Some General Suggestions on How You Can Prepare Your Child For Kindergarten
When children enter kindergarten, they not only need to be ready to read, they need to be ready in a variety of ways for them to be successful.
Preparing your child is easy, this is a list of some of the ways you can help your child be successful in kindergarten, starting from their cognitive development, their language development, social/emotional development, and their physical development.
Your child may excel in one area and lack in another, that’s perfectly normal, but it’s advantageous to work with your child so they’ll be exposed to various tasks that will be required once they start kindergarten.
Preparing Your Child For Kindergarten
How to help your child with Cognitive Development
Help your child sort by color, size, and shape (coins, Tupperware, blocks, etc.).
Have your child practice upper and lower case letters (and letter sounds).
Practice counting to 20.
Help your child identify numbers.
Have your child locate numbers in their environment (phone, remote, etc.)
Have your child practice and know his/her first and last name.
Have your child match items that go together – socks go with shoes.
Practice positions/directions: up/down, in/out, etc.
Go on hunts around the house looking for items that start with certain letters, shapes, etc.
How to Help Your Child with Language Development
Read to your child at least 20 minutes a day!
Ask what happens in the beginning, middle and end of the story.
Ask questions that start with who, what, where, when, and why.
Stop a story in the middle – have your child summarize and predict an ending. (then finish the story)
Give your child one and two-step directions and have them follow the directions.
Say words to your child and have them repeat the words.
Talk to your child and ask them questions about their surroundings.
Play matching games, placing the same letter, object, color, shape, etc.
Play games that classify which items relate to other items (socks go with shoes)
Have them listen to books and music CDs and read/sing along!
Talk! Talk! Talk to your child!
How to Help Your Child With Social/Emotional Development
Play board games.
Work out problems.
Make play dates with friends.
Have your child clean up after playing.
Practice using the restroom independently, zipping pants, washing hands, etc.
How to Help Your Child With Physical Development (Motor Skills)
Practice zipping and unzipping coat.
Practice buttoning and unbuttoning.
Try tieing shoes.
Practice using scissors – cut shapes, etc.
String beads.
Press letters on computer keyboard or tablet.
Have your child practice holding a pencil.
Practice using a laptop and tablet as many schools use them.
In kindergarten, kids are expected to start reading halfway through the school year so it’s a good idea to expose them to reading material, books. letters, sounds, etc. as soon as possible. There are tons of resources available to introduce your child to reading. Many toys have some sort of learning advantage.
A free e-book introducing a day at school!
Some Other Great Posts to Check Out
50 Ways to Prepare Your Child for Kindergarten
Are You Getting Your Child Ready for Kindergarten?
How Else Do You Get Your Child Ready for Kindergarten?
Free Ebooks for Kids and Directions
How to Help Your Child Get Ready to Read
How to Get Your Child to Read – Kindergarten and First Grade
Help Your Child Get Ready For Kindergarten
Fun Car Games that Also Promote Learning and Thinking
25 Ideas for Reading Skills Practice at Home!
Super Fun Ideas For Reading Practice
Qualities of a Good Preschool
Memory Techniques to Help Your Child Remember Information
Some Fun Ideas to get your Child Ready to Read!
It’s hard for little ones to sit still to read so why not dance! Children can get their wiggles out while they move their bodies around while you read a book.
And singing is a wonderful and fun way to read words! Have your child read the words to songs!
Humpty Dumpty (& Other Nursery Rhymes), Six Little Ducks, B-I-N-G-O and Down by the Bay. Nursery Rhyme and Classic Story Softcover Books with CDs!
Spattered with colors from a long day at the easel, the pig takes to the tub, washcloth in hoof, determined to get all pink and clean.
Teach letters, numbers, colors, words, etc. in the tub!
Bathtime Organizer for learning fun in the bathtub!!!
Teach letters throughout the day – place magnetic letters on the refrigerator, place them on the table to create words, put them together to create words and place them on the actual item.
Letter stickers for practice with letter recognition, letter sounds, creating words, etc.
These wooden blocks are great for sorting, matching, word recognition, etc.
More Ways to Interest kids to Learn Reading Skills
Hot Dots, Jr is a kit of 36 double-sided cards, 72 early learning activities, Ace-the Talking Teaching Dog Pen not included.
Ace-the Talking Teaching Dog Pen lights up learning, bringing Hot Dots Jr storybooks alive. To use, you simply press Ace to an answer dot on any Hot Dots or Hot Dots Jr. card or storybook for an immediate response! Ace offers affirmative “ruffs” and encouraging words for correct responses and provides gentle redirection for incorrect responses.
These cards provide independent practice with the alphabet, colors, shapes, first words, sight words, numbers 0-25, phonics, and more. Bonus parent resource cards are also included to offer ideas for fun, educational games, and activities.
Preparing your child for kindergarten is easy, but there are a lot of areas to cover. You’re probably already working on some of the developmental areas already! All children learn differently – there are lots of resources available to you. Please feel free to leave a comment or question below or email me at jean@reading-love.com.