Getting ready for Kindergarten
I write this in the season of Kindergarten registration, and while I don’t have my own kids, I certainly understand the whorl of emotions surrounding the transition into the ‘school years’. I hope that for most, it’s a time of excitement and optimism. Many parents have asked me over the years for my ‘teacher’ opinion on how to get their children ‘school-ready’. They’ll be concerned about letters, numbers, colouring in the lines, and making friends. My answer, however, has nothing to do with letter-tracing worksheets.
To help your child get ready for school, think about the core skills that need to be built before the school skills can be an optimal challenge. Humans naturally build skills sets all the time; consider running. First, we learn to hold up our own heads. Then we develop the core strength to roll over. Next, we figure out how to coordinate our limbs to help us get from A to B (some crawl, others bum-scooch like my sister). We learn to stand, and then we learn to walk (with many falls along the way). Finally, after many months and years of developing our muscles, balance, and coordination, we can run.
So consider the goals you have for your child entering school. Would you like them to be able to print their name? Awesome. Then make sure that as a toddler, you offer them fine-motor activities to build up their hand strength and coordination. Playdoh, Lego, and even clothespins are easy ways to offer this to them. Colouring books, utensils, and painting come next, where they experiment with the grip of a pencil-like object. Mazes and tracing games would be the third step before actually getting to shaping letters.
There are many school readiness skills that are essential, but you may not recognize them as being related to school. Ask yourself: Can my child…
put on their own jacket?
put their shoes on the right feet?
wait their turn?
feed themselves a meal?
follow simple instructions?
ask someone a question?
Allowing your child to try things themselves (even though it’s often messy!) and play independently will help them develop the core skills they need, and then their teachers will help them build on top of those. Imaginative Play is one way to help them ‘exercise’ the core skill of Executive Functioning, as well as perseverance, language development, and flexibility. Sending your child to school with foundations like these opens a world of possibilities for them.
