If your child is approaching kindergarten age, both you and your child may be feeling some apprehension. Fortunately, there are many tips on how to prepare for kindergarten to help your child make a positive transition.
I’ve watched many children confidently make the switch to kindergarten and these are the 7 tips I’ve found most helpful for preparing children emotionally, socially, and academically for the transition to kindergarten.
What Are the Schooling Ages in Western Australia?
In Western Australia, your child can go to kindergarten if they will be 4 years old by 30 June. You can learn more here at WA’s Department of Education website: schooling ages in Western Australia.
How Do I Prepare My Child for Kindergarten?
Following these tips on how to prepare for kindergarten will help your child feel more at ease with the transition — as well as helping you feel better about it! By helping your child with these concepts, you’ll feel more confident about their ability to transition to kindergarten with enthusiasm.
Here are 7 great tips to help ensure your child’s success and to make the transition to kindergarten less stressful for both you and your child:
1. Read Together
Reading aloud to children is excellent bonding time and it helps stimulate their imagination, build their listening skills, and grow their vocabulary.
Make your reading time even better by adding in some books about starting kindergarten.
There are so many great options out there, but here are a few of my favourite books about the transition to kindergarten:
- Clifford Goes to Kindergarten (this is such a fun classic!)
- How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read?
- The Pigeon Has to Go to School
- The Night Before Kindergarten
- Monkey Not Ready for Kindergarten
- Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!
- Kindergarten Countdown
2. Help Your Child Gain Independence
Certain activities can help your child gain independence that will help them transition to kindergarten.
Help your child build independence by encouraging them to:
- Get dressed by themselves
- Clean up after themselves (keep their room tidy, pick up their toys, or pick up after themselves if they play at a friend’s house)
- Manage their hygiene and bathroom routines
- Help them learn their name and birthday
- Zip up their jacket
- Carry their dish to the sink after a meal
For a fun book to read together that also helps teach the importance of cleaning up after yourself, I highly recommend “How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms?”. It’s an entertaining book that both you and your child will love!
3. Have Fun Learning At Home
There are so many fun activities to do with your child that also incorporate learning. Get them excited about exploring the world around them, learning new things, and experiencing new things with these ideas:
- Try some of my favourite nature play ideas at home
- Head to the farmer’s market choose some ingredients and make supper together
- Visit a local museum
- Visit the library
- Play at your child’s school playground to help familiarise them with the school and get them excited about attending
- Check out my list of things to do with kids in Perth over the holidays
- Do child-friendly crafts at home and work together to safely use art materials and craft supplies to help build creativity and fine motor skills (finger paints, glue, child-safe scissors, paper, and broad tip markers are a good start)
- Do puzzles together
4. Go School Shopping Together
I find this is one of the most fun ways for kids to get excited for kindergarten. They love picking out crayons, markers, pencils, and other school supplies.
It really helps build enthusiasm and gives them a sense of control when they get to pick out which notebook they want or which box of markers they’d like.
5. Arrange a Visit to the School
Attending an open house or scheduling a visit to your child’s school is a crucial part of how to prepare for kindergarten.
During the visit to your child’s kindergarten, make a point to:
- Meet your child’s kindergarten teacher
- Explore the classroom and where things are located (you may even be able to find out where your child’s seat or desk will be)
- Learn where the bathrooms are
- Find out where the lunchroom is located
- Ask about the schedule
- Help your child get familiar with the building and their teacher
- Ask questions or share your concerns with the principal or your child’s teacher
- Help them learn their teacher’s name and the principal’s name
- Find out if they’ll know any of their classmates
- Ask about any special events the school will be hosting
6. Keep Communication Open
Make sure your child knows they can always come to you with questions or worries about kindergarten. Talk with your child about what to expect, what the classroom routine will be like, and what kind of fun activities kindergarten will involve.
Encourage your child to talk about their feelings or express how they feel through story-telling or drawing pictures.
7. Partner with an Early Learning Centre
One of the best ways to help your child make the transition to kindergarten is by enrolling them in a high-quality early learning centre.
At Tribe Early Learning, we actively focus on helping your child build a foundation of skills that will help them seamlessly transition to kindergarten.
We help promote emotional, social, and academic development with age-appropriate activities, play-based learning, and a mix of structured and unstructured learning opportunities.
Learn More: The Difference Between Early Learning Centres and Child Care Centres
How Tribe Early Learning Centre Helps Kids Make the Transition to Kindergarten
A big part of what we do here at Tribe Early Learning is preparing kids for their transition to kindergarten to make it as seamless as possible.
We focus on emotional, social, and academic skills that will help your child enter kindergarten with confidence and enthusiasm.
Our soft introduction to structured learning incorporates a broad range of concepts to help prepare your child for kindergarten.
Our early learning centre is designed to help promote your child’s emotional, academic, and social skills, such as:
- Learning basic letters and numbers
- Getting used to following a routine
- Building communicating skills
- Learn how to wait for their turn
- Classifying objects according to their size and shape
- Learning sorting and matching
- Following multi-step directions
- Working together in small groups
- Building confidence and independence
- Exploring the world around them and asking questions
- Building early literacy and vocabulary
- Learning how to listen attentively
- Learning through play, with a special emphasis on nature-based play
- Holding a market, crayon, or pencil correctly
- Learning social-emotional skills and self-regulation
- Relating to their peers
- Building problem-solving skills
- Learning early math concepts
- Developing gross and fine motor skills
- Building a lifelong love of learning
Transition to Kindergarten With Tribe Early Learning
At Tribe Early Learning, we are dedicated to your child’s social-emotional development, and academic development. Our play-based early learning program was designed to help build school-ready skills that will give your child the foundation they need to enter kindergarten with confidence.
We are here to be your trusted partner in your child’s growth and development and
are committed to making the transition to kindergarten something both you and your child can feel good about.
If you are a parent or caregiver considering early learning centres in WA, we’d love to talk with you to see if Tribe Early Learning would be a good fit for your child and family.
Fill out our online contact form to get in touch or check the contact info for our various locations in Ridgewood, Butler, Alkimos, Success, and Canning Vale.
