Preschool Readiness

Young children's language and communication skills rapidly develop between 3 and 5 years of age. To help them build their skills, try some of these strategies:

• Talk with your child often and listen to them attentively.

• Have your child use words to express what he/she wants.

• Use exact names of common objects to build their vocabulary.

• Respond to your child in positive ways and ask questions to encourage conversations.

Reading to your child helps them expand their vocabulary, stimulates their imagination, and teaches them to be good listeners. It also nurtures a special bond between you and your child. Make reading fun and interesting by asking some of these questions:

• "What do you think will happen next?"

• "What was your favorite part?"

• "How do you think that character felt?"

• "What would you have done?"

Counting, comparing, and sorting are important math skills that begin to emerge in the preschool-aged child. Families can help build these skills by:

• Counting aloud the number of groceries in your shopping cart.

• Asking your child to give you a specific number of objects, such as two books or four crayons.

• Comparing objects by size, shape, and weight.

• Sorting everyday items such as socks by size and/or color.

Your child can develop good social skills by spending time with other children close in age, while caregivers provide supervision to help keep interactions positive. There are many opportunities for parents to demonstrate how words are used in various situations, such as saying "please" and "thank you" or asking "Can I see your toy?" As a preschooler, your child will:

• Begin to take turns and share toys with peers.

• Remember friends' names.

• Initiate interactions with adults and children.

• Listen when others talk and use good manners.

Children need to develop their large motor skills for physical activities like throwing or kicking a ball, running or climbing, and even hopping and standing on one foot. They also need fine motor skills that will help them with classroom activities like coloring, painting, cutting, and drawing. To help your child work on their motor skills, parents can

• Arrange physical activities outdoors (playing with a ball or riding a bike).

• Keep crayons, pencils, and paper available for scribbling and drawing.

• Provide playdough or clay for rolling out and shaping with hands.

• Work together on simple puzzles.

• Provide safety scissors and old magazines for cutting practice.

Gradually, your child will begin to do more on his/her own. When you guide your child in building their self-help skills, their independence and self confidence grows. Some simple things that you can help your child learn how to do are:

• Using the bathroom and washing his/her hands

• Covering coughs and sneezes

• Putting on his/her jacket, hat, scarf, mittens and handling buttons, zippers, and snaps

• Taking shoes off and put them back on

Remember to celebrate your child's successes!