Name Folders

One of our first important literacy goals in preschool is to be able to recognize and spell our first names. Younger preschoolers (3-year-olds) practice spelling their names every day at school. We use a different name game each month. You can see some of them HERE.

Now it's the end of the year and most of our students are able to identify each letter of their first names. Hooray! When they return to preschool in the fall, we will continue working on their names by making the shift toward writing them. Although our little ones are always working on fine motor activities and have lots of access to paper and writing utensils at center time, we don't work extensively with them to write their names until Pre-K.

I wanted to make them something to help with the transition and to reinforce what they've been working on while they are home over the summer. These preschool name folders are just right!

I used manila file folders and put a picture of each student on the front. (I color coded them, too, because I am quirky like that!)

On the inside, there are 4 different ways for the children to practice their names. The first is to spell it. I typed the name in all caps (using this free KG Red Hands font) and put little dots under each letter. This is good practice for one-to-one matching.

The second line is the name again, but I traced over it with glitter hot glue. The students trace each letter with their finger. It's a great tactile experience.

Now, I am sure that some people are going to argue with the fact that I have it written in all caps. I hear you. After working with preschoolers for 10 years, I firmly believe that this is the best way. Most of my 3-year-olds do not recognize any lower case letters. So I could get them to trace them, but there's no recognition. In addition, they are still developing their fine motor muscles. The upper case letters are generally much easier to form. So, we start with upper case, then in the spring of Pre-K, we convert them to lower case. I promise! With few exceptions, our Pre-K students leave writing their names conventionally. It works because we start with all upper case. You can read more about our decision to use capitals with our younger kids HERE.

The third line is name building. I copied the letters again and glued them to a thin piece of colored foam. The students match the letters to build their names.

Finally, the bottom section has a strip of dry erase tape where they can practice writing their names. I included a dry erase marker (in a matching color!) with a little pom pom glued to the end. It's a built-in eraser.

This is what the complete folder looks like:

This is the little baggie on the back that holds the letter pieces and the dry erase marker. I'm hoping that by having all the supplies neatly put together, the students will be able to practice easily.

Have fun playing and learning with your children today!

Many people have indicated that they would like to have an editable copy of these name folders to make for their own children. It's available HERE:

The editable version of these Name Folders allows you the flexibility to type the names in upper or lower case. This is how I made them for our Pre-K students:

Thanks for all the interest in these Name Folders. I hope that you have a wonderful day playing and learning with your children!

You might also find these posts about ways that we practice our names to be helpful:

For even more name ideas, be sure to follow this Pinterest board:

Follow Play to Learn Preschool's board Literacy: Name Games on Pinterest.

Affiliate links to the products we used, for your convenience: