Use name kits to help teach young children their name. They are a simple and easy tool that I love using every year!
Related: 15+ Name Activities for Preschool
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Name Kits for Preschool Name Practice
I like to work a lot with students’ names when I’m teaching. Their names are incredibly important to the children, as are their friends’ names. If it’s meaningful to them, the kiddos are much more active and involved in the learning process!
Four and five year old children are learning how to write their names, so this is a logical offshoot of that.
At the beginning of the year, my students and I make these “name kits” to keep in their book boxes for the year. I include a few different items in each child’s name kit, and each can be tailored to the specific needs of individual children. These are perfect for preschool and kindergarten name practice, and of course homeschool!
Materials Needed for the Name Kits
You can make adjustments to the name kits based on what you have on-hand or what you’d rather include in them.
Here’s what we used:
- Sentence strips
- Magnetic letters that spell their names
- Small zipper baggies
- Name Books
- Small manila envelopes (6 inches x 9 inches)
Parts of the Name Practice Kit
Related: 10 More Preschool Name Activities
First, neatly write the child’s name on a sentence strip and laminate it. The student uses this as a reference for how his name should look. Laminating it helps it to last all year, and it allows the child to trace over my writing using a dry erase marker.
Next, make a name puzzle. This is basically the child’s name written on a sentence strip, laminated, and cut apart into individual letters. This allows the student to explore name practice by putting her name together in the correct manner.
The next “ingredient” is magnetic letters. I love to have the students pick these out themselves. These are the letters in his name, of course, and go into a baggie for the name kit. I find that snack-sized bags are large enough for most children’s names, but sandwich-sized would work well, too!
Magnetic letters are just a different take on the name puzzle. The letters are a bit more tactile, and they allow for use on magnetic easels/boards.
Lastly, the students also make a name book for inclusion in their name kits. These books are simple to make, but are very engaging to the kids! Their name is written on the cover, and then each letter of their name gets its own page in the book.
You can make the name books yourself or with your kids, or you can grab our printable version! They are entirely editable and customizable, and each letter gets its own fun picture for reference. Thanks to my friend Jamie of Play to Learn Preschool for making these with me!
Storing Our Name Practice Kits
To hold all the pieces of the name kits, I use a small manila envelope. I cut off the metal tab on the back, then run it through the laminator for added durability (this works with my school’s big laminator but doesn’t always work with a small home laminator).
Then I use scissors to gently cut through the laminate on the back of the envelope, thus opening it up. A simple, unlaminated, envelope would work just as well!
Don’t miss the free printable (found below) for a cover for the kit! It includes the words, “My Name Kit” and the child’s name. It’s completely editable and customizable.
I use the name kits as a fun way for teaching young children about their names, their friends’ names, letter names, and letter sounds. Do you use name kits with your students?
Additional Name Practice Activities with the Name Kit
There are so many opportunities for hands-on learning with the name kit!
You can pair the sentence strip name with kosher salt poured into a tray to make a sensory writing tray!
This is super easy to set up and a great way to practice early writing skills in preschool and kindergarten. It’s also another great way to practice the letters in their names.
Additionally, you can make a name practice sensory bin. Colorful dyed scented rice is fun to use if you have some on-hand, or plain works just as well.
You could even use colored popcorn kernels or dyed chickpeas! I fully admit that I’m a bit addicted to colorful sensory materials – they’re irresistible for kids, and it’s so easy to make your own!
Dump the rice (or corn or chickpeas) into a basket or bin. Then add the pieces of the name puzzle and the magnetic letters from the name kit. Add cups, scoops, tweezers, or other fun tools as desired.
Encourage the children to sift through the rice to find each of the letters in their names! Can they match the letters to the example on the sentence strip and put them in the right order? As they add letters underneath their name, talk about the letter names, sounds, and formation.
There are a ton of other ways to play with this sensory bin! Check out some additional ideas we explored when we used an Earth Day sensory bin for literacy practice.
Done-For-You Preschool Resources
Let Preschool Teacher 101 make your teaching life easier with fully fleshed out lesson plans, math activities, literacy plans, and even more.
Click on the images below for more information about each resource. Be sure to check out the membership options while you’re there.
Free Printable Name Card and Cover
Members of Fun-A-Day’s free email community can grab the name kit cover, as well as a name card/puzzle. They’re both editable so you can make a set for each of your students. Fill out the form below and get the printable sent to your email.
If you’re not a member, no worries. Add your information to the form to join, and you’ll get the printable as a welcome gift.
If you can’t see the above form, click here to access it.
Originally posted July 5, 2012. Updated to include video, new images, and a free printable.
Another great idea! This one is completely new to me… love it! 🙂 Thanks for sharing on Play to Write Series this week! 🙂
Mackenzie
Thanks for hosting and for stopping by. 🙂
Don’t know how I got here, but so glad I did. I found you today and started a kit for my 3 3/4 yo today. I got my letter cards and clip art from 3dinosaurs.com and am using various writing fonts. I am so excited to have something for him to practice his name with.
Well, I’m glad you ended up here too! Isn’t it funny sometimes that we can’t retrace our steps when searching around the internet? Let me know how the name kit goes for your son! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Mary Catherine, This is an amazing idea! I love the mixture of visual and tactile teaching strategies! Thanks for sharing – I will do the same!
Thanks so much, Katherine! 🙂 I love the name kits, too, especially because there are different activities the kids can (mostly) do on their own. Then I can build on those activities during one-on-one time or small group time.
Thanks for the great idea. I am working on putting together name kits for my daycare preschoolers! I can’t wait to have name kits and book boxes for them all in the fall. How do you store all the Name Kit items in the Book Boxes? I want a neat simple way to keep them all together. I was just thinking of ziplock baggies but would love other suggestions.
Thanks! I love exploring your blog!
Yay, so happy I could be of help! After all these years, I still love using the name kits with my students. Honestly, I just store the kits in whatever is on-hand. I’ve done ziplock baggies and envelopes in the past, we well as construction paper stapled into pockets. Nothing fancy whatsoever — my advice is to make sure the kids can open the kits on their own. Let me know how things go this year! 🙂
This is a great idea! I bet they use the kits over and over again.
Thank you!! Yes, they DO use these name kits over and over and over!! 🙂
Love this!
Thank you!! 🙂
Thank you so much for this idea for the name kits as well as the entire web site! I am in my first semester of college to be a kindergarten teacher and was looking around for ideas and came across your web site. Lots of great ideas!
Dawn, you totally made my day . . . thanks so much for your kind words. My goal is to create a place where we (as educators and parents) can share resources and ideas! Good luck on your college career. I loved teaching kindergarten, so I bet you will too! 🙂
I love these ideas! I make laminated names for the children to keep in our writing center, as well as traceable laminated names, to practice, as well as name puzzles for school and home, but the magnetic letters and the envelopes to keep them all together will be great additions to our name work this year in my Head Start classroom-Thanks!
Thank you, Tricia! 🙂
I love your ideas! Thank you so much!
Thanks so much for the kind words! 🙂
This came up on my main Pinterest page as a suggestion. I LOVE this & will be doing this for my childcare kids this week. They love having their very own (fill in the blank) to work with. I’ll let them personalize & sticker up their envelope to add to the fun.
Oh Amy, I love hearing this! Thanks so much for the kind words. 🙂
I have done name strip but love the name kit idea. Thanks hope you have a great year.
Thanks, Lori! I hope your year is going well!
Great idea for kindergarten at beginning of year. I can see doing similar packs for sight word practice too.
Thanks, Normae! Yes, that is a great idea in regards to sight words!!!!
I love the idea of each child having their own kit for practicing names. Great independent activity!
Thank you! Yes, it can definitely be a great independent activity for kids. 🙂
If you call your kid by a nickname should they learn that first or the whole name? Example: Allison or Ali?
My son goes by his middle name, so I started with the name he was most used to. That’s the same approach I’ve used with past students as well. But I also liked to touch base with the children’s parents to make sure we were on the same page. Once the shortened name or nickname was understood, I’d move swiftly forward to the child’s full name. Just my opinion, though. 🙂