Name activities are currently our jam.

My three-year-old is beginning to recognize the letters in his name, and my five-year-old is learning how to write his name with lowercase letters. Name activities are just a blast.

Especially for Breakfast Invitations!

Slow and steady, you will always see progress when your preschooler shows interest. 

When your child is ready, name activities are a blast to play!

RELATED: We cannot have too many kid activities at home! Which is why we created this amazing list for you to have easy access to in a flash.

How can I help my child with letter recognition?

I love beginning to teach my children to recognize the letters of the alphabet through movement and play.

We begin by starting with the letters in their name.

Names are important, and names hold personal meaning to your child. Your child will perk up when they see that the letters in front of them are the letters in their name!

You can help your child with letter recognition by having alphabet resources to expose them to different letters.

We begin to teach name activities for preschool with simple ideas such as:

Find your name. 

Match your name.

Where is your name? 

Find the letters in your name. – (like this rock letter game)

Identify the letters in your name.

There are so many fun and simple ways to play name activities with preschoolers!

Why is name recognition important, and how can name activities help?

By Kindergarten, children learning under the Common Core will recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.

Children will also begin to be asked to recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Let’s begin to explore these important skills with our preschoolers with name activities!

How do you make learning letters fun?

Isn’t this such a great question?

The simple answer is learning letters through play.

Play can take many different forms.

With these fun name activities, children are learning with guided play. This variation of play suggests that an adult sets up a play prompt for a child with a specific intention in mind.

Play can also be child-led. This form of play is when the child takes the lead in making the decisions and choosing the materials used.

Parents and caregivers must understand the importance of play, so your child is allowed the time to reach plays full potential with learning.

Let’s get started with this simple name activity you see above.

• Tape down a large piece of paper.

• Write different family names throughout the paper.

• Write the same names on notecards, or here I used sentence strips (listed below).

RELATED: Learn the stages of pencil grip and how to improve fine motor strength at home.

Supplies:

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Name matching game directions

• Allow your preschooler to shuffle through the basket of names to find their match. 

• Once this is mastered, try adding other family member names.

• Begin to talk about how different names are similar and how they are different. Pay close attention to the beginning letters and the last letters of each name.

• VARIATION: Post the names throughout the house to search and find before placing on the large paper roll.

RELATED: Curious about our favorite supplies? See our Amazon supply shop here.

Want More Preschool Name Activities?

Of course, you do! 

Here are my favorite name activities for preschoolers:

Find Your Name – Days with Grey

Name Posters – Days with Grey

Sticker Names – Busy Toddler 

Flower Name Hunt – Toddler Approved

Crayon Names – Happily Ever Mom

Crack a Name – Days with Grey

Name Recognition with Movement – Munchkins and Moms 

Hot Glue Name Recognition – Stay at Home Educator 

Family Name Cards – Days with Grey 

DIY Name Cards – The Mama Workshop

Mega Blok Names – Happy Toddler Playtime

Sticker Name Sort – Busy Toddler 

Name Recognition Soup – Munchkins and Moms 

Cap Names – Happy Toddler Playtime

DIY Name Construction – Days with Grey

Button Name Recognition – Stay at Home Educator