How to Prepare Your Preschooler for Kindergarten

Amazing one day you look at your three year old and realize kindergarten is not that far away. Will they be ready for kindergarten and is there anything you can do to help them prepare to enter the next phase of their lives? Yes, there are a few things parents can begin doing with their preschooler to prep them for when they start kindergarten. Giving them

Encourage reading in your home. Spend time with your preschooler reading to them or letting them look through picture books with words. Taking them to the library for reading time is also a good idea. They will learn to sit still and listen to someone else speaking. This will familiarize them with the written word and help them to recognize common words in print. Studies have proven that children who are read to, will be come readers earlier than children who have not been read to.

Coloring may seem just a playtime activity but this is also building skills for kindergarten. They will learn control over the crayons or markers. Encouraging them to color within the lines of a picture or create certain objects on their own. It not only builds their creativity but also shows they can follow simple directions.

Teaching them to write the alphabet is a great skill to go into kindergarten with. They can also learn to write their name and other simple words. Learning to write will also help them recognize words and develop their reading skills. Concentrate on letters that are more difficult for children such as E,F,S and X. They should be able to write their name and be able to vocally express their address and phone number.

Arrange for play dates for your children, or take them to places where they can interact with their peers. Learning to get along with all types of people, is a skill everyone needs and it is not to early to start. This will help them to learn to listen to others, share and get along with other children their age. Play dates will place them in a public setting where they do not have control over everything. They will have to begin to problem solve when things are not going the way they planned.

Most schools have preschoolers take a pretest to see how ready they are for school. These tests are both physically and academic. Some of the skills that are tested are their ability to walk upstairs, write the letters of the alphabet and also drawing in certain areas. Kindergarten is the time when basic skills are taught so preparing your child for this will give them a good start when beginning school.