Skills for kindergarten readiness
Kindergarten Readiness Checklist | Understood
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.
10 Kindergarten Readiness Skills Your Child Needs
What do teachers really want your child to know on the first day of kindergarten? Kindergarten is changing and parents are feeling pressure to prepare their children for their first school experience. But while some may fret that reading and doing addition are prerequisites for kindergarten these days, your child likely possesses many of the skills she needs to be successful as she begins school.
Download Article
“Some of the things I would like my kids to know coming into kindergarten are their letters and some sounds, recognition of numbers 1-10, be able to write and recognize their name and be able to cut with scissors,” says kindergarten teacher Nicole Barton. “It is also important for them to be able to follow directions and to have the ability to express their feelings.”
Here are the 10 kindergarten readiness skills to focus on as you work with your child. Don't be concerned if she does not have them all down before the first day of kindergarten, as she will continue to work on them throughout the year. Try a few activities listed for the skills your child might need to work on a bit more before she starts school.
1. Writing
- Help your child practice writing letters, especially the letters in her name.
- Teach your child how to write her name with an uppercase first letter and the remaining letters in lowercase.
- Write in shaving cream in the bathtub, salt or sugar in a cake pan or in finger paint to make practicing more fun and multisensory.
2. Letter Recognition
- Play games to help your child recognize some letters of the alphabet.
- Play hide and seek with refrigerator magnets.
- Rather than drilling your child with flashcards, use them to play a game of alphabet go fish.
3. Beginning Sounds
- Make your child aware of the sound that each letter makes.
- Find items around the house that begin with the same sound and identify the letter that makes each sound.
- Overemphasize the first sound in words to help your child hear the individual sounds in words.
4. Number Recognition and Counting
- Count throughout the day (for example, the crackers she is eating for snack or the socks in that you take out of the dryer).
- Point out numbers you see in your environment and have your child name them (for example, the numbers found on food boxes or street signs).
5. Shapes and Colors
- If your child is having trouble recognizing certain colors, you might add a little food coloring to cookie dough, milk or vanilla pudding to emphasize those colors.
- Help your child recognize more difficult shapes such as diamonds and rectangles by showing her how to draw them on paper and cut them out.
- Play games in which your child finds objects of particular colors and shapes around the house or in the neighborhood as you drive.
6. Fine Motor Skills
- Give your child several different writing options (colored pencils, crayons or markers) to help keep her interested in writing and drawing.
- Playing with play dough is a fun way to strengthen the muscles of the hand that will be used for writing.
7. Cutting
- Purchase a good pair of child-safe scissors and let your child practice.
- Give her old magazines or newspapers to cut up, or allow her to make a collage of the things she likes by cutting them from magazines and gluing them to a piece of paper.
- Cutting play dough is also fun for children.
8. Reading Readiness
- Run your finger under the words as you read to your child to help her learn that words go from left to right and top to bottom.
- Play games with rhyming words to help your child hear similar sounds in words. For example, as you are going up the stairs, name one word that rhymes with cat for each step as you go up.
9. Attention and Following Directions
- Read lots of stories with your child and work up to reading longer chapter books, one chapter each night or as long as she remains interested and focused.
- Give your child two and three step directions. For example: "put on your pajamas, brush your teeth and pick a book to read."
- Play Simon Says with two or three step directions. For example: "Simon Says jump up and down and shout hooray."
10. Social Skills
- Give your children opportunities to interact with other children in preschool, church or social groups or play dates.
- Teach your child how to express her feelings if she doesn’t like something.
- Role-play different situations she might experience on the playground or at school. Help her find solutions for typical problems she might encounter.
Chances are you're already practicing many of these skills your child will need for kindergarten. Remember to keep it fun and don’t make it stressful for you or your child. With just a little fun practice, your child will be prepared for her elementary school debut!
Next Article: Considering Kindergarten
Preparing a child for kindergarten
Kindergarten is a new and very important stage in a child's life.
A new environment, a new rhythm of life, an unusual environment - a lot of new experiences and, for sure, stress. So that such changes in life do not become a trauma either for you or for the psychology of the child, preparation for kindergarten should be started long before the time comes for the baby to go there. What should be considered when preparing a child for kindergarten?
For a child to be comfortable in kindergarten, certain skills are needed
The optimal age for a child to get acquainted with kindergarten is from 2 to 4 years. By this age, children have acquired the necessary self-care skills to be in a team and be able to take care of themselves: they already know how to use a potty, drink from a cup, eat independently with a spoon, and at least partially know how to dress and undress. Of course, a child can learn this in kindergarten, but he will feel uncomfortable that other children in the kindergarten already know how to do it.
Speaking of age, it should be mentioned that at about three years of age, children begin the period of the crisis of 3 years. It is important to remember this, to observe your child. At this age, children are aware of their "I" and try to show independence, independence, not being able to evaluate their skills and abilities. It is better to give the child to kindergarten before the crisis or after it.
