According to Parents magazine, “most babies learn that their names refer to themselves” between 5 and 7 months. Babies hear their name often, and it quickly becomes one of the most important words in their vocabulary. Name recognition by sight on paper is a different story; however, it’s one that you can expedite with a bit love and attention.
The best way to encourage name recognition is to label whatever you can using their name. The more the child sees their name, the easier it becomes to recognize it visually (in the same way that hearing it over and over again makes it familiar by sound). You can label your child’s backpack, lunchbox, clothing, cubbies at school, toys, etc… Involve your child: have them help you label the items! Allowing children to take ownership over the activity makes it more appealing and meaningful.
Spelling First
Many children can spell their name out verbally before they can identify it on paper. This shouldn’t be surprising given the alphabet song is learned much earlier than the kids can write the alphabet. Use this knowledge to help them start to spell their name. Have the kid call out letters as you show them to the child and find other activities to reinforce the exercise. Matching, for example, is a helpful tool. Hang a clothesline with the kid’s name spelled out across a set of clothespins. Then, print a bunch of photos of the kid, and on the back of each, write one letter of his or her name. Lastly, have the kid try to match each letter (on the back of a photo) with a letter hanging from a clothespin.
After the child has become successful with matching the clothespins or something similar to the letters on their picture you can have them start writing their name. One of the first steps in helping children to write their names is to hold their hand and write the letters in their name out with them. It is a great way to get them used to what it feels to write their name, and allows them to see what it looks like. Writing doesn’t just have to be done with a pencil or a crayon. You can have them write their name in sand or a salt tray. They can use chalk to write their name on the sidewalk or on a chalkboard.
12 Name Recognition Activities
A few activities we’ve tried with the kids over their first few years:
- Jumble up an alphabet puzzle and try to find the name’s first letter.
- Use markers to dot out the name out on paper, and then trace over the dots to draw the name.
- Craft the name with Wikki Stix.
- Draw the letter out on paper and work together to cut them out.
- Read books that have your child’s name in them. If you want to get really fancy, you can custom print books to use your child’s name.
- Use magnetic letters to spell the name out.
- Write a sign with the child’s name on it and place it on his/her bedroom door.
- Work with the child to create the name from play dough.
- Write letters of the name on sticky notes and help the child arrange them into the correct order.
- Make up a fun song with the child’s name spelling it out. Even better, use this song when teaching how to play the piano!
- Put the child’s name in large letters on cardboard, and have him/her glue buttons (or other fun materials) onto the letters.
- Create the name from pipe cleaners.
You probably get the picture. The more different contexts in which the child experiences his or her name, the more solidified the visual of it gets cemented into his or her brain. This is actually a recommend learning strategy in general – experiencing the material and practicing information retrieval in different ways expedites learning and long-term retainment.
