School readiness: How to prepare your child for school

These “ready for school” activities can be done in your everyday routine

When it’s time for a child to go to school, there are lots of practical things to think about, like uniform, the school run and after-school care. You can also help your child build important skills for school readiness, which will help them adjust to the new environment more easily.

Children learn best when they are interested and motivated. Stop the activity when your child loses interest. You want your child to stay excited about these activities and want more.

In the bathroom

◘ Responsibility

Children who routinely participate in their personal care are more likely to maintain those positive habits as adults.

Brushing teeth: Have your child brush his/her teeth before bed and after breakfast. Brush his/her teeth first, making sure to clean all areas of his/her mouth; then let him/her have a turn. Variation: Set a timer for a minute or use a small hourglass to make sure your child brushes long enough. Only use pea size amount of toothpaste and remind him/her not to swallow.

We are learning: responsibility, personal care, hygiene, taking turns, and routine.

◘ Reading

Children must understand left-to-right progression, the natural sweep of a reader’s eye, in order to read. Children need excellent discrimination skills and a good memory to learn to read.

What’s Missing? Put a few toys in the bath. Ask your child to study the toys and try to remember what s/he sees. Ask her/ him to close her/his eyes while you take one toy away. Ask which toy is missing. Start with only two toys and add more as your child becomes more successful. Variation: give him/her a few toys to study. Then take them all away and ask her/him to name as many as s/he can remember. Switch roles, and you try to remember.

We are learning about discrimination, memory, and recall.

◘ Arithmetic

By experimenting with part-whole relationships, children begin to understand how to use measurement.

Water works: give your child a set of plastic measuring cups and a small bucket for the bath. Let him/her experiment filling and pouring the water. Ask him/her: “How many big cups do you think it will take to fill up a bucket?” Then count to see if his/her estimation is more than or less than.

Variation: ask him/her to put the cups in order of biggest to smallest. Ask him/her: “Will it take more of the small cups of water to fill the bucket or more of the large cups? Let's count and see?”

We are learning: arithmetic, prediction, counting, and estimating. part/whole relationships.

◘ Writing

Children can form letters and shapes more easily with their fingers than with a pencil because their fine motor skills are still developing.

Steamy windows and mirrors: let your child draw and scribble on the steamy windows or mirrors in your bathroom. Encourage him/her to have fun and experiment.

Variation: Have your child leave a secret message or picture on a seamy mirror with a soapy finger. The next time the bathroom fills with steam, the message will reappear.

We are learning: pre-writing, writing, drawing, shape and letter formation.

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These activities are a sample of the advice offered to parents on the “Ready for School” family activity cards compiled by Bright Horizons Family Solutions’ Nursery Group.

www. brighthorizons.co.uk