11 Kindergarten Readiness Skills Your Child Needs

Kindergarten is a huge milestone in your child’s life. Once they start school, everything changes. You want to be sure that your child has all the kindergarten readiness skills they need to be successful. Kindergarten readiness doesn’t just determine how your child will perform in their first year of school.. It can also determine how they will perform throughout their educations. That makes it critical that you make sure your child has these key skills.

1. The ability to follow instructions.

   If you’re still struggling to convince your child to listen to you, they’ll need to work hard on their ability to follow instructions! In kindergarten, they will need to listen to their teachers.

2. The ability to take care of themselves in the bathroom.
   

   From fastening their pants to wiping themselves after using the toilet. Kindergarten readiness means that your child no longer needs help to visit the restroom.

3. Letter recognition skills will help your child with basic reading once kindergarten starts.

   One of the key kindergarten readiness skills your child needs is the ability to identify letters. Finding some kindergarten readiness activities that help with letter recognition will allow you to increase your child’s knowledge in a fun, enjoyable way.

4. Basic writing skills will help your child perform better in kindergarten.
   

   Before beginning school, your child should be able to write several letters. The ones in his or her name–in order–are particularly important! If your child isn’t part of a kindergarten readiness program, make sure they have plenty of opportunities to practice basic handwriting: working in workbooks, creating fun art projects, and more. Using a variety of tools, from crayons and colored pencils to pens and markers, will help improve your child’s confidence.

5. Fine motor skill practice will help increase your child’s success.
   

   A kindergarten readiness program will focus on teaching your child to use scissors, work on basic coloring skills, and strengthen the muscles used for writing and other basic fine motor tasks. If you need an at-home activity that will help improve your child’s fine motor skills, try working with play dough or clay. It will strengthen the muscles in their hands while convincing them that they’re really engaged in something fun!

6. Teaching your child to identify shapes and colors will help pave their way for kindergarten success.
   

   As you check out kindergarten readiness resources for parents, you’ll discover that there’s a heavy emphasis on being able to recognize shapes and colors before your child begins kindergarten. Most preschools will help your child focus on these skills. If you’re working with your child at home, try fitting color and shape recognition into the activities you do every day: name the colors of the cars as you walk past them in the parking lot, find shapes in favorite books, or pick out the colors of flowers in the park.

7. Following multi-step directions is a key skill that will help your child succeed in kindergarten.
   

   By the time your child enters school, they should no longer need you to walk them through each step in a process individually. For example, “Go pick up that piece of paper and put it in the trash can,” or, “Go find your shoes and your jacket, then get in the car.” Two and three step directions are a part of daily life in kindergarten, and your child needs to know how to follow them with ease.

8. The ability to take turns will help your child achieve social success.
   

   This is a skill that many children without siblings struggle to develop before entering school, especially if they’ve always been at home with mom or dad. Present your child with opportunities to take turns, share toys, and learn how to wait patiently when it isn’t their turn to engage in a particular activity.

9. Knowing how to interact with a wide variety of their peers is critical for your child’s ability to adapt to kindergarten.
   

   Your kindergarten-aged child will have lots of different children in their classroom. Being able to interact with all of them will make it easier for your child to adapt to their new classroom. This includes children of different races, income levels, and abilities.

10.  Paying attention instead of wandering off-task is vital throughout kindergarten.

    Your child will no longer be able to get away with playing in the corner while the rest of the class does something else! Help your child learn to focus and listen to what the teacher is saying, even when it may interfere with what they want to do at the time.

11. Beginning reading skills at the start of kindergarten will help increase success.

    Work with your child on rhyming words and help them learn to identify beginning sounds in words. Activities like this begin to build reading readiness, which will help your child learn to read more easily.Preparing your child for kindergarten will set them up for educational success for a lifetime. If you need a Jackson child care program that will focus on those vital readiness skills, contact us today. You want to grant your child early academic success. We’re here to help it happen!