Readiness for kindergarten
Kindergarten Readiness Checklist | Understood
Kindergarten Readiness Checklist | UnderstoodSkip to contentThis page is in English
Because differences are our greatest strength
DonateOpens new windowWhy support Understood?
ByAmanda Morin
At a glance
Many kids who are ready for kindergarten can say the alphabet and count to 10.
Kindergarten readiness includes motor skills like holding a pencil and using scissors.
Self-care like getting dressed and not needing help in the bathroom are important kindergarten skills.
When kids are getting ready for kindergarten, many families wonder about academic skills. But self-care and social and emotional skills are important for kindergarten readiness, too. For example, does your child need help using the bathroom? Learn about the different kinds of skills kids are expected to have when they start kindergarten.
Language skills
- Speak in complete sentences and be understood by others most of the time
- Use words to express needs and wants
- Understand two-step directions
- Make comparisons and describe relationships between objects like big/little, under/over, and first/last
Reading readiness skills
- Enjoy listening to stories
- Know how to find the first page of a book and which way to flip the pages
- Recognize familiar logos and signs, like stop signs
- Recite the alphabet and identify most of the letters
- Recognize and try to write their own name
- Recognize when two words rhyme (like cat and bat)
- Start to connect letter sounds to letters (like the sound of the first letter in their name)
- Draw a picture to help express an idea
Math skills
- Count from 1 to 10 without skipping numbers
- Match a number to a group of five or fewer items (“I see three cats”)
- Recognize and name basic shapes (square, circle, triangle, rectangle)
- Understand more than and less than
- Arrange three objects in the right order (like from smallest to biggest)
- Name or point to the colors in a box of eight crayons
Self-care skills
- Use the bathroom and wash up on their own
- Get dressed on their own (but may still need help with buttons, zippers, and shoelaces)
- Know and can say their first and last name and age
Social and emotional skills
- Separate from a parent or caregiver without getting overly upset
- Interact with other kids
- Pay attention for at least five minutes to a task an adult is leading, like listening to directions for an activity or discussing the day’s weather during circle time
Fine motor skills
- Use a pencil or crayon with some control
- Use scissors
- Copy basic shapes
- Make distinct marks that look like letters and write some actual letters, especially the ones in their name
- Put together a simple puzzle
Gross motor skills
- Run
- Jump with feet together
- Hop on one foot
- Climb stairs
- Bounce a ball and try to catch it
How to help your rising kindergartner
Kids develop skills at different rates.
It’s not unusual for kids to have strong skills in one area and weak skills in other areas. Some states use kindergarten readiness tests to get a sense of which early learners might need extra help in some areas.
If you’re concerned your child isn’t ready for kindergarten, talk with your child's preschool teacher and work together to come up with a plan to address any trouble spots. You might also want to talk with your child’s health care provider. Learn about the pros and cons of delaying kindergarten for a year.
If your child is headed for kindergarten, explore these steps for a smooth transition. You might also want to see a set of videos on what kindergarten academic skills look like in action.
Key takeaways
Kids develop skills at different rates and might be strong in some areas and weak in others.
Some states use kindergarten readiness tests to see if kids need extra help in certain areas.
If you’re concerned your child might not be ready for kindergarten, talk to your child’s preschool teacher about how to help.
Tell us what interests you
About the author
About the author
Amanda Morin is the author of “The Everything Parent’s Guide to Special Education” and the former director of thought leadership at Understood. As an expert and writer, she helped build Understood from its earliest days.
Reviewed by
Reviewed by
Kristen L. Hodnett, MSEd is a clinical professor in the department of special education at Hunter College in New York City.
Discover what’s possible when you’re understood.
We’ll email you our most helpful stories and resources.
Learn more
Copyright © 2014-2023 Understood For All Inc.
Kindergarten Readiness - First Things First
- Kindergarten readiness is about what kids should know and be able to do when they start school.
- Social-emotional development is as important as physical and academic skills.
- No matter what your child’s age, there are things you can do to help them be ready for kindergarten.
The first day of kindergarten is a big deal. It’s a new step in your child’s education and a special event in your family. You’ll take lots of photos and maybe shed a few tears.
But as you look forward to that special day, you might find yourself wondering…
Is my child ready for kindergarten?
