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Fun Kindergarten Name Practice Activities

At the beginning of the school year, some students come to kindergarten able to write their name on their paper while other students aren’t yet able to recognize their name on a cubby label.  Since this wide range of skills is common, it’s important to do plenty of name practice during the first weeks of school.  Having a variety of kindergarten name practice activities like the ones below will help you support your students in whatever name skills they need to practice.

Name Recognition Activities

The first step in helping students learn their names is to practice recognizing their names in print.  This is a skill that students need to use to navigate the classroom, like finding their seat, cubby, lunch stick, and more!

Tracing and writing pages of a printable name practice book
Printable name book with rainbow writing and first letter practice

Some young children haven’t been to school and have only been exposed to their name being spoken. It’s important to take the time to help students make the connection that they have a combination of letters that stands for their name.  This can be overwhelming for some students (especially students with long names), so it’s helpful to start by identifying the first letter. Then they can practice identifying their name among others.

Name tracing and recognition pages of a printable name book

This printable book of name activities is a great resource to use when practicing name recognition. There are additional activities included for other students who can already recognize their names, including name building, spelling, tracing, and writing.

Front cover of a name book
A crayon-themed name building craft

With all of these fun name practice activities included in one resource, it’s easy to tuck away and work on it in pockets of time during the busy first few weeks of school. If you’d like to take a closer look at everything included in this resource, you can find it in the A Spoonful of Learning Shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Rainbow writing, name craft, and name practice activities included in this editable name writing practice book.
Name Book - Click Here to Shop My Website
Name Book - Click Here to Shop My TPT Store

Name Spelling Activities

Young students are also working hard to develop their fine motor skills at the beginning of the school year.  It’s helpful to include kindergarten name practice activities that allow students to practice spelling their names without a writing utensil.  This helps students focus more on the order of the letters instead of their pencil grip.

A school bus name puzzle

This bus puzzle is a fun way to help students practice spelling their names! They can still practice their fine motor skills as they color and cut out the puzzle pieces, but then they can turn their attention to putting the letters in order.  The front and back of the bus are great visual cues to help students complete this task!

A name writing and building worksheet
A name practice worksheet with tracing, writing, rainbow writing, and letter find

When students are ready for additional spelling practice, you can add in some tracing activities!  These two name practice printables have an element of name spelling along with tracing and writing.

Name Tracing Activities

The most important part of helping students learn their names is practice, practice, practice! Tracing activities are a great way to help students practice letter order and proper letter formation.  However,it can get repetitive for students to practice tracing the same combination of letters over and over.  This is why it’s helpful to have a variety of different tracing activities to keep students engaged in this important practice.  

A name tracing activity with each name traced in a different color
A rainbow writing name practice worksheet

You can start with worksheets that have only tracing, but you can add variety by having students trace in a new color or writing utensil for each line. Rainbow writing is also very popular with students!  They don’t even realize how many times they’re practicing their names because they love adding each color. 

Name Writing Activities

Once students have had plenty of opportunities to trace their names, it’s time to have them practice writing it on their own! 

I like to start by using name writing activities that alternate between tracing and writing.  This way, students can get a reminder of the letter order and formation before trying to write it again.

A name trace and write kindergarten name practice activity
A worksheet that has name tracing, name writing, and rainbow writing
A self portrait name tracing activity

Students can also practice their names with a combination of tracing, writing, and rainbow writing on one page.  These worksheets are engaging for students since they include a variety of name writing practice!

Name Math

Name writing practice doesn’t have to be confined to your literacy instruction block!  Help students investigate and learn more about their names during math time.  This crossover adds variety to name practice as well as number sense practice! Students can count how many letters are in their name and then model that number in many different ways.  They can model the number in cubes, on a ten frame, with tally marks, and on a number line.  

A number sense worksheet with name letter counting
A worksheet that compares the length of two names for kindergarten name practice

Students can also practice comparing their names to the name of a friend. The students can work together to count and color the number of letters in their names, then decide whose name is longer or shorter.

Printable Kindergarten Name Practice 

The name tracing, handwriting, and name math printables shown above are included in this money-saving bundle of ten activities. This easy-to-use resource helps you create name practice worksheets for your whole class in no time at all!  Just type in the name of each student and the resource will auto-fill for you.  There are no additional downloads and no need to resize for longer names.  All you need is free Adobe Reader! You can find this resource in the A Spoonful of Learning Shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Examples of the different editable name writing practice worksheets included in this kindergarten name practice bundle.
Name Printables - Click Here to Shop My Website
Name Printables - Click Here to Shop My TPT Store

Play Dough Name Practice

Another fun way to incorporate name practice into any part of the school day is to use a name practice play dough mat! 

Forming the name "Thomas" with pink play dough

This is a great activity to put on students’ desks as they arrive on the first day of school or on meet the teacher night.  You can also use this name-building activity during morning work or as a fast finisher activity.

Would you like to try this out with your students?  You can grab it for free by filling in your email below and I’ll deliver it straight to your inbox!


Save These Kindergarten Name Practice Activities

I hope you’ve found these name practice ideas helpful! If you’re short on time and want to come back to this post later, be sure to save it!  Add this pin to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest so you can easily find this post when looking for kindergarten name practice activities!

Free Name Practice Activity - Play Dough Name Practice Mat