Kindergarten Readiness Ideas and Activities

Parents are the first and most important teachers  in their child's life and with your help, your child will be ready for the first day of Kindergarten.  Use these activities and ideas to help your child develop an "I can do it!" attitude that will lead to a positive start to school.

• Practice at least one of the activities below every day.
• Some activities can be done while you are away from home or in  the car.
• Give your child praise and encouragement. "You  did it!" "Hooray!" "I am proud of you!" give a "thumbs up" or a clap.  These are easy ways for you to encourage your child.

Books-Read, Read, Read!  Even  only 10 minutes a day is valuable for your child!

• Show your  child how to handle a book properly.
• Have your child find the front  and the back of a  book.
• Talk about pictures in the book and  have your child name items in the pictures .
• Show   how to turn the pages carefully.
• Have your child tell you the story by  looking at the pictures.

Alphabet  Your child should be able to recite the alphabet and recognize the letters.

• Have your child sequence magnetic letters in the proper order and point to each letter as he/she says the letter.
• Have your child identify letters on street signs and store signs.

Name  Your  child should be able to print his/her name; recognize his/her first name; and name the letters of his/her name.

• Print  your child's name using a marker or highlighter and have  your child trace the name.
• Eventually, your child will be able to print his/her name from a sample that he/she can copy.

Counting  Your child should be able to correctly count 10 objects and recognize the corresponding numbers.

• Make  counting and numbers part  of your daily routine.  Count the  number  of people  in your family,   windows on the car, anything around you.
• Use a number line  with the number 1-10 to help your child learn what the numbers  look like.
• Have students match objects with the numbers.

Colors  Your child should be able to identify and name the 8 basic colors.

• Name the colors of everyday  items.  (Here are your white socks.  Put  on your blue  pants.  We rode in the red car.
• Have your child look for more items of the same color in the  room.

Rhyming  Your child should be able  recognize  rhyming words.

• Read stories that include rhyming and rhythm.
• Play  rhyming games.  Silly words and made up words are fine.
• Sing rhyming songs.

Shapes   Your child should be able to name and recognize  the basic shapes.

• Match shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, heart, star.
• Count  the  number  of each shape.  Talk about the colors, too.

• Look for shapes when you are riding in the car.

Scissors  Your child should be able to cut  with a scissors.

• Have your child practice cutting pictures of his/her favorite things out of catalogs, magazines or store sale  ads.

• Practice cutting lines that are straight, curved and zigzag.