It is also extremely undesirable to send the older baby to kindergarten immediately after the birth of the younger one. Of course, this will free up a lot of time for mom, but the eldest child will remember for the rest of his life how he was sent to kindergarten so that he does not get in the way and does not interfere with his parents to take care of his brother or sister. The psychology of the child is such that self-esteem after such a betrayal is extremely difficult to raise. Therefore, if you are expecting a replenishment in the family, send the elder to the kindergarten in advance so that he can get used to it and does not connect these two events for himself.
The correct daily routine should be set in advance
It is clear that a preschooler needs to get up early, go to bed early and sleep during the day even on weekends, so as not to wean from the kindergarten routine. If these changes in the regime coincide with the beginning of attending kindergarten, then they will bring nothing but negativity and additional stress for the child. Therefore, parents should take care of establishing the correct daily routine in advance.
Do not be too lazy to find out about the daily routine in the kindergarten, for example, when you take the ticket to the kindergarten to the manager. Find out what time you need to bring the child to kindergarten and when the children are put to daytime sleep, and based on this information, adjust the child's daily routine in advance. Teach your child to brush their teeth and comb their hair as soon as they wake up. If before you had a different way, then even such a seemingly insignificant change introduced in the first days of being in kindergarten can upset the baby.
Pay attention to the emotional mood of the child
To prevent the child from being shocked to suddenly find himself in kindergarten, show pictures from books and magazines that depict children in kindergarten, films and cartoons, tell different interesting things about kindergarten stories so that he waits for that moment when he goes there. “Now, when you go to kindergarten, there will be other children…”. Try to give a positive attitude to the child on the perception of kindergarten. Tell him about life in kindergarten: about toys, walks, parrots and fish, as well as about the regimen, nutrition and sleep. Let the baby see that other children of his age also go to kindergarten, communicate and have a wonderful time together there. Tell your child more often that you are proud of him: he has become so big, grown up, he will soon go to kindergarten! Emphasize this in conversations with relatives and friends so that the baby can hear it.
Social preparation is important for a child's comfortable existence in a team
In the kindergarten, the child not only develops physically and intellectually, he also learns the norms of behavior in society.
Therefore, it is important that the baby already has an idea about the norms of behavior - he must understand the prohibitions, obey adults, observe discipline and a clear daily routine established in kindergarten. It is not at all difficult to prepare a child for this, it is enough to make a certain daily routine for the baby and stick to it relentlessly. Gradually adjust your home routine to match your kindergarten routine.
The ability of the child to communicate with other children, to be able to share or exchange toys, not to take toys from other children and not to fight with them. The kid must understand that you can’t offend other children and let yourself be offended. Even if the baby is quite sociable, you need to understand that preparing a child for kindergarten takes time, and this is not a month or two, but at least six months. Spend more time on the playgrounds, visit friends with small children. It is good if the child's social circle includes children who already go to kindergarten.
Ability to communicate with caregivers. An unprepared baby, accustomed to being close to his mother all the time, will experience great stress from the need to be in an unusual place (kindergarten) with strangers (caregivers) and obey them. To make it easier for a child to get used to being in kindergarten, you need to expand his social circle, visit him more often, invite guests to your place. It is important that the child learns that there are other adults besides mom and dad, and learns to communicate with them. Try at least sometimes to leave the child with unfamiliar people (this may be a grandmother who rarely comes to you, or your close friend) for a few hours so that he understands that close people can not always be there, and there is nothing wrong with that.
The child's psychological readiness for the absence of parents is also important. The task of parents is to accustom the child to your absence in advance. Going to kindergarten, the child should know that he is not going there at the whim of his mother or grandmother, who no longer want to sit at home with him, but for a very good reason.
If the baby has an example of a working dad in front of his eyes, then you can explain to the child in advance that the mother is also now going to work to earn money and buy this and that, which otherwise cannot be purchased. The main thing is that the child is convinced that by attending kindergarten, he thereby fulfills the most important mission and provides parents with invaluable help, which, in general, is not far from the truth. Realizing the importance of being in kindergarten will greatly simplify the process of adapting a child to kindergarten and reduce the intensity of emotions during parting. Now the child knows why he goes to kindergarten. But it is important for him to know that his mother will certainly return for him, do not forget to tell him about it. The kid should understand that after a short absence, you will definitely come for him, but for now he can go about his business, no less important.
So, in order to reduce all worries and stresses to a minimum, you need to properly prepare the baby for kindergarten, which, unfortunately, many parents do not even think about and send their children to kindergarten, regardless of their readiness, when it comes time to go to work or manages to get a ticket to kindergarten.
Remember: the more time you devote to preparing your child for kindergarten, the easier it will be for him to join the new rhythm of life. How your child will adapt to kindergarten will depend on the correctness of your actions and words.
Kindergarten soon. Let's start preparing!
Reviewer Kovtun Tatiana Anatolievna
3994 views
The first day in kindergarten is a step into adulthood, for which you need to prepare thoroughly. At what age should you start preparing your baby for kindergarten and what should be taken into account?
