One of the first things a child should learn as they enter school is their names! Some parents and teachers would think that this is obvious and need not be reviewed, but you’d be surprised as to how many toddlers and even nursery-aged children still have difficulty saying or recognizing their names. There are also a few who don’t really know their names yet, such that calling them by name would not get their attention. You’d have to tap them to make them look.

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Before sharing some activities to help name recognition, let me first share a song that helped the kids through this process. We used to sing a song entitled “Hello, Hello, Hello” by Joonee Garcia and Geri Gil. What we do is, we gather in a circle and sing this song. The teacher starts off first and each child gets to say his/her name during the pauses. I wanted to share this song with you but unfortunately, I couldn’t find a free copy of it on the internet and copyright laws do not allow me to share it with my online readers. Sorry guys.  Anyway, here are the lyrics to the song, maybe you can come up with a tune of your own!

Hello, Hello, Hello

Hello, hello, hello, it’s very nice to see you.

How are you on this happy day?

Won’t you tell us your name and we’ll all do the same,

As we sing and play.

Hello my name is (Let child A say his/her name)

It’s very nice to see you

Hello my name is (Let child B say his/her name)

How are you today?

Hello my name is (Let child C say his/her name)

Very nice to see you.

Come and sing and play

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We just play the song over and over again until each child gets a chance to say his/her name. We actually sang this song as part of our daily routine for 3 months, by then, all the kids were already confident in saying their names! Don’t worry though if some kids seem shy or behind, they’ll soon catch up through other activities! Why not help them sing this song by saying their names for them as to avoid embarrassment on their part. No need to pay too much attention to it. :)