33 Simple ways to prepare your child for Kindergarten

Preparing Your Child for Kindergarten
http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2012/06/33-ways-to-prepare-your-child-for-kindergarten/

Let’s face it: Kindergarten isn’t what it used to be. Right or wrong, it is the world we live in. The following list is intended to help prepare your child in a variety of  developmental areas to make the transition into kindergarten as smooth as possible.  Believe it or not, just 15-20 minutes of playing and learning with your child can make a  world of difference! 

Social/Emotional Development
  • Encourage your child to persist in tasks when encountering a problem by giving him tasks slightly above his current ability level. When your child cannot find a solution on his own, encourage him to calmly ask for help.
  • Play board games to practice taking turns.
  • Set up several play dates with friends of various ages.
  • Allow your child to stay with other trusted adults for a few hours at a time prior to kindergarten (especially if she has rarely been in the care of someone other than mom and dad).
  • Tell your child you expect her to clean up after play. You could implement a ransom box for toys left.

Language Development
  • Verbally give your child specific one-step and two-step directions and encourage him to follow through.
  • Read to your child for a combined total of at least 20 minutes each day.
  • While reading, point out how to hold a book (right-side up with the spine on the left) and the orientation in which we read the words and look at the pictures (left to right).
  • After reading, ask your child what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. 
  • Give your child plenty of opportunities to draw (without coloring books). Ask her to draw the things she sees around her.
  • Teach your child the uppercase and lowercase letters and, most importantly, the sounds each letter makes through play and games. 
  • Need some ideas? Go here: www.icanteachmychild.com/alphabet

Cognitive Development
  • Have your child help you sort items according to color, size, and shape (laundry, blocks, silverware, toys, and other household items work well).
  • Teach your child to make various patterns (red, blue, red, blue). Garage sale dot stickers or craft pom-poms are great for this purpose.
  • Practice counting aloud to 20 while driving in the car.
  • Teach your child numerals 1-10. Need some suggestions on how to do this: Go here: www.icanteachmychild.com/numbers
  • Count objects in your home. Have your child point to each object as she counts.
  • Go on a shape hunt. Point out circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles to your child while you are taking or walk or grocery shopping. 
  • Talk about positional and directional concepts like up/down, over/under, in/out, behind/in front of, top/bottom, beside/between, off/on, stop/go.
  • Talk about opposite words (big/little, empty/full, slow/fast).

Physical Development (Gross & Fine Motor)
  • Give your child plenty of opportunities for outdoor play: running, jumping, and climbing.
  • Play catch on a regular basis.
  • Practice skipping.
  • Stack blocks together.
  • Let your child use child-safe scissors to cut out a variety of shapes.
  • Teach your child to write his name (capital for the first letter and lowercase for the remaining letters). To start, write his name using a highlighter and encourage him to trace over it. Be sure that he forms the letters from the top to the bottom.
  • Ensure your child is holding her pencil correctly: www.icanteachmychild.com/2012/06/correct-pencil-grip/
  • Play with playdough regularly. Roll, squish, stamp, and even cut it!
  • Encourage your child to cut out various shapes using child-safe scissors.
  • String large beads to make a necklace. 
  • Play with an interlocking puzzle together.

Creative Arts
  • Always encourage pretend play…occasionally join your child in his fantasy world.
  • Teach your child to recognize the following colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, white, brown, and pink. 
  • Use a variety of materials to let your child paint, draw and explore! 

This list was created based upon the following: http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2012/03/71-things-your-child-needs-to-knowbefore-kindergarten/
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