How do you know? And what does that even mean? All good questions.
We have some answers for you. We’ll explain how you and your child can get ready for kindergarten and give you some tips on how you can help your child on that special day.
Now, some of you may be thinking…
I have a baby. I can come back later, right?
Stick around. There are a lot of simple, everyday things you can do with your baby now — before they can walk or talk or use scissors — to help them learn and develop the skills they’ll need later on.
The sooner the better, but no matter how old your child is, starting now is great.
So let’s get started…
What is kindergarten readiness?
Kindergarten readiness (sometimes called “school readiness”) is a way to describe the things a child should know and be able to do when they start kindergarten. These skills and abilities are related to different areas of child development (sometimes called “domains”), including:
- Health and physical skills (“motor skills”)
- Social and emotional development
- Language skills
- Approaches to learning
- General knowledge
There’s a lot to learn in that first year of school, and in addition to the lessons and activities, a kindergarten classroom also has schedules and directions to follow, lines to stand in and other children to get along with. So kids need social and behavioral skills — like independence, curiosity and self-control — as much as they need early academic skills — like counting or knowing some of the letters in their name.
Arizona’s School Readiness Framework has a formal definition of kindergarten readiness and the domains of child development. It’s intended for teachers, but take a look if you want a more detailed explanation.
What do kindergarten teachers think?
Who knows more about being ready for kindergarten than kindergarten teachers? We asked some kindergarten teachers from across Arizona about what children need to be ready for their first day of school:
- Language and early literacy skills (like vocabulary and how to handle books)
- Listening skills (“Attending kindergarten involves lots of listening!”)
- Independence
- Self-control
- Focus
- Curiosity
- Persistence
- Following directions (with one or two steps)
- Fine motor skills (to hold writing tools or use scissors)
- Writing their name
- Counting to five
- Bathroom skills (going by themselves, washing their hands, how to blow their nose and sneeze into their elbow, etc.
) - Sharing and taking turns
- Being a friend
A lot of these are social-emotional skills.
That’s right. Knowing their letters and numbers is helpful, for sure, but based on our understanding of early brain development, the skills that are most important for success in school — and in life — are things like communication, problem solving and working well with others. These skills start developing from birth and throughout their first five years, when a child’s brain grows faster than at any other time in life. Kids keep learning and developing in later years, too, but early childhood lays the foundation for their future learning.
Now that you know more about kindergarten readiness, let’s talk about how you can help your little one be ready for success in school.
| JUMP TO SECTION: |
When should I enroll my child in kindergarten?
In Arizona, children can start kindergarten if they are age 5 before September 1. And by law, children must be enrolled in school or an approved alternative program by age 6. Check with your local school district for more information. Some schools start holding kindergarten registration events in January.
Here’s some advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics to help you decide when to sign your child up for kindergarten.
What can I do to help my child be ready for kindergarten?
If you have a preschooler who will be entering kindergarten next school year, it’s not too late to start getting them ready. Here are some tips:
Going to preschool makes a big difference.Having some previous classroom experience can help make the transition to kindergarten much easier.
Research shows that children who attend quality child care and preschool programs go on to do better in school.
| “When I taught kinder, it was more difficult for those students who didn’t have any previous school experience. Something as simple as lining up was difficult for them because they didn’t know what a line was. So those early childhood learning experiences are so, so important.” Michelle Doherty, former Arizona Teacher of the Year “Kids have to get used to being away from their family for long days, sitting and listening to a story, taking turns in line — the social and emotional things. When students have had those experiences before coming to my class, you can see that. I think that quality preschool is more important than it ever has been.” Michelle Novelli, Rodel Exemplary Kindergarten Teacher |
If your child is one of the many in Arizona who didn’t attend preschool, you might want to look for a kindergarten transition program, which are designed to give kids some classroom experience before their first day of school. Together with a parent, children attend a series of classes, usually in the summer before they start kindergarten. Kids are introduced to what an elementary school and kindergarten classroom looks like and how to stand in line, listen and follow a teacher’s directions. Kindergarten transition programs may be offered by school districts, family resource centers and even some public libraries.
Help your child be more independent.The months leading up to the first day of school are the ideal time to help your little one develop the independence and self-confidence they’ll need to be ready for the transition to kindergarten, but it’s never too early to start.
