Our Family Names
Here's What To Do
Ask your child to choose types of drawing and coloring materials for this activity; some examples include crayons, markers, color pencils, or paint.
Ask your child to create a portrait of each person in your immediate family; depending on family size, this part of the activity can be completed in stages.
Under each family member’s portrait, use a pencil to write the family member’s name in uppercase letters. Say the names and sounds of each letter together.
Have your child practice writing each family member’s name.
Put PEER Into Action
Pause:
- Begin with a family hug!
Engage:
- "You drew a picture of me! Let's write my name under. 'Mama' is spelled M-A-M-A. Mmm- ah- mmm - ah."
- "Can you write your name under your picture? You can look at how I wrote it if you're not sure how to write any of the letters."
Encourage:
- If your child is having a hard time writing any letters, you can make a dotted or dashed version of the letter for them to trace over.
- It's very common for children to write letters backwards. Gently correct your child like, "Hmmm... I'm noticing that the curve to your J is going the opposite way of my curve. Can you try it this way?"
Reflect:
- Do any of our names have the same letters? What letter is used the most in our names?
Not quite ready?
Have your child write the first letter of each family member’s name. Finish writing the rest of the name for them.
Ready for more?
Practice writing family names with an uppercase first letter and lowercase letters for the remainder.
As your child masters this skill...
They will be able to write more and more uppercase letters.