How to prepare your child for kindergarten
Experts note that the minimum age to start attending a kindergarten is about 3 years.
In this case, preparation must begin in advance. The following ways can help with this:
- Games with a child. You can play skits, explain what they do in kindergarten. It is important to change roles - let the baby be both a teacher and a child.
- Search for new friends. When a toddler plays with a peer in the yard or in the sandbox, he learns to interact and consider the behavior of others. This is very useful, because when he goes to the garden, games with friends will become longer and more varied.
- Children's stories and poems about the positive experience of the heroes' stay in kindergarten. You can find children's stories and poems that tell how the little ones go to the garden and what adventures they encounter there. And also tell the child about your own kindergarten experience.
Immunizations, tests and certificates for kindergarten
Preparing a child for kindergarten includes issuing a medical card in the form 026u.
It can be issued in a children's clinic to which the baby is attached, or in a paid clinic in which a toddler is observed. This will take some time, as it will be necessary to visit a number of specialists, as well as conduct some instrumental and laboratory studies.
It is necessary to discuss the vaccination schedule with the specialist who observes the child, since the issue of preventive vaccinations will certainly be raised when registering the baby to attend a kindergarten or other organized children's group.
In addition to medical training, it is necessary to teach the baby and basic self-care skills so that he can take care of himself minimally.
Self-care skills to prepare a child for kindergarten
So, what should a kid who goes to kindergarten be able to do?
- Toilet skills . Teachers recommend instilling toilet skills in a child before he gets into an organized children's team. If the baby is not yet potty trained, then be sure to warn the caregivers and ensure that there is a change of underwear and a sufficient number of disposable diapers so that the little one feels comfortable.
- Drink from a cup . It means that it's time to put aside the bottle with a pacifier, a drinking cup - and learn to drink from a cup. It is not difficult, most children quickly master this skill. Is yours still missing? It's time to study.
- Drink from a cup and use cutlery. It is not difficult, most children quickly master these skills. Is yours still missing? It's time to study.
- Do without a pacifier. It is not necessary to create a double load for a child - simultaneous admission to kindergarten and refusal of a pacifier. Try to wean him off the pacifier beforehand.
- Undress and dress yourself . At first, no one will ask your little one to skillfully tie shoelaces, zip up a jacket on his own, or tie a hat. To begin with, it is quite enough if he manages to take off and put on outerwear, tights or pants.
Getting ready for the daily routine
Kindergarten is an institution with a clear daily routine.
If your child goes to bed after midnight, and gets up by noon, you will have to reconsider his regimen. It is desirable to be in the kindergarten by 7-9morning (for exercise and breakfast). So start gradually adjusting your daily routine. It is important to adjust the entire life schedule to the kindergarten schedule and stick to it day after day.
The same applies to the diet.
Specify in advance the time of meals and try to bring the current schedule closer to the one that the baby will have in kindergarten. The schedule can be viewed on the institution's website or checked with teachers. Roughly it looks like this:
- Breakfast: 8:20–8:30
- Second breakfast: 10:00
- Lunch: 12:00-12:30
- Snack: 15:30–16:00
- Dinner: 18:30
Assistance in adapting to kindergarten
But still, the most difficult thing for a baby is parting with his parents, getting into an unusual environment and into a team where he will not be the center of the universe.
It will take time to get used to the new way of life.
Help your baby adjust. If the baby has never been left without mom and / or dad for a long time, it is better to start practicing this before entering kindergarten - at least for half an hour or an hour a day. Let him take a walk under the supervision of a nanny or well-known people, go to the theater with his aunt or go to the zoo with his godmother. And on his return he will always see you. It is important to show the baby that the parents will not disappear anywhere.
Give your child more freedom of action. Try to always leave a little more time - call the baby to get ready shortly before leaving the house so that he can dress himself. When you return, ask him to undress himself. Try not to help the child until he asks. Encourage his independence, praise, express confidence that he will soon learn everything himself. You will be surprised to see how well he does. Is he interested now? So don't miss the moment! Hug the child as often as possible, sit on your knees, stroke his head.
Your caress will give the crumbs the confidence that they love him, he is needed, they don’t take him to kindergarten at all to get rid of him.
Hug the child as often as possible , sit on your knees, pat on the head. Your caress will give the crumbs the confidence that they love him, he is needed, they don’t take him to kindergarten at all to get rid of him.
Be sure to tell your child about kindergarten : what is it, what is happening there. Play scenes from kindergarten life with toys. Here is a bear, he will be a teacher, and other toys - bunnies, dolls and cars - will be children. Here the toys are going for a walk. Then they have dinner and go to bed in the bedroom. Here are all the "kids" go to wash their hands, paws and wheels. The kindergarten in the stories should be an interesting place that the kid wants to visit.
What to be prepared for
The first months in kindergarten will be difficult not only for the baby, but also for you.
