Printable name tags for preschool, from a pasted list

To print name tags for a preschool room, paste your children's first names into Peabody Teach's free label maker, one a line, pick name tags, and print: six tags a page, each about 3 × 3½ inches, plain or with the week's theme drawing. The names stay in your browser and never go into a link. No sign-in, no ads, and Peabody is free through the end of 2026.

Typing twenty names into twenty boxes on a template is the slow part of name tags. A list you already have, from your roster or an email, is the fast part. The label maker starts from the list.

How it works

1. Paste first names, one a line. Commas work too, so a line like "Ada, Ben, Cleo" becomes three tags. Extra spaces are trimmed and empty lines dropped.
2. Pick the layout. Name tags print six a page, about 3 × 3½ inches each. (Cubby labels, the other layout, print ten a page; the cubby labels post covers those.)
3. Pick a picture. Plain, or the drawing from any of the 52 preschool themes: an apple, a pumpkin, a barn, a star.
4. Print and cut. The page fits on Letter or A4 paper. Cut along the printed borders.

The maker counts as you go: how many labels, and how many pages. It takes up to 40 names, each up to 30 letters long, which covers the biggest room and the longest first name.

Leave the box empty and you get a page of six blank tags, for visitors, a new child who starts on Wednesday, or the grown-ups.

First names only

Every name tag in a room is read by every family who walks in. Put the first name on it, and nothing else.

• No surnames. The maker's box asks for first names only, and its note says so.
• No birthday, no photo on anything the whole room can see.
• A capital letter and then lower case: "Cleo", not "CLEO". It is how children will see their name in books.

If two children share a first name, add a last initial ("Sam B." and "Sam R."), the way most rooms already do on the cubbies.

Where the names are kept

In your browser, and only there. The list you paste is saved on the device so it is there next time, and it is the same list the daily sign-in sheet uses. Paste it once and both tools have it.

The names are never put in a link and never sent anywhere. If you use a shared computer in the office, clear the box when you are done; that clears the saved list too.

The picture: theme or plain

A plain tag lasts all year. A theme tag makes a good first day of a new theme: the children see the apple on their tag and the apple on the plan.

The picture is the theme's own drawing, the same one on the theme's page and its letter pack. One thing the maker does not do: it puts the same drawing on every tag in the batch. If you want a different picture for each child (a common habit, so a child who can't read yet can find their own), print plain tags and let each child pick a sticker for theirs. That makes a good first-morning job.

Try this before the first week

The night before the first day, or the night before a new child starts:

1. Paste the room's first names into the label maker.
2. Print one page of name tags on card stock, with the All about me drawing or plain.
3. Print a second page of blank tags for the grown-ups. Wear one yourself. Name tags help the adults learn the room as much as they help the children.
4. Switch the layout to cubby labels and print a set for the cubbies and coat hooks while the list is still there.
5. Print the sign-in sheet; the names are already on it.

In the morning, a child finds their tag, picks a sticker, and you have a calm first job before circle time.

Name tags for the first theme

Many rooms start the year with All about me, the first theme in Peabody's year: my name, my body, my family and what I can do. Its letter is M, for me, and its circle time question is "What is one thing you can do all by yourself?"

Names fit that week well. Say each name at circle time, every day. When the week's letter is in a child's name, say so. The all about me post has the whole week, and its books include Can Ted Hop? and Did It, two of Peabody's free stories a three-year-old can follow along with.

Make them last

A paper tag on a sweater lasts a morning. For tags that last the month:

• Print on card stock, not copy paper.
• Cover both sides with clear packing tape.
• Punch a hole and hang it on yarn, or tape it to the table spot where the child sits.

For the youngest, keep tags on the wall or the table rather than around a neck, and follow your own program's rules about what goes on a child.

Three things providers ask

Can I print name tags with surnames?

The maker takes whatever you type, but its note asks for first names only, and we'd keep it that way: a name tag is read by every family in the room. A last initial is enough to tell two Sams apart.

Does it work on label paper?

The tags fit Letter and A4, so cut along the printed borders rather than relying on a label sheet's die-cut. Card stock and scissors is the most reliable way.

Is it free?

Yes. The label maker needs no sign-in and shows no ads, the names never leave your device, and Peabody is free through the end of 2026.