Is Your Child Ready for Kindergarten?

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The idea of letting your children start big school may seem overwhelming as a parent, as you want to ensure that your child has a successful learning experience. This begs the question: How do parents ensure that their children are ready for kindergarten? One of the answers is to work with your children to help them develop certain skills that ensure school readiness. This task can be broken down into some easy steps: 

  • Help with Physical Development

This aspect involves encouraging the development of coordination, fine motor and gross motor skills and balance. Get your child to practice cutting with scissors, throwing and catching a ball, hopping on one leg, balancing on a beam or a line on the floor, riding a bike or building a puzzle.

 

  • Both Emotional & Social Development are Important

Talking to your child about emotions and how they feel when they are angry or sad is vital. It will enable them to identify their emotions in different situations. Build healthy boundaries and rules for your child as this will be implemented in schools too. Allow your children to have play dates or participate in outside activities where they can learn to socialize, how to share, how to listen and compromise. 

 

  • Develop Literacy & Numeracy Skills

These skills are extremely important in children’s success at kindergarten. No need to include difficult or advanced tasks – just simple activities that give your child simple and fundamental skills that they take with to schools. This can be done by practicing counting with your child, teaching them colours and basic shapes, reading to your child and exposing them to basic sight words.

 

  • Overall Healthy Development

It is important to try to limit the amount of screen time you allow your child and encourage outdoor time or playing with toys instead. Stimulate their senses with a variety of fun activities like tasting different foods (sweet or salty), smelling different scents, hearing and identifying different sounds, for example. Make sure that your child is maintaining a balanced diet and getting all the nutrients and vitamins that they need to grow and develop their body and brain!  

Most importantly, remember that children learn through play, so try to ensure that your child is having fun while learning! This doesn’t have to be time consuming – it’s all about making the small changes in your daily routine to help your child. Instead of TV at night rather read with your child, while driving in the car you can talk to your child and play games. Games can Include I spy, can you spot this? Or counting practice. Make it fun for both you and your child! Lastly, children will mimic you, so make sure you express excitement in this new adventure of their life. They will in turn feel positive as they go on this adventure!

 

  • Little Sparkz to Aid Development

If you’re not sure if your child is ready for kindergarten, or you feel that your child may lack even some of the skills needed to enter kindergarten with confidence, Little Sparkz is the perfect solution! Created by experienced Early Childhood Development educators, Little Sparkz focuses on an introduction to literacy, numeracy, gross and fine motor skills, coordination and memory, through a variety of activities designed to teach your child in a fun and engaging way. Taking your child through the Little Sparkz program will introduce learning as something to enjoy and get excited about, while building your precious bond! 

 

Book your Little Sparkz program today!

Written by Jade Hales, ECD student and BrightSparkz Blog Writer. This article first appeared on brightsparkz.co.za.