How to Prepare for Kindergarten
Ready, set, kindergarten! Preparing your child for kindergarten is made easier with these tips from a mom of two and former elementary school teacher.
Author
Katie Wickliff
Published:
Oct 2024
Key takeaways
- • Starting kindergarten is a big transition for children and their families
- • Preparing for kindergarten activities includes both social-emotional and academic skill-building
- • Established routines help kindergarteners feel confident about the new school year
Starting kindergarten is an exciting milestone in a child’s life, and children arrive at school with different levels of readiness. For example, one child might be working on identifying letters of the alphabet, while another might be reading simple words and sentences.
No doubt about it, starting kindergarten is a big change for children and their families, and you might be wondering how to prepare your child for kindergarten. In this article, we cover several ways parents can help ease the transition.
Table of contents
Preparing for Kindergarten: Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills
When I say “kindergarten readiness,” what comes to mind? Is it the child who cuts perfect shapes out of paper? Or the student who can count to 10 and identify colors? While these are signs of kindergarten readiness, preparing for kindergarten starts with social, emotional, and behavioral development.
Here are 5 tips to help your child with social, emotional, and behavioral skills they’ll need in kindergarten:
1. Create morning and night routines
Establishing strong routines at home helps kids feel safe and in control of their environment. Bedtime routines help kids wind down after a busy day. Depending on their current bedtime, you might consider slowly moving their bedtime earlier to practice for early school wake-ups.
2. Help develop independence
Encourage your child to dress themselves and use the bathroom (including flushing the toilet and washing their hands!) independently. The key to mastering these hygiene behaviors is to practice, practice, practice! Tip: give your child plenty of time to carry out this independence. For example, when my son was going into kindergarten, I realized that rushing him to put on his coat was just leading to frustration for both of us! Eventually, I started planning extra time for him to get ready independently.
3. Work on following simple directions
Kindergarteners must follow many instructions, so practice this skill at home in fun ways: Have your child do crafts or play games with one- and two-step directions. Cooking together is another great way to help kids learn to follow instructions.
4. Read together
Reading to your child often helps set the foundation for success in kindergarten and beyond. Many books help kids learn important social-emotional skills like kindness, sharing, manners, and building friendships. Many books deal with first day of kindergarten jitters. Here are some of our favorite books to share with your almost-kindergartener:
5. Practice asking for help
Advocating for oneself is a lifelong skill, so have your child practice asking for help when they need it: whether they need help with an academic problem, a friendship situation, or organizing their backpacks at the end of the day. This will help build their confidence as they enter school.
Kindergarten Math and Reading Readiness Skills
In addition to helping your child prepare for kindergarten’s social, emotional, and behavioral aspects, it’s a good idea to practice some of the skills your child will learn in the classroom, such as identifying colors, counting, or writing their name.
However, please don’t worry if your child hasn’t mastered these skills by the time school begins. I found that simply being familiar with these skills and concepts helped my children’s confidence when they started kindergarten.
Language and literacy
Identify the Alphabet. Children can learn to identify letters through experiments, exploration, music, and play. They also become more familiar with the alphabet by looking at books and being read to.
Write their first and last name. Tracing is a great way to help your child learn to write their name– try having them trace their name over highlighter, with sidewalk chalk, or with fingerpaint!
Hold a pencil, crayon, or marker correctly. Practice “pincer grip” by laying a pencil flat in front of your child with the point facing them. Have them pinch the pencil (like they’d pinch a person!) and flip it back toward them with the eraser going over the hand. Then help rest the pencil on their middle finger. This one takes lots of practice!
Kindergarten math
Counting. Kindergarteners are expected to learn to count to 10, and daily life provides many counting opportunities! Count LEGO bricks, chocolate chips, coins, or try some kindergarten math activities.
Classifying objects. In kindergarten math, children will learn to group objects by size, pattern, color, or shape. Give them a head start by sorting, matching, or grouping some of their favorite toys.
Identify common colors. Break out the art supplies and get creative! Point out the different colors in a crayon box, and look for opportunities to have your child identify colors around your home.
Play fun math games. Dreambox math app is full of engaging, interactive games that teach kids important math skills while having fun!
Other Ways to Help Your Child Prepare for Kindergarten
There’s a lot to look forward to in kindergarten. Here are a few other ways to help your child prepare:
Plan a kindergarten classroom visit
Many schools offer a “meet the teacher” classroom visit before the first day of school. These visits help kids feel comfortable seeing the classroom before the first day. Transitions made my young son very anxious, so we actually did classroom visits for kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades!
Phase out naps
Kindergarten is a long day for every child, but if your child is used to mid-day naps, now might be the time to phase them out. Start slowly and know that it’s ok if your child takes time to adjust to the full days. Most kindergarten teachers expect that their students are going to be tired and often plan for a rest period.
Organize a playdate
Make plans with kids in your child’s kindergarten class. Meet at the playground, at the pool, or an ice cream shop and talk about how the children will be in the same class. Having a familiar face will do wonders to ease any first day anxiety.
FAQs about preparing for kindergarten
Parents and caregivers can help prepare for kindergarten by focusing on the social, emotional, and behavioral skills that children will need to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. Parents can also help introduce their children to some of the academic skills they’ll learn in kindergarten, such as writing, counting, or identifying shapes and colors.
