Writing Their Name

In this edition of Sunday Scaffolding, I’m going to give you some strategies to teach your child to write his or her name.  This is an excellent skill to have under their belt because they can use it to sign cards and thank you notes.  As always, I have stages of independence and alternatives for kiddos who can’t write their full name independently.

The Whole Enchilada

If your child likes writing letters and is getting proficient (using workbooks or working at school), you can provide them with their name printed lightly in the size their normal writing.  Just let them trace it for fun.  In Microsoft word, they have a font that is dots so your child could move onto tracing that after they trace the light lines.  You can always do it alongside your child to model what you hope they will do.

Way Too Big

If they can write or trace their name, but it’s too big to be of practical value in terms of using it for cards, you can scan it or take a photo of it and print it out on small labels.  That way, you can always use your child’s actual signature on cards to family and friends, even if they wouldn’t be able to fit their name inside the card independently.

No Possible Way

If the whole name is way out of reach for now, but your child has an interest in letters and writing, help them learn to write their first initial.  Just one letter.  Then, you can either fill in the rest of your child’s name on cards or leave their initial.  The people who love them will be thrilled to see they wrote it themselves.

Still Too Much

Get an old fashioned stamp of your child’s name or their initial.  Choose an ink color they like or get a few inkpads and let your child choose. Show your child how to ink the stamp and let them be the one to stamp it. There are also self-inking stamps which your child will just need to push down and they can be customized with their name and even a small picture of something they love (for Mikey maybe a train).

I hope one or more of these strategies will help…it’s so heartwarming to get a note signed by a child, even if the note itself is written by the grown-up.