As much as I and many educators wish kindergarten was more focused on being outdoors, playing, and socialization, we live in a world where that is unfortunately often not the case. Aside from homeschooling (which I know many of you have recently tried, and loved😉), your kids will have to attend the traditional kindergarten sooner or later. I created this post to provide practical tips on what cognitive skills they will need to have.
Getting ready for Kindergarten is an incredibly exciting time for students and parents. Regardless of whether a child has previously been in Day Care, Pre-K, or another school setting, for many families Kindergarten represents the “real” beginning of a school career. It is the first step on a long path of education that ends with college graduation. What a monumental milestone! But many parents start to worry as the Kindergarten start date approaches – will my child be ready?
Because children’s pre-school experiences can vary so widely, Kindergarten teachers anticipate that their new students will all be at different levels when the year begins. They will spend time at the beginning of the school year filling in gaps and helping all students be ready to learn. But there are quite a few Kindergarten Readiness skills parents can help with at home. In this article, we will break down the most important skills Kindergarteners need and share ideas for practicing these skills.
One important note – these can all be introduced well before Kindergarten starts. And most importantly, read to your child daily and engage him in conversation. Nothing can replace reading and rich conversation to build vocabulary and bolster academic readiness!
Write first and last name
Your Kindergartener will be expected to use appropriate capital and lowercase letters when writing his or her name at school. Besides practicing with a pencil and paper, there are many fun ways to help your child perfect this skill. These activities work for learning both first and last names!
Tactile Fun
Have your child practice tracing her name in shaving cream or sand. Help her build the letters out of Play-Doh. After she finishes, have her read her name and say the letters.
Name Art
Give your child small squares of colorful tissue paper or construction paper. Write her name on a large piece of construction paper and have her crumple the paper into little balls and glue onto the letters in her name to make a piece of colorful name art. You can also do this with stickers, pom-poms, or even dried beans!
Puzzles
While you can purchase custom made puzzles with your child’s name, there are much more budget-friendly options. Simply write your child’s name on an index card, cut the letters apart and scramble them. See how fast he can put them back in the correct order, then challenge him to beat his time!
Sing the ABC song and identify some letters
Most rising Kindergarteners can rattle off the alphabet song with ease, but can your child recognize the letters when they are presented out of order? Many parents are surprised to learn that singing the ABC song does not always correlate with knowing the alphabet. But helping your child learn his letters can be easy and fun!
Start with the letters in his or her name
When completing some of the activities above, practice reciting each letter in your child’s name and have him practice. Challenge him to name the letters on his own!
Sing and Name
When singing the ABC song, give your child an Alphabet Chart or ABC puzzle. Practicing pointing to each letter while you sing. Ask, “Can you find letter G?” and model how to sing the ABC song and point to each letter in order, stopping at G.
Go on a Letter Hunt
When your child is not looking, write some letters on index cards and tape them up around the house – in the kitchen, on the bathroom mirror, even on the back door! Have her go on a Letter Hunt around the house and see how many she can find and name!
When you are out and about, talk about the letters you see on signs and logos (“Target” starts with an T just like Tiffany. Can we find any other T’s?”)
Letter Grab Bag
Fill a small opaque bag with some letter magnets. Have your child close his eyes, reach in, and pull out a letter. See if he can guess which letter it is just by the way it feels. Then have him open his eyes. Was he correct? Comment on each letter’s attributes. (“I notice the B has two big bumps, while the D only has one.”)
Tactile Practice
Just like with name writing, try using materials such as sand, Play-Doh, or chalk to build and write the letters. Name a letter of the alphabet and see how fast she can write it with her finger in shaving cream or build it out of Play-Doh. You can even reverse roles and have her call out letters while Mom or Dad writes them. She will love “checking” your work!
Identify and match beginning sounds
If you show your child a bear, a ball, and a top, can he identify which ones begin with the /b/ sound? Identifying beginning sounds of words and pictures is an important pre-reading skill that your child needs in order to be ready for school. Teach the skill first by saying a word slowly, enunciating each sound clearly, and identifying the first sound. “Bat…/b/…/a/.../t/. The /b/ sound came first.” Have him practice saying words slowly to find the beginning sound. Once your child has mastered identifying beginning sounds, begin to match these with their corresponding letters.
Same or Different?
Show your child two objects and have him tell whether the beginning sounds are the same or different. (“Hmm… /t/, /t/, table. /p/ /p/ paper…are those the same?”)
Play Sound DetectiveName a sound for your child and see if he can name or find something else that begins with the same sound. How many things can he find? Can he find something that begins with the same sound as his name? This can be a fun competition – who can find the most household items that begin with a given sound?
