As a parent, you are already your child’s first teacher. Maximize your time at home with your child with fun learning activities that foster their love of learning and help them prepare for kindergarten. These materials, tips, and recommendations will help you get your child ready for school in the fall.

Workbook Resources

Smart Start: Read and Write: This activity book (available for grades PreK-1) uses fun animal alphabet stories to help children recognize and write letters. Each unit contains a story (which also includes an audio read-aloud option) and corresponding activities, like matching, drawing, listening to letter sounds, and more!

This is a great resource for kids who are just beginning to read, and helps with recognizing letters, fine motor skills, following directions, and visual recognition (all important skills for kindergarten readiness.) Purchase it on the Evan-Moor website, here.

Smart Start: Sight Words: Similar to Read and Write, this workbook (for grades PreK-1) helps beginner readers but focuses on recognizing high-frequency words. For the PreK level, high-frequency words are short words like: a, I, see, you, me, the, up, go, and not. These, and other sight words, are important for building reading fluency in young children. This full-color activity books pairs nicely with Smart Start: Read and Write to develop early reading skills.

Each unit introduces new vocabulary, practice activities, stories with audio read-aloud options, and review materials. These specially designed units help kids get a head start on sight words that will help them build reading fluency and gain confidence in their reading skills. Purchase it here, on the Evan-Moor website.

Read-Aloud Book Recommendations

Modeling reading and reading with your child every day are the best things you can do to help your child prepare for kindergarten. Reading aloud introduces vocabulary; models fluent, expressive reading; and helps children develop a love of reading. These book recommendations below are a great way to introduce a future transition to kindergarten.

The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing and Julie Durrell: This cute book tells the story of kids starting kindergarten, from saying goodbye to parents to making new friends and having fun!

The First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and Judy Love: Follow Sarah Jane as she starts at a new school and faces all kinds of nervous jitters about her first day!

Countdown to Kindergarten by Alison McGhee and Harry Bliss: With 10 days until the start of kindergarten, a little girl faces pre-kindergarten anxiety, fueled by some crazy things she heard from a first grader.

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate and Ashley Wolff: This book, from a fun series about Miss Bingergarten, follows the teacher as she prepares the classroom for her students, and the students as they get ready for the day!

I Love You All Day Long by Francesca Rusackas and Priscilla Burris: When Owen is nervous about kindergarten, Owen’s mom promises to love him all day long until he returns home again in this sweet, illustrated storybook.

Lookout Kindergarten, Here I Come by Nancy Carlson: Henry the mouse is so excited to start kindergarten, but gets nervous once he gets there. Everything works out though, and he has lots of fun and makes a few friends, too!

Hands-on Activities and Projects

There are other ways to prepare your kids for kindergarten apart from reading and writing practice! Here are some fun, hands-on activities to practice foundational skills such as counting, shape matching, alphabet identification, fine motor skills, and more.

M&M Sorting: This is a fun activity with a sweet reward! Practice counting and organization skills by dumping a pack of M&M’s (or any multi-colored candy) on a plate. Have your child organize them by color, then count how many there are of each color.

Play-Doh Letters: Using your favorite color of play-doh, form letters of the alphabet and then practice the sound it makes. Spell out single letters, short words, or their name in different colors! You can also use this activity for shape recognition.

Baking Activity: Though your kid may be too young for measurements, having them in the kitchen while you bake together can help them understand how counting and reading are used. It is also great for practicing fine motor skills, patience, and following directions.

Cardboard Shape Matching: Using a piece of cardboard or a cardboard box, cut basic shapes out of one side (you can use multiple sides if using a box). Using the scraps of cardboard, paint them different colors (or use construction paper and glue). Then have kids match the colored shape to the right cut-out!

There is a lot you can do to prepare your child for kindergarten, including a mix of reading-aloud, educational activity books, and hands-on activities. Preparing your child for kindergarten is about giving them beginning practice with letters, counting, following directions and most importantly, being flexible in a new environment.

For more information and help preparing your child for kindergarten, check out these articles.

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist

5 activities to get active boys and girls ready for kindergarten

10 Tips for Teaching Kindergarten at Home

 

 

 

Christine Wooler has experience working with children as a youth soccer coach and summer camp counselor. She is currently studying English Literature and journalism in college. She enjoys exploring educational topics that help students have fun while learning.