Back to School Name Practice with Playdough

With back to school season upon us, I like to offer my summer preschoolers some extra fun name practice before they head off to kindergarten. I know that in kinder they will not only need to recognize their names, but they’ll have to find their names multiple times in the day, so it’s really important that all my preschoolers have good name identification skills, and even better, recognize their names in different contexts.

For more back to school ideas be sure to check out the inks at the bottom of this post. Some fellow bloggers and I are sharing some of our favorite back to school ideas. They are perfect for parents looking to get their kiddies back into the school mindset as the first day of school approaches, and also great for educators looking for new and creative ways to begin the school year.

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Back to school name practice

Now, it’s also important for children entering kindergarten to be able to spell their names. For most, this may come in the form of worksheets, but since I don’t care much for worksheets, I offer my preschoolers name spelling practice with playdough names. Using alphabet cookie cutters, or alphabet playdough stamps, my preschoolers practice spelling their names in preparation for back to school.

Corinne helped me prepare this activity for my preschoolers, and we couldn’t help but try out the activity a day in advance of preschool class. She started by rolling out the playdough into a nice flat sheet. Rolling the playdough is also great prewriting practice. Then, Corinne used the cookie cutters to cut out the letters in her name.

This activity posed some interesting challenges for Corinne in that she had to figure out ow to cut out all the letters of her name when she has duplicate letters. Initially, she looked in the cookie cutter bin for another n cookie cutter, before she figured out she could use the same one twice.

She carefully aligned all her letters. while she already knows how to spell her name, as she moved the playdough letters about she missed some letters and had to go back and correct her spelling. Instead of intervening an pointing out her mistake, I let it go, and I’m glad I did. Corinne realized her mistake when she saw she had an i left over, which meant she hadn’t included it. so, she spelled her name again, moving the letters about, so that it was then correct.

And since Corinne loves to decorate anything and everything, she used her “sparkly, shiny ocean rocks,” also known as flat marbles or floral pebbles, to decorate her name.

I loved that Corinne added the marbles because as she placed them carefully on each letter she named the letter again, and in some cased counted how many marbles she could fit on each letter. The natural math component in this activity could be extended. Students can not only count the number of marbles on each letter in their name, but also the total, or they can compare the number on each letter with another.

While writing practice worksheets do have a small place in preschool, this is one of my favorite name spelling activities that really helps the kiddos get ready for back to school.

For more awesome back to school activities

You seriously don’t want to miss out on these!

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:

School Bus Color Match Puzzles // Modern Preschool

3 Word Cloud Back to School Puzzles // Lalymom

Back to School Process Art // Still Playing School

Morning Routine Story Stones // Sugar Aunts

Fun Ways to Teach Kids to Pack Their Lunch // Study at Home Mama

Easy, Kid-Made Phone Number Bracelets // Mama. Papa. Bubba.

Back to School Bingo // Playdough to Plato

Back to School I Spy // The Pleasantest Thing

ABC Photo Book // Powerful Mothering

Back to School Puzzles for Counting to 10 // Life Over C’s

Patterns with Erasers // Frogs Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Shape Puzzles Busy Bag // Teach Me Mommy

Back to School Name Practice with Playdough // Stay at Home Educator

Back to School File Folder Games // Itsy Bitsy Fun

Back to School Mapping Our Classroom // Liz’s Early Learning Spot

Back to School Teacher Gift // Think Magnet

Free Back to School Memory Book // DIY Farm Wife

Flower Craftivity // Fairy Poppins

Free Alphabet Book // The Kindergarten Connection

Back to School Memory Game // Play and Learn Everyday

DIY Name Stamps // Preschool Inspirations

Enjoy!