The Best Name Activities for Kindergarten

Welcome to another #31daysofkindergarten post! Everybody has a name. Some names are short, some are long, but everyone has a name. One of the first things a child responds to is their name. And one of the first things a child learns to write is their name. Yes they color, scribble and even draw. But learning to identify their name in print and how to write it, is a major milestone. If you are teaching any little learners about their name, then you need a plethora of Name Activities for Kindergarten!

Whether you are teaching in-person, virtually, or in a hybrid model, you will need to teach your little learners how to identify and write their name. If you are in a traditional school setting, I have shared lots of name activities in this post that should give you inspiration!

But what if you are teaching virtually, through distance learning? I have a few ideas that I would love to share that MAY just work. 😉

Name Introduction Activity Ideas

At your first virtual meeting with students, give every student a chance to share their name. (I would prep name cards or name sticks, to have available for instruction with students and/or to call on specific students.) During this first meeting, I would hold up the student’s name card as they say their name. After sharing names, choose a picture book with a name theme to read. This book will align with your name lesson and gives your students an opportunity to hear a book being read to them. Here a few of my favorite picture books with a name theme.

Name Poem

We always do this name poem during the first few weeks of school. It helps teach some of the print concepts, as well as bring routine, classroom community, and practice of friends’ names.

The poem is simple and you can make it sing-songy. I have written it out onto an anchor chart paper and dry erase easel and it has worked fine. But my favorite way to practice this poem is with picture name cards and a pocket chart! I do this poem whole-group and we practice with 4-5 names a day. But I also allow students to practice ‘reading’ the poem by themselves with the name cards. Obviously, this will not be an option during distance learning, but you can still read the and practice the poem each day. (Picture Name Cards are available in the Exclusive Member Club FREEBIE Vault. Vault is password protected. You can obtain the password by signing up for the free club.)

Name ID

It’s important for little learners to be able to identify their name in print. There are a multitude of ways to practice this. I suggest making sure that each student has a model of their name. You can create their own name plate to model, using these free editable name plates.

Students can use post it notes, index cards or even, cut up sentence strips or strips of paper to write each letter of their name on. Students can then build their name, using the name model provided.

I print my students’ names out in a Bubble Font and have them count the letters in their name. Students will then color their bubble name. I have the ‘bones’ of the name anchor chart already completed and ready for the students to share how many letters are in their name and glue their bubble name to the anchor chart.

Build Your Name

Building your name with a number line, ten-frame and counting the letters is another excellent way to practice identifying and building/writing names. This is another freebie that you can download HERE. As you can see, I modeled the entirety of this activity before my students went to complete it on their own.

Hands-On Activities…Even at Home

These hands-on activities are so meaningful and provide opportunities for additional skill practice, including fine-motor practice. While these may be a little more challenging to do at a distance, I think that these can still be done!

This name collage requires students to tear paper and glue to a model of their name. Consider sending these materials home to students or available for families to pick up.

Use a sentence strip or even just construction paper to write a model of student’s name and then create cutting lines between each letter. Students will cut apart name and then practice putting their name back together. This is a name puzzle.

I hope you have been able to get a few ideas from this post to help you with Name Activities for Kindergarten. Please enjoy the freebies and leave me a comment if you have an additional idea for working on name id practice and especially if you are distance learning.

That is a wrap for blog post 9 of #31daysofkindergarten here on my blog! In case you missed the previous posts in this series…

1. Kindergarten Daily Academic Schedule
2. Best Assessments for Kindergarten
3. Preparing for the 2020 School Year
4. Super Ideas for Teaching Rules & Procedures in a Kindergarten Classroom
5. Boom Cards: Everything You Need to Know
6. Individual Phonics Literacy Kits
7. Individual Supply Storage from Dollar Tree
8. Free Money for Your Classroom

Abigail is a Kindergarten Teacher, Curriculum Writer, National Speaker and author of the website, Kindergarten Chaos, LLC. She lives in Las Vegas, NV with her husband and 3 kids. She provides professional development to schools and districts all over the country. If your school or district is in need of professional development for everything Little Learners, please email her at kindergartenchaos2@gmail.com