Do You Have Kindergarten Readiness Checklist?

Kindergarten readiness is a big goal for parents with young children. How do you make sure your little one is ready for a classroom? What can you do at home to help prepare your child for the classroom?

Kindergarten is the beginning of a long journey in education, and parents want to set their children up for success. Here are some kindergarten readiness resources for parents and kindergarten readiness activities to start with your child today.

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist

There are many kindergarten readiness resources for parents out there, including a kindergarten readiness checklist. Here are a few questions you can ask to determine your child’s kindergarten readiness offered by the American Federation of Teachers and the National Center for Learning Disabilities:

  • Does your child speak in complete sentences most of the time?
  • Can your child match 2 pictures that are alike in a set of 5 pictures?
  • Can your child recognize a pattern sequence? Can your child copy that pattern sequence?
  • Does your child understand language around comparing and contrasting objects?
  • Can your child recognize his or her own name written down?
  • Can your child count to 10?
  • Does your child know his or her full name and the names of you, his or her parents?
  • Can your child say how old he or she is?
  • Can your child use a writing tool to draw simple figures like a circle?
  • Can your child hop, jump, and run?

The American Federation of Teachers has broken these criteria down into multiple categories: expressive and receptive language, approaches to learning and cognition, phonological awareness and print knowledge, mathematics, social and emotional, and physical development. Click here to see the full publication and kindergarten readiness checklist called, “Transitioning to Kindergarten: School Readiness.”

Kindergarten Readiness Activities

Kindergarten Readiness Activities | Toddler Town Daycare Centers

Engage your child with interesting activities

What are activities you can do with your child to help prepare him or her for kindergarten? You can build your child’s kindergarten readiness skills with different types of activities. Develop your child’s gross motor skills by encouraging lots of outdoor play when it’s nice outside. Don’t forget the sunscreen! Your child can strengthen his or her fine motor skills by cutting out different shapes with child-safe scissors or playing with playdough.

Teach your child how to recognize different colors during an arts and crafts activity like coloring. One sign of kindergarten readiness is color recognition. Draw shapes with your child and teach him or her about how to compare shapes and sizes. Ask your child questions like, “Is this red square bigger or smaller than that green square?” Comparing and contrasting skills are important for preparing your child for kindergarten.

What are some kindergarten readiness activities you can do with your child on the go? When you run errands like grocery shopping, engage with your child about finding basic shapes around town or around the grocery store. Activities like these also help your child with his or her language skills.

Thinking Beyond Kindergarten Readiness

Most importantly, you can set your child up for a lifelong love of learning if you can show them that learning is fun! If you can instill this idea in your child at a young age, your child can take on the challenges of elementary school with excitement!

Preparing Your Child for the Classroom Environment

There are other ways you can help your child feel comfortable in the classroom on his or her first day of kindergarten. Ask other grownups that you trust to supervise your child for a few hours at a time. This will help your child learn how to listen to adults like kindergarten teachers in the future! Set up playdates with other children so your child spends time with other children and gains exposure to other environments besides your home.

You can also enroll your child at a child care center. Your child will spend time around other children and adults besides parents. Preschools and child care centers prepare children for the classroom environment.

Kindergarten Prep Classrooms at Evanston & Chicago Child Care Centers

Kindergarten Readiness Program | Toddler Town Daycare Centers

Toddler Town has kindergarten prep classrooms

At Toddler Town Daycare in Evanston and Toddler Town Daycare Too in Chicago, kindergarten readiness is a priority. We prepare children for kindergarten in our kindergarten prep classrooms. We build our curriculum for these children off what they need to succeed in the classroom! We start by making sure all the children know their ABC’s, can count, can write their names, and have some basic social skills. From this foundation, we introduce children to math, reading, science and social studies.

Our Evanston and Chicago preschools offer age-appropriate activities to build skills children need in the classroom. Our child care centers offer a curriculum that can help your little one on his or her path to elementary school.

Contact us to enroll your child at Toddler Town Daycare in Chicago or Toddler Town Daycare Too in Evanston today