...    a!

What does that spell?  Tabetha! 

Work with children to create name graphs

Help preschoolers learn to recognize their names with these graphing activities. The activity you choose to use will depend on the age and readiness of your students.

When participating in any type of graphing activity, always make sure your students are involved in the process and once the graph is completed, ask the children questions about the graph. Some examples are shown below.  These graphing activities are all shown as floor activities but they can certainly be done on large chart paper or in other formats.

Activity 1: How many letters are in your name?
Review the results of the graph: How many children have three letters in their name? How many children have four letters in their name? And so forth....

Activity 2: How many syllables are in your name?
Review the results of the graph: How many children have one syllable in their name? How many children have two syllables in their name? And so forth....

Activity 3: What letter does your name start with?

Review the results of the graph: How many names start with the letter A, the letter B, the letter C? And so forth.

Activity 4: Boys and Girls

Review the results of the graph: How many boys are in this class today? How many girls are in this class? 

Activity 5: Shortest to Longest

Review the results of the graph: Which names are shorter? Which names are longer? Why are some names shorter? Why are some names longer? How many letters are in the shorter names? How many letters are in the longer names?

Activity 6: Alphabetical Order

Review the results of the graph: Which names are at the beginning of the alphabet? Which names are in the middle of the alphabet? Which names are at the end of the alphabet?

Name sensory activities for preschoolers

Create a name sensory card for each of the children in your class and then try the activities described below!

What the teacher will do...

1. Print each child's name on a sentence strip using upper and lower case letters.
2. Trace each letter of the name with a thick line of glue.
3. Set aside to dry.

Activities the children can do once the glue is completely dry...

Letter imprints
The children can place a thin sheet of paper over the dried glue name and using the edge of a crayon, color the paper to leave a print of their name.

Tape the name card to the back of a thin sheet of paper to keep the card from sliding around.

Flip the paper over and color the paper pressing down hard on the name card.

Other Ideas

Name Feeling Game
Place one or two cards in the middle of  a table and see if the children can guess which name is their name by closing their eyes and feeling the letters.
(Provide hints - is your name long or short? How many letters do you feel? How many letters are in your name? What letter does your name start with? Can you feel the beginning letter of your name?)

Name painting
Let the children paint over the dried glue on their name cards with watercolor paints to create a beautiful name card and display the decorated names in the classroom.

How many sounds are in your name?

Use a sentence strip to make a name card for each child.

1. Hold up a name card and say the child's name aloud.
2. As you say the name, point to each syllable in the child's name.
3. Have the children clap for each syllable.

Ta   -    be    -    tha        (say it)

clap  -   clap   -   clap     (clap it)

One   -   Two   - Three   (count it)

If a visual is needed...

1. Take a pair of scissors and cut the card into each syllable section.
2. Place each section on a chart or board for the children to view as you say, clap, and count the sounds.
3. Repeat the steps shown above for each child.

Create a name puzzle for your preschoolers

Help your preschoolers recognize the letters in their name with this little puzzle activity.

Write each child's name on a sentence strip using upper and lower case letters.

Write each child's name on a sheet of construction paper and add a rectangle with the same number of columns under the child's name.

Create a second sentence strip with the child's name only this time, cut the letters of the name apart.

Mix up the letters

Have the child place the letters in the correct column using the printed name above as a guide.

Once the child has placed all the letter in the correct order, let the child glue the letters in place. Encourage the child to look at the name card if the child isn't sure which order the letters go in. 

Once all the letters are glued on, set aside to dry.

Take time for a little name printing practice

These are just a few activities I have used to teach or provide some practice in name writing skills...

Laminate a name card for children to view and reference as they print their name throughout the day without having to constantly ask the teacher for help...

Provide a variety of name printing activities throughout the school year...

Pick one idea at a time to let children try out and practice...
Although I am showing each idea on one piece of paper - I don't present all the different forms of name writing practice (like those shown above) to the children at one time.


Shown above..
1. Print child's name and child traces over it.
2. Make boxes to form the shape of the child's name and child fills in each box.
3. Print child's name and child uses three or four colors to rainbow trace the name.
4. Print first letter only and child finishes the name.
5. Print every other letter and leave a blank line for child to fill in the missing letters of the name.

Write in Upper and Lower case letters...

Teach children from the very beginning to use Upper Case letter to begin the name and all lower case letters to complete the name. Don't teach name writing in all capital letters!

Print name in upper left hand corner of paper... 

Teach children to start with the pencil or crayon placed on the left side of the paper. This helps children learn to print from left to right. It also helps prevent children from printing their name backwards as shown above.

Here is a great idea from Mom Tried It for helping preschoolers hold a pencil properly...