Recognising their name

Throughout your child’s school day, there will be lots of times when they need to find their own name.

Being able to recognise their own name in different places is the first step to writing it.

In Reception class, children will:

  • Find their coat, peg and book bag.
  • Pick up the correct jumper or cardigan.
  • See their name on their work.
  • Recognise their name with a capital letter at the beginning.

Top Tip

Don’t worry if your child can’t write their own name yet. Being able to recognise it comes first. They will learn how to form letters with their new teacher.

Activities to try at home

Make a door sign

Create a sign with their name on for their door. Write their name with a capital letter at the start. Encourage them to look at the name when they go into their room.

Think about other places where you could add their name, for example, in their coat.

Family name game

Write family names on pieces of paper, see if they can find their own name amongst the others. Help them at first by circling it, then see if they can spot it without the circle.

You could also stick the names on the fridge door or a wall with photos of family faces alongside them.

Where to start

  • Hidden Names
    On a baking tray, write your child’s name in chalk. Cover it with flour and encourage your child to brush away the flour until they find their name. Rub away the name and re-write it in a different place once found. The more you repeat the activity, the more your child will recognise their name.
  • Hide and Find
    Collect some pebbles. If you have paint, you can paint them in bright colours. Write your child’s name on one or more of the pebbles and different names on the others. Ask your child to close their eyes as you hide the pebbles around the house or in the garden. The aim of the game is for them to find their own pebble and leave the other pebbles hidden.

What to try next

Try giving your child the opportunity to ‘build their name’.

  • Car Park Names
    Write your child’s name onto a piece of paper. Cut their name into single letters and attach each letter to the roof of a toy car. On a piece of paper/card/cardboard, draw out ‘parking spaces’ for the cars. On each parking space write a letter of your child’s name, making sure they’re written in order so that once the cars are all parked, your child can see their full name.
  • Peg Names
    Write your child’s name on a piece of card and write the letters of their name on individual pegs. Encourage your child to match the correct peg letter of their name above or below their written name on the card.
  • Build Your Name
    Get some bricks/Duplo/Lego. Write the letters of your child’s name on each of the bricks. Don’t forget that the first letter is a capital letter and the rest are lower case. Mix up the bricks and ask your child to rebuild their name. They don’t have to be able to do this from memory yet. You can write their name for them to copy.
  • Hidden Letters
    Hide the letters from your child’s name in a tray of dry foods. For e.g., pasta, cereals, rice etc. Give your child a spoon/scoop and ask them to find the letters that are hidden and make their name. As they find each letter, talk to your child about where that comes in their name. Build their name with the letters together as you find them. They don’t have to be able to do this from memory yet, you can write their name for them to copy.

If you feel your child needs more support…

Start with these tips below.

  • If finding their full name is tricky, try starting off with the first letter of their name. Remember this will be a capital letter. You can play the ‘Hidden Names’ and ‘Hide and Find’ games with just the first letter, before adding the rest of their name.
  • Find my name
    Start with just your child’s name multiple times on the page. You can ask them to draw a circle around their name, or if you are using a big piece of paper they could stomp on their name. Then you can add your name. Ask your child to find their name and circle/colour it. The easier it gets for them, the more names you can add to the paper.
  • Children love looking at photographs. Add their photograph next to their name when you make the door sign together.

Top Tip

The more they see their name, the easier it will be for them to recognise it.

Books

  • Julia Donaldson’s Book of Names: A Magical Rhyming Celebration of Children, Imagination, Stories . . . And Names! by Julia Donaldson and Nila Aye (Macmillan Children’s Books, 2024)
  • That’s Not My Name! by Anoosha Syed (Ladybird, 2022)

Songs

This page is part of our Ready Steady School series, helping you and your little one get ready for school.

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