I do a ton of teaching with my preschoolers’ names throughout the year. I love integrating the kids’ names into all kinds of fun activities, and the children love it too! One simple name activity I like to do at the beginning of the school year is Dot Names. Simple name for a simple, but meaningful and engaging, activity.
Related: Early Literacy Activities
easy to set up name activity for kids
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Materials
Dot paints
White construction paper
Prep
Cut the construction paper in half, horizontally. For longer names, tape or staple the papers end to end. Using a pencil, write each child’s name on a paper strip.
Directions
Bring the kids over, and explain that they’re going to create some dot art using their names. If the children haven’t used dot paints before, show them how to gently squeeze the paints and how to dab them on the paper.
For this activity, the children should use the dot paints to trace over the names written in pencil. I’m not too picky with how the kids do this, as long as they’re going from left to right. Some children use just one color, while other kids want to use them all. Some kids are diligent about carefully dotting all along the letters, while others want to slide the dot paints along their name.
Help them with letter formation, talking about where to start and how to go, but all in an easy-going way. No need to make this a stressful activity!
The Learning
With this super easy activity, children are learning a variety of early skills. Here are a few:
- Left to right progression
- Letter formation
- Letter identification
- Sight words (their names)
- Concept of a word
- Fine motor skills
Have you tried a dot name activity with your children/students before? If so, I’d love for you to share some photos over on Fun-A-Day’s Facebook page!
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