Preparing your child for preschool can be both exciting and nerve-wracking. As a parent, you might have mixed feelings, wondering if you've done enough to get them ready. Remember, preschool is designed for early learners, and teachers are ready to guide them through this essential first school experience. While they'll learn letters, numbers, colors, and more at school, here are six practical steps you can take at home to help your child feel prepared and excited about starting preschool. Embrace these opportunities for learning through everyday life and play:
1. Promote independence by working on jackets, backpacks and lunchboxes:
2. Create opportunities to practice using school supplies.
3. Sit and read stories together.
4. Practice following directions.
Incorporate fun activities into your daily routine that help your child practice following directions. Simple tasks like washing hands, getting dressed, or cooking together provide opportunities to practice following directions. Using fun, printable activities like playdough mats can also help children practice following directions and also reinforce various learning concepts.
Here are a few fun playdough activities from my shop to help children work on following directions. Click the pictures to check out the products.
5. Play, squish, mush, build, and move to build those fine motor skills.
Engage in activities that promote fine motor skills, which involve the use of small hand muscles. Building these muscles and working on these fine motor skills will help to prepare your child for future writing activities as they get older and will also help them complete learning activities in preschool. Activities like coloring, squishing, writing, and painting are all valuable exercises that you can easily incorporate into your home routine. This can be squishing in the mud outside, playing with playdough, cooking, playing with slime, gluing, cutting, or coloring!
6. Talk about what will happen in preschool:
Starting preschool can be intimidating for little ones. It's a new environment with unfamiliar people and activities. To boost your child's confidence and readiness, talk about what they can expect at school. Using a social skills story is a great way to do this. A social skills story is a simple narrative with easy-to-follow sentences and pictures that explain new situations and skills. This can help your child understand what will happen at preschool and may introduce helpful skills, such as playing with friends or managing overwhelming feelings. If you'd like a ready-made resource, our shop offers a "Going to Preschool" social skills story, or we can create a custom social skills story tailored to your child's specific needs and specific preschool routine or skills they need to work on. Click on the pictures below to check them out.
Driving by the school or exploring the school's website for pictures and schedules can also be a great way to familiarize your child with what will happen at preschool.
Remember, preparing for preschool is not about adding more pressure for your early learner but about making the transition smoother and exciting. These 6 activities are a great way for you to build your child’s confidence, build their independence, and get them excited for starting preschool!
Thank you for reading!
Check out the printable resources in my shop for more fun preschool activities!
