When your baby turns into a toddler and then your toddler enters kindergarten, it can evoke a lot of emotions. Bottles and diapers are replaced by scraped knees and adventures. Like overnight, your sweet baby will look like a full-fledged child. You’ve researched and found the best ways to keep your baby happy, healthy, and growing. Now it’s time to prepare your prospective 5-year-old for kindergarten.
You can do many learning activities to prepare your kids for kindergarten. Many of these also take up a few minutes a day and are so crucial to their development. From a schedule to reading and learning kindness, these activities are easy for your 4 to 5 year old to pick up. Read on to learn more ways you can help your child prepare for school. There’s even a bonus tip for big emotions in the transition for you and your child.
1. Create a schedule
When school starts, your child needs to get up and get ready at the same time Monday through Friday. Many struggles and tears are shed trying to get out the door in the morning. Start exercising early and set a schedule so it won’t be a surprise when school starts. Establish a fixed bedtime and routine every night. For example, take a bath, brush your teeth, put on pajamas, read, and go to bed by 8 p.m. every night.
2. Practice letters, numbers and words
Working with your child on educational activities prepares them for success in the classroom. It gives them a head start in recognizing some of the key elements they will be exposed to in Kindergarten. Practice counting and recognizing numbers. Practice letters and sight words. At home, use flashcards or a blackboard and easel. You can even start writing their name so they know the word first.
3. Read every day
Since you’re already working on a daily schedule, add reading to the list. In fact, daily reading is one of the most important things you can do as part of a learning activity. It helps foster a love of reading through connection because you model as something you do and enjoy. Listening to stories, looking at the words, and seeing the pictures that go with them will also strengthen your child’s language and reading skills. Stories can also help children learn appropriate behaviors for different situations based on their favorite characters.
4. Identify colors
Being able to recognize colors is part of your child’s early childhood development. Start by casually identifying colors in normal conversation with your child. It can be as simple as phrases like, “Would you like to wear your purple or yellow shoes today?” Your child can point to them while you hold them up. You start to match the color to the object. They can do this with many things around them.
5. Work on puzzles and blocks
Turn off the tablet, limit the number of screens, and let the kids work on tactile fun. Puzzles, building blocks and even lego bricks will help your child improve their logical skills. You learn how the pieces fit together through trial and error. Shape sorting blocks and jigsaw puzzles help your child learn shapes and also promote spatial awareness. Help them identify their names as you play.
6. Learn emotional regulation
Help your little ones learn emotional regulation. This is an ability that is also largely modeled. So work on your own emotional regulation as well. Help them use healthy coping strategies for big feelings. You can teach them to talk about their feelings and show them that their feelings are valid. Also, work on empathy and treating others kindly.
7. Gain Independence
Part of going to kindergarten is becoming a big kid. They do more and more things on their own, apart from you. Work with them to gain independence. Enabling them to feed themselves lunch and use the toilet by themselves is a start. Giving them more responsibilities will also increase their confidence in school.
8. Development of self-care skills
As with gaining independence, you should work with your children to develop self-care skills and healthy habits. This includes good hygiene. Two important things are washing your hands after using the toilet and not picking your nose. It is also important to cover your mouth when coughing. Brushing teeth and learning to bathe independently are also good skills as part of their routine.
9. Take responsibility
Learning to take responsibility is a great life skill. In fact, it continues to build throughout life. When your child gets into trouble, teach them to admit their mistake. The responsibility also goes beyond that; Teach them that they are responsible for their actions and words. Being kind and doing what you promise are too big things for the little ones to work on. They can also be responsible for their belongings and keep track of their own shoes and backpacks.
10. Know your phone number
One way to prepare your child for success is to make sure they know Mom and Dad’s real names. In an emergency, it can be helpful for those responsible to know your own name and that of your parents. Also, work with them to remember one of your phone numbers. This way they can let a trusted adult know if they need to contact you. You can also put your contact information and name in the backpack for extra help. Let them know it’s there in case a teacher or bus driver needs it too.
11. Recognizing and naming body parts
As a parent, you never want to think about something that could happen to your children. However, a little prevention can be helpful in potentially dangerous situations. Teach your kids the correct names for their body parts so they can tell when something hurts. This is important when they cry after falling off the swing. And it’s also important when it comes to setting boundaries for body parts and appropriate touches.
12. Acknowledge Changes
Change is equally difficult for small and large people. Don’t just take your child to school and tell them everything is fine. They may have great feelings about the change—excitement, fear, and sadness are all allowable feelings. Let her know that you too have big feelings about your baby growing up. Seeing mom and dad have multiple feelings at once and process the changes also helps them know how to do it.
When your grown-up preschooler stands in front of you, images of him as a baby probably flood your brain. The old adage “The days are long but the years are short” is so true. Use the time before school starts to prepare them for success. Even if your child starts school in the fall, you can start working on the skills in this article. And if your child is still a toddler, you can start now.
After all, there is no such thing as too much learning. Make these activities a priority. Most of them take a few minutes a day and can change their development and maturity enormously. Help your child start school on the right foot. The school wants your child to be happy, healthy and continue to grow and learn as you do.
Selected image source: Photo by Alexander Dummer; pexels; Thank you very much!
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