One of the greatest gifts you can give to a child’s Kindergarten teacher is a student who is comfortable with self-help skills. The more time a teacher must devote to helping children open food containers, put on or take off shoes and outdoor clothing, or use the bathroom, the less time he or she can spend actually teaching children what they need to learn in Kindergarten. It takes a lot of patience and time, but you can have a child ready to perform these tasks independently before they start school.
– Hand washing is essential! Schools are full of germs, and so effective hand washing before snack, lunch, or after using the bathroom is a must. If you do this at home, and model the behavior yourself, it becomes automatic. Singing a song while scrubbing keeps children washing long enough to actually clean their hands.
-Using the bathroom independently takes time to learn. Getting on and off the toilet, cleaning, and putting clothing back on again is hard work for little ones. But practice and practice and they will eventually be able to perform this task themselves!
-Take extra time to get ready and allow your children to put on their own socks and shoes. Velcro closures are very helpful at this age. Have kids put on and take off their own rain boots and snow boots too.
-When the weather is cold or rainy children need to be able to put on their outdoor clothing. Many recesses are dramatically shortened due to the length of time taken to get every child dressed for outside!
-At lunch and snack time children need to be able to open and eat their food independently. Practice at home with the containers you’ll use for school.
-For some children, picture charts or schedules are helpful. Keep it age appropriate and not too overwhelming for your child. There are lots of examples of picture charts online, or you can make your own.
-Some children would like very much to participate in the choosing of clothing, food, etc. They feel more independent if allowed to make choices, and are often happy to complete a task if they have been trusted to be a part of the decision making process. A great strategy is to give them two acceptable options (for example, the blue socks or the white socks), and invite them to choose which one they prefer.
All of these tasks take time to learn. They aren’t easy for small children. Practicing and leaving extra time for learning these skills will make a child’s transition to Kindergarten much more successful!
Kindergarten Prep at Home 