Give your child simple tasks or chores, like making their bed, dressing themselves and clearing their own dishes. These things take practice, but over time, you’ll teach your child to be more independent.
| “There are simple ways you can encourage independence in your child during your regular daily routines. Find those tasks that you still do for your child that they are capable of learning to do for themselves, such as pouring their own bowl of cereal or picking out their own clothes. If they run into a roadblock, give them a chance to problem solve before jumping right in to take over. As they find themselves doing more for themselves and working through obstacles, they will also build a sense of independence and perseverance that is well worth the milk spills and mismatched clothes.” Abbey Walejko, kindergarten teacher at Kyrene Monte Vista Elementary School in Phoenix |
Get even more advice on developing independence from Arizona kindergarten teachers.
When you make reading part of your daily routine, you’re helping your child develop the language skills they’ll need to learn to read. Reading and telling stories together is quality time with you, and children’s books also introduce new and unusual words that you might not use in everyday conversation. That’s important, because vocabulary is a big part of school success. Find books that your child is interested in, and ask them questions about the story while you’re reading — “What do you think will happen next?” Reading together also helps your child develop other skills to prepare them for kindergarten.
| “Students should have some exposure to being read to. Read books to your child so they are practicing some listening skills, some daily routines and procedures of what it would look like for a teacher to read to their student in the classroom.” Kathleen James, kindergarten teacher at Chinle Elementary School |
Want even more tips? Here are 6 Ways to Help Your Child Be Ready for Kindergarten.
It’s never too soon to start helping your child learn and grow. From the very beginning, children are learning and developing language, social skills and other things they’ll need to be successful in school and in life. And long before you enroll your child in kindergarten, there are simple things you can do to support their healthy development and learning.
You are your child’s first teacher.
But you don’t need flashcards or worksheets. That’s not how very young children learn. Just do your best to be a loving, responsive caregiver. Play with them. Read to them. Talk with them, even before they can use words. Give them as many positive, stimulating experiences as you can.
All of these everyday moments add up to what your child needs to be ready for school.
Talking with your child develops language skills.
When babies and toddlers hear words and language from caring adults, their brains develop the connections they’ll need to learn to use language and, later, to learn how to read. Studies show that children whose parents and caregivers regularly talk and read with them develop larger vocabularies and go on to become better readers and do better in school.
More than the amount of words a child hears, it’s quality talk that matters most. Even before your child can use words themselves, engaging them in short, back-and-forth conversations helps them develop vocabulary and language skills. It also supports their social-emotional development. Just a few minutes at a time can make a big difference.
Make reading together part of your daily routine.
More than any other piece of advice, kindergarten teachers say that reading with your child is a great way to help prepare them for school.
| “Make reading part of life. Read to your child. Have that lap time every day when you’re sharing books and words and stories. Your child may go through a phase when their favorite book is Green Eggs and Ham and they want you to read that book every night for four months. Go ahead and read it. For the thousandth time, go ahead and do it. You may not realize it, but it’s exciting for them, and they’re building literacy skills. Young kids need to hear words and sentences and rhymes to develop the skills they need to learn to read.” Michelle Novelli, Rodel Exemplary Kindergarten Teacher |
Reading and telling stories together is quality time with you, and children’s books also introduce new and unusual words that you might not use in everyday conversation. That’s important, because vocabulary is a big part of school success.
Learn more about how your child develops language and the skills they’ll need to be a good reader.
Give them learning experiences.
Your child learns and grows when you give them opportunities to get out in the world to explore and discover new things. That could be in nature, at the library, free community events, on the bus or anywhere. It doesn’t have to be all day. Sharing as many different life experiences as you can with your child helps them develop social skills, vocabulary, curiosity and excitement about learning.
You can also encourage learning at home through play and art activities.
Writing begins with scribbling, so give your toddler safe writing tools, like crayons, chalk or markers. Have them scribble and draw, and ask them questions about their drawings.
Keep your child healthy and smiling.
Your little one learns through their senses and experiences. Their eyesight, which develops rapidly in early childhood, is a big part of how they explore, discover and connect with you and their other caregivers. And because they learn so much through their eyes, it’s important to make sure your child’s vision health is part of their regular check-ups.
