Holiday-Themed, Editable Name and Word Tracing Pack

For a preschooler to recognize and then write his or her own name is a big deal. It requires lots of steps and much practice. Of course, many of the activities in Montessori education prepare the child’s hand indirectly for writing. That makes it much easier to focus on the actual name tracing and writing.

I’m excited to tell you about our latest printable pack … a holiday-themed, editable name and word tracing pack. The holiday images and personalized names add interest to the task of name recognition and writing. And the pack can be used for any words or numbers, too!

Personalized Holiday Name Tracing for Preschoolers – YouTube Video

This short video of my 4-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, shows just a few ways the name-tracing part of the printables can be used.

Montessori-Inspired Printables at Living Montessori Now

My daughter, Christina (a former Montessori child), and I have partnered to bring you a series of Montessori-inspired printables. The printables are typically themed and use a number of Montessori principles (although you don’t need to be a Montessori teacher or homeschooler to use them):

• They use isolation of quality.
• They use photographs or realistic images to emphasize reality.
• They typically use traditional Montessori colors such as red for consonants and blue for vowels.
• They emphasize lowercase letters, which are what we introduce letter sounds with in Montessori education. (Children tend to pick up the uppercase letters without being introduced if they’re introduced to the lowercase letter sounds.)
• They often feature themed printable versions of Montessori materials.

Holiday-Themed, Editable Name and Word Tracing Pack

Holiday-Themed, Editable Name and Word Tracing Pack – and How to Use It for for Regular Print, Manuscript Tracing, or Cursive Tracing

This is a new product in our Living Montessori Now shop! This holiday-themed printable tracing pack can be customized for names, words, or numbers … a low-prep activity that’s perfect for classroom or home! There are 52 printable pages and 38 different realistic images – 30 Christmas images (both secular and Christian), 7 Hanukkah images, and 1 Kwanzaa image. This is a Montessori-inspired pack designed to help with name recognition and writing, sight word reading and spelling, and identifying cultural holiday symbols. The 52-page pack is $6.95!

There are directions for using a manuscript dotted print in the pack itself. If you’d like to use another font, you can! (Just choose it from your drop-down menu you’ll find through the pack’s directions.) If you’d like a cursive dotted font, there’s one available for free: Learning Curve Ruled via Blue Vinyl Fonts. Just download and install it on your computer for cursive tracing!

If you’d like to use a manuscript font that’s not dotted (for name recognition for toddlers or young preschoolers), you can use that in the same way. The Print Clearly Font via Blue Vinyl Fonts is free. (Again, just download it and choose it from your drop-down menu you’ll find through the pack’s directions.)

Some Ways to Use the Name and Word Tracing Printables

There are so many different ways you can use this printable. Here are just a few ways:

First, Zoey added sticker dots to her name. This is especially good for preschoolers working on name recognition. Even if they recognize their name, it’s a good way for them to focus on the letters as they’re positioned within the name.

I like to show where to start each letter when tracing the name with a marker, pencil, or crayon. It takes a lot of practice for young children to become comfortable with both forming the letters and starting the letters in the correct place each time.

Rainbow writing is a fun way to practice name tracing, word tracing, or number tracing. Typically, the colors of the rainbow are used. For example, the child will trace over his or her name in red, then orange, then yellow, then green, etc., to create a rainbow of colors. It adds interest to writing. Since this is holiday writing, we used red, yellow, and green colored pencils for the rainbow writing.

You can use the editable printables to trace name, words, or numbers. The directions for using them are on a page in the pack.

The finished strips can be used for hooks, cubbies, or any place you’d like a name or word label.

If you’re working on word writing and would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing object with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.

Resources for Using Your Holiday Pack

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).

This is an easy-prep printable. You’ll probably have everything (or most everything) at home already.

For the activities in the video, we used:

• Printer paper
• ¼” dot stickers
• Washable markers
• Colored pencils

The Living Montessori Now Shop

We have some wonderful products for you in our Living Montessori Now shop! Be sure to check them out while you’re there. The prices are very reasonable, and you’ll find lots of help for Montessori at home or in the classroom.