One of the most meaningful first words to a child is his or her own name. The story of “Chrysanthemum,” by Kevin Henkes, is about a little girl whose name is Chrysanthemum which, according to her parents, is the perfect name….
This book is such a wonderful book which presents all kinds of different messages you can build on but I chose to use the book as a way to emphasize how every child’s name is meaningful and special…
Because my preschool is not yet back in session, I shared this book with my three year old nephew and we followed up the book by exploring his name in a couple of ways…
Name PuzzleÂ
First we talked about how Wyatt has a perfect name and then I invited Wyatt to join me at the table to explore the letters of his name. On the table was Wyatt’s name fully written out and in the basket were the letters of his name on separate cards…
Wyatt explored each letter of his name for a few minutes as he put the name puzzle back together in his own way…
Name Painting
Our next activity was a simple name painting…
I printed Wyatt’s name in large print on a sheet of white drawing paper and Wyatt used a dot shaped sponge dipped in tempera paint to decorate his name…
As Wyatt and I explored his name together through our experiences today, we discovered that Wyatt’s name is absolutely perfect!
This book is just one of many Kevin Henkes books being shared today.  Please take a minute to check out the blog hop below and feel free to add your links to any Kevin Henkes inspired posts as well.Â
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