And just like they need regular check-ups with their doctor, your child needs a dental check-up starting at age 1 and every year after that to prevent tooth decay, which is a leading cause of school absences. The good news is that tooth decay is 100% preventable.
Check in on your child’s development.
While all children develop differently, it helps to know if your child is meeting typical milestones.
Developmental milestones are the things most children can do by a certain age. How your child plays, learns, speaks, acts and moves offers important clues about your child’s development. Talk with your child’s doctor if you have any questions or concerns.
Use our Ages and Stages content to track your child’s developmental milestones.
Find free early childhood programs and services near you.
From birth to age 5, your child’s brain grows and develops more than at any other time in life. That’s why their early years are so important. First Things First has free early childhood programs to help you support your little one’s healthy development and learning. Use our online search tool to look for free programs and services in your Arizona community.
Information is available in both English and Spanish.
Use our search tool to find free early childhood programs in your Arizona community.
More About Kindergarten Readiness
How to understand if a child is ready for kindergarten
A lot and in detail is written about readiness for school: a 7-year-old child is already almost an adult. And you can analyze it in an adult way. Whether business - a three-year-old! For citizens from 2 to 4 years old, there are no reliably clear tests for IQ and EQ. And not every psychologist is able to “by eye” distinguish someone who is not yet ready from someone who, in principle - from now on and forever - is not Sadovsky. Therefore, let's go literally to the touch, although psychologists still put a few restrictive flags on us.
Marina Slinkova, family psychologist
Essentially, "garden readiness" implies two aspects: readiness for separation and readiness for autonomy (that is, self-care).
Ready for autonomy
With self-service, everything is more or less clear. There is a certain list of requirements that an applicant for the position of a kindergartener must meet. Each preschool educational institution may have its own nuances, but in general the list looks like this:
You need to be able to go to the nursery:
- fall asleep on their own without a pacifier and motion sickness on the handles
- drink on their own - from a cup, not from a bottle and not from a drinker
- eat on their own. At least with your hands
- do without a diaper while you are awake, ask for a potty, or at least tell your elders that you didn’t reach the potty
For the younger group (3+ years), in addition to the above, you must:
- have experience of communication and interaction with other children (in the sandbox or in early development groups)
- show interest in drawing, sculpting and other activities
- speak in simple sentences
- independently (though not at speed) put on pants or a dress
if you're trying to infiltrate, have a reputation for being "good" and are famous for their "custom approach", then you can still take a chance.
If there are more than two points of discrepancy, or if the total number of children in the group does not allow one to hope for an individual approach, then it is better not to rush. Stay at home for a few more months and refine the necessary skills with your baby.
Readiness for separation
Anna Devyatka, psychologist-consultant
Readiness for the garden is, first of all, readiness for the beginning of separation from parents. At this point, a healthy attachment to the mother should already be formed. The child can calmly move away for a while and feel good, because he knows that his mother will return.
Roughly speaking, a child is not ready for the garden until he has had enough of his parents. That is, the more time you spent with the child, the higher the likelihood that he is ready for short-term separations. For some reason, until now, many parents believe that children accustomed to hands and accustomed to "hold on to their mother's skirt" will have difficulty socializing and will not fit well into the garden.
In fact, everything is exactly the opposite. This phenomenon was described in detail in the 40s of the last century by John Bowlby, an English psychologist, the author of the theory of attachment. In those days, various experiments with the human psyche were generally in vogue. One of them looked like this: a mother with a child went out into a green meadow and sat down in a chair. The child went to explore the surroundings, now and then looking back at his mother. He turns around, she smiles at him - he boldly moves on. And now, at some point, the baby turns around - but there is no mother (she hid behind a chair). He begins to look around anxiously, then to cry, runs to the place where he saw his mother for the last time ... She appears, takes him in her arms, calms him down - and sits down in the chair again. This time the child does not go so far, but looks back more often ... At some point, the mother disappears again. Then he finds himself again... And after the third disappearance, the child no longer goes for a walk on his own.
He stands by the armchair, clinging to his mother, and weeps softly.
Age of readiness
All children are different: some feel great in the nursery, others are not capable of long separations from their mother until school. But some statistical norms still exist.
