As school places were recently allocated, parents due to send their little ones off to ‘big school’ for the first time may be wondering if their child is adequately prepared. Along with the adjustment of family routines, a child starting school is a big milestone and likely to cause us to worry. Will my child make friends? Will they be anxious about it? What sort of things will the teacher expect my child to already be able to do?
Some parents may worry whether their child knows enough about numbers and letters ahead of starting school. Whilst familiarity with the basics of numeracy and literacy can certainly give children a great head start, what Reception teachers tend to be more interested in is whether children can perform basic, day-to-day ‘self-management’ skills. If these practical skills are already in place, your child is likely to get much more out of their learning experiences in the classroom.
Here are a few skills you may want to help your little one master for themselves so they’re full of confidence as they start school:
Dressing themselves
Being able to put on and take off their coat, and even manage zips, Velcro and buttons are really useful skills for all children. You could instigate a few dressing up sessions with their fancy-dress clothes or older sibling’s outfit and encourage some fun practice of all the tricky fastenings.
Feeding themselves
Practise opening containers, unwrapping food and using a knife and fork. Praise your child for being able to do these things independently to reinforce their self-confidence.
Sitting and listening
Reading stories together is a great activity to help your child focus their attention, not to mention build their vocabulary and capture their imagination. Asking questions like, “What do you think might happen next?” can help your child stay engaged and practise concentrating. Kumon’s Recommended Reading List, a feature of the Kumon English Programme, offers plenty of ideas for fun stories you can read together.
Holding and using a pencil
Developing the fine motor skills required to use a pencil takes practice! Having fun with drawing and painting at home can help your child build up their hand strength and dexterity to start feeling confident with their pencil grip.
Kumon’s pencil skills programme supports young learners to develop hand-eye coordination through colouring, scribbling and drawing in fun and engaging ways.
At Kumon, we believe it’s never too early to start nurturing children’s curiosity. Our early learner activities have been carefully designed to help develop children’s confidence, independence, and a love of learning; preparing them for those exciting first steps into school life. Children as young as 4 attend our Kumon Centre in Harrogate.
Book your child’s Free Trial now to learn how Kumon can help put the building blocks in place for a lifetime of learning.
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