Drop a Letter & Tracing Rest of Name

Writing is a brand-new, foreign horizon for children- and it uses fine motor skills they may not have developed yet.  Now that your child can trace his or her first name -using a “just right” print font & size like Comic Sans MS size 26.  Make several copies of your child’s name with a line for the first letter so that your child can write the first letter independently.
Name                      

__ame

 

__ame

__ame

 

__ame

Cut the name into a “Name Ticket” so that the child’s name only appears once on each ticket and your child is not intimidated by too much work. A “Name Ticket” is simply a strip of paper about 3 inches long by 2 inches wide. A “Name Ticket” is also good at helping your child learn to write left to right.

Now, if your child is taking to this skill like a duck to water, cut the “Name Ticket” so that your child has room to write his or her name UNDER the name again.  You should NOT expect this independent attempt at writing to look much like the traced name- letters will likely be bigger or smaller and may even be backward This is a good, big step in learning to write. Writing takes practice, practice, practice over time.