Ready for Kindergarten

Starting kindergarten can be a big transition for a child. To help them succeed in their first year of school, children need the necessary skills, referred to as Kindergarten Readiness.

Below are five key areas to focus on to help preschoolers get ready for their first year of school. Children can develop these skills or practices in structured environments (such as daycare or preschool classes) or at home.

Independence

Encourage your child to get dressed, use the bathroom, wash their hands, put their shoes on and hang up their own coat by themselves. These skills will help when they need to use them independently in kindergarten.

Develop and follow routines

Set up home routines that will transfer into a school setting. Getting up around the same time every day, getting dressed, eating meals together, and setting reading and play times are great routines that will help them transition to school.

Reading

When you make reading part of your daily routine, you’re helping your child develop the language skills they’ll need to learn to read. Reading and telling stories together is quality time with you, and children’s books also introduce new and unusual words that you might not use in everyday conversation. That’s important because vocabulary is a big part of school success. Find books that your child is interested in, and ask them questions about the story while you’re reading – “ What do you think will happen next?”

Reading together also helps your child develop other skills to prepare them for kindergarten, like listening skills.

Social and emotional skills

It is important to work with your child on developing their social and emotional intelligence to ensure they have the skills they need as they start school. Skills like communication, problem solving, and working well with others are important for success in school – and in life.

To develop problem-solving and reasoning skills in your child, play simple memory games, have them classify objects by physical features and group objects that go together, help them to understand cause-and-effect, and encourage them to draw pictures to express their ideas and emotions. Before entering kindergarten, children should be able to take turns and share with others, follow someone’s lead, work cooperatively in a group, listen when someone is speaking, and respect others’ property.  Provide your child with ample age-appropriate play opportunities, set up playdates, and role-play social situations with your child.

Language and Speech Development

Together with strong literacy skills, children with good language skills are more likely to go further in school, have a higher income and be healthier and happier throughout life.

Talking frequently with your child – in your home language – is the easiest way to develop language and speech development. Use the “serve and return” model. Serve and return works like a game of tennis or volleyball between child and caregiver. The child “serves” by reaching out for interaction – with eye contact, noises or speech, facial expressions, gestures, or touch. A responsive caregiver will “return the serve” by speaking back, playing peekaboo, or sharing a toy or laugh. These back-and-forth exchanges are the building blocks of children’s early brain development. They help children learn how to control their emotions, cope with stress, and learn skills that will serve as a foundation for later development.