As a mum, I was super proud of Emilia when she learnt to spell her own name and recognise it on things. She loves spotting the letter ‘E’ out and about and is eager to tell people that it’s for her name.

With schools and nurseries starting back soon, I thought it was would be a great time to write a blog on teaching children to spell and recognise their own names. As children walk into their classroom for the first time, it can be really daunting but if they can spot their name on their tray, peg etc it can put them at ease straight away and fill them with confidence that they belong.

So here are 10 ways to teach name recognition and spelling…

1. LOLLYPOP PUZZLE: You will need one lollipop stick for each letter or failing that just strips of paper. Get your child involved by choosing a favourite picture. Cut it into strips, glue on the sticks and label with letters on their name. This took me five minutes to make but is a nice small activity I can take out with us and use over and over.

2. MILK PAINTING: What child doesn’t like an activity that ends with a snack they can eat? Get your child to paint their name or first letter of their name onto bread with milk. When it’s toasted, it stands out, Emilia thought this was magic!

3. OBSTACLE COURSE: Head out into the garden and set up an obstacle course. Using a strip of paper write out their name and cut into individual letters. Scatter the letters along the course and get them to collect and build the puzzle. This is definitely one of Emilia’s favourite games.

4. PEGASAURUS: Draw a simple dinosaur or other spiky creature, hedgehogs work well too. Label pegs with letters from their name and get them to attach in order. Peg are great for building up hand muscle strength too. (Please excuse my dreadful dinosaur)

5: SHOOTING CUPS: Have enough cups for your child’s name. Line them up and get your child to knock them down with the hose. Then get them to line them back up again. WARNING! You may get wet if your little one is as cheeky as Emilia.

6. BUILD IT!: This is a great way to engage those duplo/megabloks fans, hide the name blocks in their box and set them the challenge to find them to build their name. Top tip! If you use a sharpie pen and want to remove it write over the top in dry wipe pen.

7. NAME BRACELETS: Using large wooden beads write their name on the beads and get them to thread onto pipe cleaners. This is much easier than threading into string and can be used over and over. You can buy letter beads but it’s nice for them to select the different beads for each letter, makes it more memorable.

8. EYE SPY BOTTLE: With your child make a sensory bottle. As part of the filling add the letters of your child’s name. Give them a checklist of their name and get them to keep shaking it until they spy all the letters. 

9. SPLAT IT: Write out your child’s name on a large piece of paper, I use the left over scraps of Christmas wrapping paper. Give them a fly swat and get them to shout out the letters as they swat them.

10. WATER PAINTING: Painting is always a big hit but can be super messy so arm your child with a pot of water and a paintbrush and they can practise writing their name on the patio, garden fence, etc. If they aren’t ready to write independently write their name in chalk to trace.

If you have older children, these are great ideas to learn those tricky spellings too.

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