Anna Devyatka, psychologist-consultant
Separation of a child from parents occurs throughout life, in several stages, and in a successful version ends by the age of 20-25. These stages are marked by age crises. And the first two fall just for 1 year and 3 years. Giving the child to the garden, you must either manage to slip between them, or wait until the crisis of three years has passed.
You can understand that the stage of the crisis has been passed by the behavior of the baby: he is moderately calm and satisfied, does not throw tantrums at home, contacts children at playgrounds without any special problems (not scared, but not aggressive) and, having played too much, forgets to look back at you.
If you caught this moment at 2 years old, you can try to infiltrate the nursery. If not, you will have to wait for the crisis to end for 3 years (and it can drag on up to 4). But to hope that adaptation in the garden will go well when a person is already in a state of crisis is at least naive.
How to distinguish adaptation from unpreparedness
Of course, every home child will cry at the first separation ... This does not mean that he is not ready for the garden. This means that separation is stressful. And all healthy children react to stress in approximately the same way: with a roar. Any teacher will tell you that during the period of adaptation, children should not be left in the garden for longer than 3 hours and it is better to take them before daytime sleep: that is, at first he comes to the garden to have breakfast and play - that's all.
Marina Slinkova, family psychologist
Crying is a normal reaction, any child reacts to stress by crying.
But nausea, fever, even frequent “colds” when separated from mom are a signal that the child is not ready.
Of course, entering a new team is a meeting with unfamiliar microbes. Immunity trains - and at this stage absolutely all children get sick. But it’s one thing to be sick one week a month, and quite another to live in the “2 days we walk, 2 weeks we get sick” mode.
Anna Devyatka, counseling psychologist
If a child in the garden does not play with children, but only cries, or starts screaming at night, begins to urinate or gets sick often - take it. If the parent does not perceive other distress signals, the child goes into illness.
You will still have to be on sick leave all the time - the employer is unlikely to appreciate this. So better use your right to parental leave - sit with him yourself until he matures to the garden.
Do not pedal the issue of "socialization". Sometimes you just have to grow up to it.
It will be easier for a child to communicate with peers at school if he feels protected and loved all 7 years before school than if he spends his best years sobbing alone in the garden on a high chair.
Read also:
Relax Delay: Why is a child silent
5 The main differences of a modern child from past children
Text: Julia Verklova
Photo: Evgeny Atamanenko/Kikovico/Romrodophoto /Predrag Popovski/Shutterstock.com
KindergartenEducationHelpful TipsPsychology
Child's Psychological Readiness for Kindergarten
As a rule, in preparing a child for attending kindergarten, much attention is paid to self-care issues: does the child know how to dress himself, eat, go to the potty, etc. However, it is worth paying special attention to the psychological readiness of your baby .
So, first of all, I suggest you make sure that the child has no doubts about your love for him.
The same psychological mechanisms work here as in an adult: the more confident a person is, the easier it is for him to face changes in life. And the main source of self-confidence for the baby is the love of parents.
Next, pay attention to how your baby communicates with other children . Children who already have an interest in peers and a desire to play with them adapt much easier in the kindergarten. If your kid's interests revolve around you, switching to someone else in the kindergarten will be an impossible task for him.
If other children are not at all interesting for your baby, start from afar - with fairy tales. Read him fairy tales about friendship, discuss them. Form the value of this concept in the child. Then try to get him interested in playing or hanging out with the kids on the playground. Be sure to praise the first successful contacts and show a keen interest in the social life of your baby.
Another important point in a child's psychological readiness for kindergarten is the desire to be an adult .
The greatest reward for spending time in kindergarten for a child will be praise with the assignment of the title of "adult" to him.
If you are not yet interested in being an adult, be interested. Start with elementary tasks: sweep the floor, arrange dishes on the table, etc. These are those “adult” household chores that you used to do yourself. And now you will have a wonderful "adult" assistant! Be proud of your baby's new skills, brag about them in the presence of other significant people for the child.
There is another trick here that can be used. Tell your child about the world of the profession. Make it colorful and exciting, with pictures, videos, cartoons. And then choose a profession for the baby. Kindergarten will be the first step on the way to mastering the profession. He goes not just to kindergarten, he goes to study to become a cook, a ballerina, etc. After all, everyone starts small. This technique will help you explain to the baby where you will be all the time while he is in kindergarten.
