Getting ready for school
1. Talk to your child about starting school
Bring the topic of starting school into daily conversations. Perhaps you could ask your little one what they expect from school or what they hope it’ll be like.You could tell them about your school days and show them pictures of you on your first day or with your school friends. Even if you didn’t enjoy school, it’s important to be positive about it around your child so they feel more relaxed about their new adventure.New experiences can make us a bit nervous as well as excited, so if you or your little one has any worries about starting school do have a chat with their teacher.
2. Read books together about school
Swap out one of your bedtime books for one that talks about starting school. Whether your little one is excited or nervous to start school, reading fun stories about school adventures might help them get used to the idea. Visit your local library and ask the librarians if they have any suggestions for you, you might even bump into other families while you’re there!
3. Practise the basic skills they’ll need for starting school
If you can, try to spend some time with your little one each day chatting about what you are doing and listening to them, commenting on colours or counting their stuffed toys. It can be as simple as talking about the colours of the flowers in the park or counting how many stuffed toys they have.Mark making is another fun activity. It's a simple way to encourage your little one to draw; whether it's a dot or a squiggly line, you could doodle together or take a bucket of water and paintbrush outside to get creative, all this helps them with their writing skills.By incorporating these skills into their daily activities, children will learn through play and begin to understand the world around them during their everyday life.
4. Visit their new school
If possible, try to visit your little one’s new school and ask for a tour. It’ll help them feel at ease and get used to their new surroundings. Some schools even offer ‘settling in’ days which are a great opportunity for your child to get used to their new learning environment.
5.Practise self-care
Being independent is a useful skill when a child starts school, so encourage your little one to do things like getting dressed themselves, blowing their own nose and going to the toilet alone. Make sure you give them plenty of time to practise these important life skills and remember to praise all their efforts, no matter how small, as this will build their confidence.If your child is not fully confident in going to the toilet alone or getting dressed, don’t worry! Take some time to practise self-care with your little one until they become more confident. There’s no rush and every child progresses at their own speed.
6 fun activities for school readiness
We’ve put together a list of 6 fun activities that will not only help to spark your little one’s imagination but will help to develop the many skills they will need at school and in life.
1. Hopscotch
To play this classic game, all you’ll need is some chalk to draw your hopscotch and a stone or similar to throw.Hopscotch is a great way for your child to learn the sounds of words and it can really help boost their early reading skills. By playing this fun game with your little one it will help to develop their listening and understanding skills. They’ll also begin to learn to take turns and cooperate with others.
2. Feelings tree
Expressing feelings is an important part of growing up. It can be tough, even for adults, to open up and share how we are feeling.By having a feelings tree in your home, you’ll be encouraging your child to express themselves. Whether they feel happy, sad or frustrated, a feelings tree might help your child tell you how they feel.To make a feelings tree all you’ll need is some card, pieces of paper and some pens. If you want to make your tree realistic, you could add some leaves from the garden!Simply cut out the shape of a tree and ask your little one if they would like to draw a face representing an emotion on a small piece of paper. Then stick these pieces of paper to the tree and start to talk about the emotion and when they might’ve felt it.
3. A trip to the toilet
To ensure your little one is confident with using the toilet, make their toilet trips a little more fun by talking through it with them. Explain what is happening and remind them of what they need to do, for example washing their hands or flushing the toilet.By talking through a trip to the toilet and giving them lots of praise, you'll help your child build confidence so they feel ready to go to the toilet independently when they start school.
4. Sharing with toys
By the time your child starts school it’s important they begin to feel comfortable with the idea of sharing. By regularly encouraging your little one to share objects with you or their toys via pretend play, they will become confident with this important skill. Talking about sharing will help your child to understand the importance of fairness and it will help them to work out problems and talk through issues.
5. Sounds treasure hunt
This simple activity can be done from the comfort of your home! A sound or phonics treasure hunt will help your child recognise the sounds at the beginning of words.To play the game, you could either fill a basket with some different toys or use some everyday objects from around your home. Then with your little one you can find 2 or 3 objects that start with a ‘b’ sound or a ‘sh’ sound.A phonics treasure hunt can be lots of fun and is a great way to build your child’s literacy and speaking confidence and it will encourage them to articulate their ideas in longer sentences.
6. Putting things in order
Being able to sort and put things in order is a great skill. Whether this is the smallest object to the biggest to the lightest to the heaviest, this is an easy game to play around the home.You could even use this game to encourage your little one to tidy their room by placing their toys in order from smallest to biggest and maybe get them helping you sort the socks into colours, patterns and pairs!
By taking the time to play these games and practise planting the seeds of starting school with your little one, they will feel more confident and better prepared to start the next step of their life.
From :
BBC online 'Tiny Happy People '