We’re always looking for new and fun ways for the students to practice their names at the beginning of the year. Today we’re sharing clothespin name practice as a simple homemade center.
THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH
Supplies needed for the clothespin name practice
A bag of clothespins
A bag of jumbo popsicle sticks
Sharpie
We found out colorful clothespins and popsicle sticks at Michaels.
Using the Sharpie, write each one of the students names on one of the jumbo popsicle sticks. Space the letters a little more apart than you normally would so there is enough room for all of the clothespins to fit over each letter.
Next, write each letter on the students name on a different clothespin.
Now you’re set to have the students practice their names. You can make it easy for them at first by just giving them the letters in their name, and having them match the letters in their name on the popsicle stick. It makes for fantastic practice for their fine motor skills as well! You can continue to make it harder for them as their letter recognition builds and give them more clothespins for them to have to choose their correct letters in their names.
To make this into a center, write all of the letters of the alphabet with multiples of some letters and put them into a basket. You’ll want to do both uppercase and lowercase letters.
Put all of the students popsicle stick names in a cup. To play, the student will find their name form the cup, and then search for the correct letters they need for their name in the basket. To take it even further, you can then have them practice writing their name after they’ve finished their clothespin name practice.
What is your favorite way to have your students practice their name at the beginning of the school year?
And if you are working on names, we have the perfect crafts (and centers) for your students. Create these editable projects to help them learn the letters in their names and create something fun! Click here to check them out now.
Your students will need some printables too in order to learn to write their names efficiently. Simply Kinder’s Names Printables Bundle will make printing out all those names a breeze as they auto-populate the different activities for you! Click here to check them out.
Try out this hands-on names clothespin activity in your classroom now!
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