Sticker Name Recognition Activity

Table of Contents:

1. Easy fun in this name recognition activity
2. What is name recognition?
3. One thing you need to know to set this up
4. A quick trick to vary this activity
5. Will you try this name recognition activity with your kids?

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Easy fun in this name recognition activity

My kids have simple names. Easy, traditional names. One syllable names.

Sam and Kate.

Problem is, I actually gave them full names so they’d have options in the future. This means that while they can they can spot the words Sam or Kate from a mile away… Samuel or Kaitlin? Might as well be written in Greek.

We need to start getting those full names learned too! That’s why this easy name recognition activity was such a hit.

What is name recognition?

Name recognition is exactly as it sounds – being able to recognize your name in writing.

A child’s name is THE FIRST word they will ever learn to “read”. And why shouldn’t it be? It’s the most important word in their world.

Recognizing is different than reading because a child has memorized how the word looks and can quickly recall it. With this activity, we are introducing kids to the letters that make up their all important name and helping them learn to recognize it.

The materials list

(this list contains affiliate links)

• Construction paper
• Dot stickers
• Tape
• Marker

Truth be told, I might have an addiction to dot stickers. We can’t get over them. They’re perfect for toddler hands and perfect for this activity (and this one and this one and this one).

One thing you need to know to set this up

I grabbed some construction paper and wrote my kids’ names out – nothing fancy.

Here’s what I wish I’d thought of: My daughter’s name is confusing to little eyes. A small letter “i” “t” “l” and “i” in Kaitlin look so similar. It made parts of this activity challenging for her even though she (27 months) is confident with letter names.

I wish I had used capital letters for her.

My son (3.5 years old) did fine with his name – Samuel – but his letters aren’t “tricky”. Kaitlin is a hard name –  I should have seen that ahead of time. Something to think about as you said up this activity for your toddler or preschooler.

Although printing in small letters is ideal because that’s grammatically correct, consider how your child’s name looks before choosing the letter style.

Once I wrote their names on construction paper, I grabbed our trusty sticker sheets and wrote the their letters out on the stickers.

A quick trick to vary this activity

For my (older) son, I mixed up the letters in his name on the sticker sheets. I put them in random order.

For Kaitlin, I kept the letters repeating in order.

Their goal: sort out the letters of their names onto the construction paper and THEY LOVED IT.

I made each of them 3 sheets of stickers. It took them about 15 minutes to get through the sticker sheets, chatting and sorting as they went.

This easy name recognition activity was the perfect way to introduce my kids to their full, given names. Plus it was a great way to help us make it to nape time.

Will you try this name recognition activity with your kids?