How to teach kids to write their name

It never occurred to me that I should teach my 3, soon to be 4 year old to write his name, until the day I realized most of the children in his kindergarten group were pretty good at writing theirs.

I have always been a strong advocate for letting children be, and that much of the learning at that age should occur through play and in their time (I still am :p). I mean, inevitably, he would eventually learn to write his name anyway!

But if everyone else was already reading and writing, guaranteed his confidence would suffer if he wasn’t at a similar level. I could certainly force him to write (or at least try), but the real challenge was making it fun and enjoyable…

At that age, my son’s concentration span was no longer than a Fireman Sam or Thomas the Tank Engine episode. No way would he ever sit down long enough with a pencil in hand to write his name once, let alone several times, until he’d managed to form some letters on the lined piece of paper.

So I got creative and designed an entire alphabet that would make things easier for him. Using the letters, I created a name mat with the letters of his name, included a border in his favorite color and added a nice illustration to make it even more fun. It was a hit!!!

The mat really did hit the nail on the head when it came to motivating my son to learn how to spell his name. And guess what, we didn’t even need a pencil or lined paper!

In the meantime, my little girl grew up, and unlike big brother, she is very determined to learn her ABCs and 123s. She has her very own mat, printed, laminated and waiting on her desk each morning, ready for her to do something fun with it.

Below are some of the ways we have used our mats, but of course, the sky is the limit on the fun and creative ways you can teach a child using these mats – we are always coming up with something new.

Here we have used pebbles to form the letters on the mat.

Stickers are so much fun! And they also help build those tiny little muscles needed ever so much to be able to write.

Of course, dry erase markers are so much better than regular markers, and they wipe off so easily!

And here is another fine motor idea – jumbo tweezers and pom-poms 🙂

Chenille wires, pre-cut to size was also fun. A little more challenging because we had to work out what goes where, but hitting 2 birds with one stone is always good 😉

And home made dough of course! What kid does not love playing with play dough!?

These mats even teach about recycling! (Actually, I did that, indirectly and completely unintentionally :p) But seriously, if you’re gonna get a truckload of protective foam with your parcels, you may as well as put them to good use!

All in all, these mats are seriously a fun way to teach kids how to write their names; the numbers and arrows are there to guide them and set them on their way to forming letters correctly. And because younger kids are still working on building their fine motor skills, it’s unfair to expect ALL children to be able to hold and use a pencil correctly – that’s why these mats are great for everyone 🙂

If you would like to order a personalized name mat, select from the following options:

CLICK HERE for 1

CLICK HERE for a pack of 5 pack

CLICK HERE for a pack of 15

CLICK HERE for a pack of 30

You can browse through my clip art collection if you would like an illustration added to the mat, or send me your own. I can even add photos, like in the samples below:

I also have an editable PDF – this one is ideal for teachers who will use and re-use every year. No clip art is offered with these, and there are currently only 4 colors to choose from and an ink friendly version 🙂 CLICK HERE to find out more.

If you want to create your own version from scratch, see links below:

CLICK HERE for RamonaM Big Correct Letter Formation Font

CLICK HERE for RamonaM Border Pack #1 (it’s border 13)

And finally, CLICK HERE for the RamonaM Chunky Colorful Frames

Haveva TpT account? Click HERE for my graphics store and HERE for my printables store.

If you have used the mats or made your own using my fonts and graphics, I’d love for you to share your innovative ideas in the comments – we can always learn from each other! And I hope the children you are investing in will have lots of fun learning to spell their names!

RamonaM xo