Teaching Children to Write Their Names

Greetings from a kindergarten teacher of 33 years! I agree with your view that parents should not be using workbooks and worksheets with preschoolers to prepare them for kindergarten. At the same time, children like to know what sounds letters make. Sound games at home and in the car are great.
How about writing activities? Children love to write. Parents should research how their schools want them to write their first name, and have them practice it before kindergarten. Most parents and day cares teach all capital letters, and it is very hard to break children of this habit after they start school. Please do anything you can to help us get parents involved in their children's education. - Experienced Teacher
Answer: Since your children might be expected to print at least their first names in kindergarten, you will want to help them acquire this skill. One of the first things that you need to do is make sure they have the fine motor skills necessary to begin writing. So encourage them to use their fingers in activities such as stringing beads, playing with clay, putting LEGOs together, lacing their shoes, buttoning their coats and doing puzzles.
Then to get your children in the writing mode, provide them with markers, crayons, chalk, pens and pencils so they get used to handling these writing tools. When you think that they are ready, you can begin teaching them how to write their names. Before you start, get a model of the letters their prospective schools use. Schools do not all use the same style of letters.
1. A good place to start is teaching them to write the letters in their names according to the school model. The letters can be learned in any order.
2. As they learn to print each letter, be sure to tell them the name of the letter that they are learning.
3. Teach the first letter of their names as a capital letter, and all other letters should be taught as lowercase.
4. Once all the letters have been learned, print the children's names.
5. The children should trace over these letters many times.
6. Use dots to write their names and then have them connect the dots.
7. Print the children's names and have them copy the names under the one that you have written.
8. If your children have names that can be sounded out, you can also teach the sounds of the different letters.
9. The final step is to have the children write their names without looking at a model.
Once they know how to write their names, encourage your children to write them frequently so they will learn to write them automatically. They can write their names in sand, with chalk on the driveway or on any of their possessions.