Names! Seek and Find

Children act like detectives to find the letters in their names and practice putting the letters together in the correct order using colorful pop beads and letter stickers.

Grade, Age Range or Specialized Learner: Multi-age, Preschool/Pre-K, 3-5 year old

Target Learning Skill(s):

Identifying Letters
Spelling Name

Common Core State Standard:

Print Concepts

K.RF.1d Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Give yourself a window of 15-20 minutes to prep the activity. Begin by making copies of the Name Plate Art printable from the KidsSoup Resource Library.

Preschool Activities:

Media Root

Free Letter Tiles printables

If your copier has a ‘duplicate image’ function; you can use that function to make a page for each letter. Go through each child’s name in your class and cut out the letters you will need, plus extras to make the game a little more challenging. You will also need a blank strip of paper and a magnifying glass for each child. You can cut out the magnifying glasses if you don’t have any. They are just used to add extra fun to the activity and don’t actually need to magnify anything.

Preschool Activities:

Media Root

Sit with a small group of children in an area big enough to spread out all of the pre-cut letters while still leaving enough room for each child to have space to work. Begin the activity by singing a simple name song using each child’s name. We use this one:

“I know a boy/girl whose name is (Sally),
S-A-L-L-Y. (Repeat)
Sally, Sally, S-A-L-L-Y.
I know a boy/girl whose name is Sally, S-A-L-L-Y.”

After the song, explain that you have letter cards for each child to use to spell their names, but the letters got all mixed up. Hand each child one of the magnifying glasses and have them search through the jumbled letters for the ones they need for their names. Take advantage of this time to record who is able to identify the letters in their names, and if they are able to name any other letters while they are searching.

Preschool Activities:

Media Root

Give each child time to color in the letters in their names, order them, and glue them onto a strip of paper. These name strips can be saved as documentation of a learned skill, or for use in other classroom activities.

Preschool Activities:

Media Root

Some children may need help locating their letters or placing them in the correct order for their names. These children will need more practice. We saved their name art (or made a color copy if they weren’t willing to part with the one they made), and used it to help guide them in the next activity.

Preschool Activities:

Media Root

In our follow-up ativity, children counted the number of letters in their names, and then counted out the same number of pop beads. They used letter stickers to spell their names on the beads. Then, they practiced connecting the letters in their names and taking them apart again.

Submitted by KidsSoup member Beth Steward