What’s in a name? For anybody who doesn’t know the answer to that just check out the size of the lost and found box at any facility with little ones. Boxes are usually overflowing with items that have no names. To help keep backpacks from wandering away–and to have some kindergarten readiness practice– kids might like to make a nametag to attach to their packs.
Young children may be interested in printing their names around the age of 3. As with many other readiness for kindergarten activities, skills are learned best with an ingredient of fun. Here are some fun ideas for practicing names. Kids may want to pick out the letters in their names from a selection of precut paper or foam ones and glue them onto a thick paper. Adults can outline the letters and let kids fill in them using practically anything from buttons to pasta to playdough to bingo dabbers, although pasta and playdough are not good choices for a nametag that gets lots of travel time. Older preschool kids might like to find the letters needed in magazines.
Printing names is often one of children’s early attempts at independent writing. Adult help will be needed over the long-term to help children with learning their names using lots of different ways and a variety of materials. Fine motor control is still developing and is certainly more challenging for some children than for others. The name tags in this photo were made with plain paper and a plain, black marker by a very proud 5-year old who still had a lot of fun making them. Oh, oh, did I hear someone say that their backpacks wanted their own names? 2 nametags = 2 x the fun. What name does your backpack want? (After all, some adults name their cars….)