Six Fun Ways to Get Your Child Ready for Kindergarten

Here are some simple and fun ways to prepare your child for the road ahead:

1. Bedtime

   Although children typically arise early in the morning already, it’s very important that they get enough rest. It can be quite difficult to get your little one to settle down for a bedtime if a bedtime is not routine. I suggest sending your little one to bed around 8 or 9 o’clock in order for them to get a good night’s rest. We all know how much better we are able to take on the world when we get a full 6-8 hours of sleep and children need anywhere from 8-10 hours a night. It’s very helpful to create a bedtime routine, here is an example:

   Bath-time, story-time, prayer-time (if you pray before bed), and sleep-time
   Consistency is very important. You will start to notice your child will get sleepy around the same time every night after using the bed-time routine as well. This also gives you bonding time with your child!

2. Teaching Name, Phone Number, and Address

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   Your child will need to be able to know and write their full name upon entering most kindergarten classrooms. It is also very helpful for them to know their phone number and address. This also helps in case of an emergency!

   There are many creative ways to teach these things such as, using foam letters and numbers and creating a game, playing “school,” using bath paint to write these things on the shower walls, and using sidewalk chalk. This allows your child to practice their writing abilities, and allows more bonding time for you!

3. Big Letters and Small Letters

   It’s very helpful for your child to know the difference between capital letters and lower case letters. It’s not necessary to teach this before beginning Kindergarten however, you can if you find your child is ready to learn!

4. Reading

   It’s very important to read to your child. You should start introducing your children to books as soon as birth! Reading to your children will introduce them to words as well as other worlds. This only takes about 15 minutes and you will be helping your child become literate. You can also point out “sight” words, such as “it,” “the,” “and,” “me,” “my,” and any others. Once your child gets the “hang” of their sight words you can then start to introduce other letters and sounds.

5. Numbers

   There are many ways you can teach your child about numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It is never too early to learn the value of math! You could have your child count how many spoons you will need for supper, or how many chairs you have in your house. You could also take it a step further and say “okay, I am taking one spoon away, how many does that leave?”

   This introduces your child to subtraction and helps him exercise his brain! You can find ways to count practically anything!

6. Colors

   Coloring with your child is the most fun way to teach your child her colors!
   This allows a lot of bonding time, and children love it when their parents are being creative with them! However you can add this to everyday things as well! When you are running errand with your child point out that the grass is green, or the sky is blue.

I hope that you take advantage of this very important time in your child’s life! Have fun, and help them! They will be more confident if they have already been introduced to the things their teacher will be helping them learn.