Do you know what the very first word your child should learn to read and write is?……

Their name!

For younger children we encourage you to put your child’s name up on the wall in their room. Label some of the things they own like their cups, bottles, bags, etc with their name. Make sure to write their name on any art they create… all of this will help your child start to recognise their own name from an early age.

For older children let’s start to break down their name into sounds:

• Does your child recognise the sound of the first letter in their name?
•What about the last letter in their name?
•What would their name sound like if you removed the first letter?
• What would their name sound like if you removed the last letter?
•Can they stretch their name out sounding each letter?
•Can they blend the letters together again to make up their name?
•Do any other words rhyme with their name?

Phonological awareness (learning to play with sounds in all of these ways above) is the key part of being able to read and write.

Here is a fun silly name rhyming song that both Zakai and Kamali really enjoy:

Let’s make rainbow names

For Giraffes (aged 4/5): Write your child’s name on a piece of paper and invite your child to trace each letter over and over again with different colours, creating a beautiful rainbow name and learning about the formation of each letter at the same time.

Additional Montessori inspired activity: Rainbow Sensory writing Tray.

Put a rainbow coloured card at the bottom of a tray and then fill it with sand/flour/salt. Give your child their visual name card or the first letter of their name to copy and invite them to draw it in the tray with their finger…. Surprise – they will discover the beautiful colours of the rainbow underneath.

Benefits include: Development of fine motor skills, hand eye co-ordination, development of the sense of touch, name recognition and letter formation.

Every child is different, but we recommend introducing tactile letter formation activities such as these around 4 years of age. After your child has mastered shapes.