Ideas to Help Your Child Prepare for the Transition to Kindergarten
- Continue to read to your child every day. Over the summer, you might want to read some books that focus on starting school or Kindergarten.
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing
A Place Called Kindergarten by Jessica Harper
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
- Give your child many opportunities to color, draw and create with a variety of tools (pencils, crayons, markers, chalk, scissors, glue).
- Help your child see how math connects to the real world. Count everyday objects together, sort and organize toys, notice numbers and shapes, etc.
- Play games together like Candy Land, Memory Game, Go Fish, etc. to help your child learn how to play cooperatively, take turns and lose gracefully.
- Encourage your child to develop good self-help skills: using the bathroom, washing hands, sneezing/coughing into his/her arm, and dressing (buttons, zippers, snaps).
- Over the summer, visit the school playground. This will provide your child with an opportunity to become comfortable in his/her new place space.
- Set up play times with other Kindergarten children who might be in the neighborhood.
- Get your child a roomy backpack for your child to bring to and from school each day. If you are purchasing containers for snacks or lunch food, try to choose containers that can be easily opened by your child. Your child will not need to purchase any school supplies, but he/she will need to bring a healthy snack to school each day (something to eat and something to drink).
- Try not to “over-talk” the transition to Kindergarten. Sometimes parents try to reduce their own anxiety about this exciting transition by talking about it often with their child. This can create anxiety in your child. In general, the transition to Kindergarten is harder for parents than it is for children!
- Enjoy this special time in your child's life...and your life!