Using Snacks to Teach Names to Preschoolers

Use snacks to teach names to preschoolers and watch the magic happen.

A preschooler’s own name and a snack.. what do these two things have in common? MAJOR MOTIVATION!

Students are connected to their names more than anything else. There is a sense of pride that comes along with little ones seeing their own names in different places– on their classroom folder, displayed on artwork, written on their water bottle. Children will beg you to “write my name on it!” if something is left unmarked.

Snacks are another exciting part of being in preschool. You can’t convince me that half of preschoolers’ brains aren’t filled with thoughts of favorite snacks.

Adding snacks to any activity is a sure way to increase the engagement level in a task, and fast!

Teaching names to preschoolers

Name recognition and name building are important skills for little learners and the first step in learning one’s own name. Children usually begin by identifying the initial letter of their name. As they learn more letters, they will be able to recognize their entire name.

Learning to identify one’s name is a precursor to learning future sight words. As your little learners manipulate letters and small pieces (aka snacks!), they will also be establishing fine motor skills needed for better writing skills.

Label EVERYTHING!

As a preschooler, the next best thing to knowing your name is on something is being able to read (recognize) it for yourself.

One of my favorite things to do in my preK class is to label all.of.the.things!

Add your students’ names on anything and everything you can, and make a super big deal about it! Point to and read aloud students’ names as you spot them in various places, highlight names on displayed classroom work, and link other labeled objects with names of students that begin with the same initial letter.

“Oh! Soap starts with a squiggly S, just like Suzy’s name!”

Use songs

Silly songs are a fun way to help teach names to preschoolers. They can learn to recognize the names of their classmates, increase pride in one’s own name, and increase oral spelling skills.

Songs are easy to add in during circle time or when needing a space filler while washing hands or waiting at dismissal.

Go around the circle or room and clap names based on syllables or sing a fun song like Jack Hartmann’s song “First Letter of My Name (for Jack)” with different childrens’ names substituted in. Be silly with it!

Use hands-on activities

Help your students learn how to identify and build their names by using snacks as manipulatives with hands-on activities. As a plus, these interactive activities will be addressing the ever important fine motor skills too!

Name craft using cereal — Cereal is a colorful, crunchy option for name crafts.

Practice, practice, practice. Use several different activities to help little ones learn and master their name.

Sensory bins

Fill a sensory bin with your little ones’ favorite snack food and hide the letters of their name throughout the bin. Encourage them to find the letters then match them to a prewritten visual of their name.

Sensory bin with letters — Blend cereal for an edible sand or use whole cereal pieces.

For an extra challenge, fill the sensory bin with all the letters of the alphabet. Encourage children to sort through and identify only the letters found in their name.

When they’ve found and matched the letters, add a snack on top of each letter. At the end, they’ll have a tasty snack to eat!

Name on paper

Write each child’s name large enough to fill a strip of paper. Use glue and snacks to practice the pincer grasp by placing one small snack item at a time onto each letter. If your kiddos aren’t quite ready for the gooey glue bottle, pour a little glue into a small cup and let them swipe glue onto each letter with a cotton swab.

Check out inspiration on my IG using sunflower seeds and marshmallows.

Teaching Names using sunflower seeds — Sunflower seeds are fun to use with a unit about growing.

Even though this activity is designed to focus on letter and name formation, your little one will be working on hand-eye coordination, gluing skills, and creativity too!

⁣Name building crafts

Check out this bundle of name crafts to teach names to preschoolers. You will find 21 different themed options such as brown bear, Christmas lights, school bus, and more to easily adapt this to whatever season or theme you may be working through.

Add snacks to this craft by gluing one snack on the letter at a time then decorate the rest of the craft.

Teacher tip: Order a roll of sticker eyes from Lakeshore Learning. I promise you won’t regret it! I use these stickers in so many classroom activities, and the kids think they’re just the best.

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Cut stickers into groups of 2-3 and hand them to each student (an extra one for accidental rips is always a nice touch so you’re not running back and forth to hand out extras).

Children will practice fine motor skills by squeezing or swiping glue onto letters, carefully placing snacks, peeling eye stickers off of the page and placing them onto the picture.

Incorporate math into this fun name activity too. Practice counting letters in names and snack pieces as they place them onto each letter.

Using snacks to teach names to preschoolers is so much fun! Let me know how you decide to incorporate snacks with your little ones.

Not ready to commit to a bundle? Check out some of these individual name craft activities to use with your little learner’s favorite snacks: