Pre-Kindergarten Home Education

Share

Getting ready for kindergarten (KG) involves more than just learning the ABCs, it requires learning important skills; such as tracing the shapes of letters and numbers on paper, recognizing letters, and matching rhyming sounds.

Parents should teach their children some pre-kindergarten skills to facilitate their first formal learning experience, below are the kindergarten readiness skills to focus on as you work with your child:

1. Writing Skills

  • Help your child know how to hold the pencil accurately;
  • Help your child practice writing letters. Be sure that he/she forms the letters from the top to the bottom;
  • Coloring helps them to develop hand and finger coordination, and prepares them for future writing.
  • Give your child several different writing options; for example, colored pencils or crayons, to help keep him interested in writing and drawing. 

2. Letter Recognition

  • To help them learn the ABC, sing the old ABC song as you go for walks;
  • Once they know their ABC, you can teach them letter recognition by drawing the letters in the sand for example.

3. Beginning Sounds

  • Make your child aware of the sound that each letter makes;
  • Find items around the house that begin with the same sound and identify the letter that makes each sound;
  • Overemphasize the first sound in words to help your child hear the individual sounds in words.

 4. Number Recognition and Counting

  • Count throughout the day everything he/she plays with;
  • Point out the numbers you see in your environment.

5. Shapes and Colors

  • If your child is having trouble recognizing certain colors, you might add a little food coloring to cookie dough, milk or vanilla pudding to emphasize those colors;
  • Help your child recognize more difficult shapes; such as diamonds and rectangles, by showing how to draw them on paper and cut them out;
  • Play games in which your child finds objects of particular colors and shapes around the house or in the neighborhood as you drive.

6. Fine Motor Skills

  • Playing with play dough is a fun way to strengthen the muscles of the hand that will be later used for writing;
  • Give your child plenty of opportunities for outdoor play: running, jumping, and climbing;
  • Stack blocks together;
  • Play with an interlocking puzzle together.

 7. Creative Arts

  • Teach your child to recognize the following colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, white, brown, and pink;
  • Use a variety of materials to let your child paint, draw and explore.

8. Reading Skills

  • Run your finger under the words as you read to your child to help him/her learn that words are from left to right and top to bottom;
  • Play games with rhyming words to help your child hear similar sounds in words;
  • Read to your child for at least 20 minutes a day. While reading, teach him/her how to hold a book. 

9. Social Skills

  • Give your children opportunities to interact with other children in clubs, social groups or play dates;
  • Teach your child how to express his feelings if he/she does not like something;
  • Help him/her find solutions for typical problems he/she might encounter;
  • Tell your child that you expect him/her to clean up after play.

10. Learning Vocabulary

  • Teach them about body parts;
  • Read to them daily, even if they want to hear the same story over and over;
  • Talk about positional and directional concepts; such as up/down, in/out, off/on, etc.;
  • Talk about opposite words; big/small, empty/full, slow/fast.

While practicing any of these skills, remember to keep it fun and do not make it stressful for you or your child. With just a little fun practice, your child will be prepared for kindergarten.

References
commonsensemedia.org
education.com
getreadytoread.org
educatorssite.com

About Us

SCIplanet is a bilingual edutainment science magazine published by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Planetarium Science Center and developed by the Cultural Outreach Publications Unit ...
Continue reading

Contact Us

P.O. Box 138, Chatby 21526, Alexandria, EGYPT
Tel.: +(203) 4839999
Ext.: 1737–1781
Email: COPU.editors@bibalex.org

Become a member

© 2024 | Bibliotheca Alexandrina