Rhyming
Rhyming is another valuable pre-reading skill that helps learners understand and engage with language. Expose your child to lots of rhymes – nursery rhymes, songs, finger plays, and rhyming books should all be part of your child’s experience. Explain that rhyming words sound the same at the end. Read a few lines of a favorite nursery rhyme and find the rhyming words together.
Create Your Own Rhymes
When your child is adept at identifying rhymes, let him have a go at creating their own rhyming pairs. First model the skill by listing a string of rhyming words such as “cat, mat, bat, hat, rat.” Say, “Can you think of a word that rhymes with ___?” and see what he comes up with. Nonsense words are ok – it is the skill of matching the ending sounds that is important!
Listen for the Rhymes
When reading a new book to your child, stop after the first page and ask, “Does this book rhyme? How do you know?” If the answer is yes, take a minute after reading each page to identify the words that rhyme.
Differentiate between letters, numbers, and words
Many young children confuse these concepts. The more exposure your student has to all three of these, the more comfortable she will be with distinguishing between them.
Talk About It
Use this language often so she is familiar with these terms. (“I see a big number 7 on that sign” or “That word says STOP. Can you count the letters in the word STOP?”) Help her to understand that words are made up of many letters by counting the letters in different words. Open a book to any page and ask her to count the words. Explain that words go together to make up sentences.
Sort it Out
Make it a game. Cut out examples of letters, numbers, and words from magazines, and ask your child to sort them. Did she find more letters, numbers, or words?
Count objects to 20 and identify numbers
The best way to learn to count is to practice! Count, count, count as much as you can. Learning to count is a sophisticated process made up of many different skills, which we break down below.
Rote Counting
Teachers refer to the ability to say the numbers in the correct order, without necessarily counting objects, as “rote counting”. This can be practiced by simply having your child cover his eyes and count to 10 or 20 during a game of Hide and Seek, for example.
One-to-One Correspondence
Once he masters rote counting, try counting objects together. Make sure he understands that for each number he says aloud, one object is counted. This is called “one-to-one correspondence”. Model how to use your pointer finger to touch each object as you count. Have him help you set the table for dinner, and count out the correct number of plates, forks, etc. Count the apples you put into your cart at the grocery store.
Cardinality
Cardinality refers to the understanding that the last number we say when counting a set represents the total number of objects in that set. (“One, two, three, four, five. There are five beans in this cup.”) Practice by giving him a set of objects, having him count, and then have him tell you the total.
Number Identification
Help your child practice naming the numbers by giving him numbers written on sticky notes. Start with 1 through 5. Name them in order, then scramble them up and see if he can put them back together. Gradually move to 10, then 15, then 20.
Matching Numbers with Sets
Give him a number line and ask him to build sets of beans or stickers or Legos for each number. Make it a little harder by giving him numbers written on Post-It notes out of order and have him identify and build sets for each number. Make the game more fun for him by having him give Mom or Dad numbers to make sets for, and then having him count and check your work!
Identify basic shapes and colors
Can your Kindergartener name and describe a square, triangle, circle, and rectangle? Can they identify the colors of the rainbow? This can be fun to practice! Model how to name the shapes and describe their attributes (“I can tell this book is shaped like a square because it has four sides that are all the same.”)
Shape Scavenger Hunt
Challenge your child to see how many of each shape she can find in the house or around the neighborhood. She can even use the camera on a phone or tablet to take pictures of her findings! Cutting shapes out of magazines is another way to practice this skill, while also working on the important fine motor skill of cutting with scissors.
Guessing Games
Start a game of I Spy, and direct him to use shape and color words to describe the object in question. Another fun game is 20 Questions. Tell him you are thinking of an object and have him ask questions to guess what it is. Model how to ask questions about color, shape, and even size, to arrive at the correct answer. This may take some practice, but soon he will not want to stop playing!
Follow adult directions
Your Kindergartener will have an easier time adjusting to school if she is familiar with listening and following adult instructions. If she has already been in a Pre-K program or other school setting, she may already be comfortable with this skill. But if not, you can still practice together at home.
Role Play
Set up a pretend classroom with dolls and stuffed animals and play teacher. Model giving an instruction, such as “Raise your hand” or “Walk to the door” and praise her for following it. Let her have a turn playing teacher, too, while you follow her instructions!
Helping your child to build up these skills at home will prepare them for an exciting and rewarding year in Kindergarten. The point is not to overwhelm them with schoolwork. Have fun with it and focus on just one or two skills at a time. With just a few minutes of practice a day, in the context of a household full of conversations and read-alouds, your child will be ready for a great school career!