Skills needed for kindergarten
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.
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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.
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“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
Kindergarten Essential Skills - Child Development
Today's parents want to give their children all the life skills they need as early as possible so they won't be left out when other children play together in the future.
They also believe that these skills help children learn, play and make friends. So what are life skills? It is how we learn through experience and comprehensive training, how we manage our behavior within or outside the family. Thus, life skills develop important social-emotional competencies.
However, these competencies do not emerge in children on their own. They are taught, they are acquired gradually, over time, in the process of observing others living in accordance with social norms that they respect and adhere to in the family. Socio-emotional competencies are not inherent in man by nature. It is a learned skill that includes hundreds of choices throughout the day that we make to meet the expectations of our body, mind, soul, peers, family, and teachers. It is important to develop this skill by the time the child goes to kindergarten.
Children begin to acquire life skills long before school by living everyday situations with adults. For example, when you buy groceries for your preschooler, he observes how you make choices (based on whether it is healthy or not), look at prices, compare items, talk about why you choose this one and not other brand; how you treat the staff in the store, how you respond to the demands of children to buy more cookies, how you greet friends, use your mobile phone, etc.
In this way, going to the store turns into a real social-emotional lesson.
Below we look at skills that children typically develop during preschool years.
Body care - independent dressing and undressing (in this case, the child begins to choose the right clothes according to the weather and expected activity), using the toilet, washing hands, the ability to use simple cutlery and utensils, scissors and pencils, and other stationery for creative activities, including drawing.
Social interaction skills. Play is the training of social skills and emotional intelligence, the ability to play with other children is a vital skill. Fluency in language (correct pronouns and verb tenses) helps children express themselves in order to interact with the world around them. Learning to wait your turn, think before you act, and be able to talk to adults are essential (and incredibly useful) in kindergarten.
Information management.
In kindergarten, children should be able to follow their teacher's instructions in order to acquire knowledge through active listening. Focusing on one task (the process is more successful if the task is self-selected by the child) for a longer period of time can make the task more rewarding and educational. The longer the child is deep in the process of completing the task, the more effective the result. Knowing how to print and being curious about new words are expected early literacy skills.
Management of emotions . Many children tend to become more balanced by the time they are five years old. This does not mean that they will not try to manipulate their parents in order to avoid feelings of guilt or discipline. Basically, they can already put into words what they or their peers feel. However, when they are upset, toddlers usually need some adult support and clarification. They need to learn to understand their emotions.
9 Skills Every Child Should Be Prepared For Before Entering Kindergarten — Inna Koshuba on vc.
ru way. Kindergarten gives children the opportunity to grow and develop through play and interaction. 31 views
Photo: ecovillage Nikolino Park in Krasnodar
At preschool age, children learn to strengthen their social and emotional development. Children learn to show respect and solve problems. Kindergarten provides children with an environment in which they can explore, gain self-esteem, play with peers, and develop self-confidence.
1. Recognize name
Your child's name will be everywhere in the kindergarten group - on boxes, folders, tables and much more. Help him to know his name at a glance, say the letters in his name and write his name as best as possible.
2. Name the letters of the alphabet.
To be ready for kindergarten, your child must know at least half of the alphabet.
3. Determine the dominant hand
Is your child right or left handed? Hand dominance is determined in utero before the baby is born.
But the precise, skillful use of one hand over the other may not be fully established until your child is 4-6 years old - around kindergarten. If your child's hand dominance is already clearly established, your kindergarten teacher will readily recognize this. If this is still unclear to you, be sure to let your child's caregiver know.
4. Know how to properly hold and use scissors
If you haven't given your child scissors yet, it's time to start. Pretty safe scissors with rounded ends are sold now.
5. Name and recognize colors
The child should be able to recognize and name the primary colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, brown and white. Color recognition helps kids with one of the earliest basic math skills – sorting.
6. Count and recognize numbers up to 10
Most preschoolers learn to count, recognize numbers up to 10. This skill is the easiest to teach, we have 10 fingers and toes.
We count!
7. Make rhymes
Nursery rhymes have been the beginning of literacy for many generations. Recognizing words that rhyme is an important first step in preparing for kindergarten and reading. If nursery rhymes are not part of your family's repertoire, you can play a simple rhyming game. Say any word ("Cat") and ask the child to tell you a rhyming word ("Mouse") in response.
8. Play and share with peers
Kindergarten is not only preparation for studies, but also social development. To prepare for kindergarten, encourage your child to play and share with peers and siblings. Remind them, "Treat others the way you want to be treated." Schedule meetings with peers at home, in the park, or at the playground.
9. Basic hygiene and personal care
To prepare for kindergarten, your child will need to be able to use their own bathroom, including drying themselves and washing their hands. They are also expected to eat lunch and snacks, mostly on their own, including cleaning their seats and properly disposing of garbage.
