Ensuring a Positive Preschool Experience - 4 Skills to Work on This Summer
It’s hard to believe, but your baby will soon be starting preschool. While preschool is generally a happy place packed with fun, friends, and learning, you and/or your little one might be feeling a bit anxious about this first step toward independence. Preparing them to have the best possible experience can help.
Below are five skills you can work on this summer to give your sweetie the best chance at preschool success. Heading into preschool, it will help if your child can:
Play Well with Others
Preschool is one giant group activity. Kids will laugh, play, listen, learn, eat, and nap together. The better your little one takes turns and shares, the better their preschool experience will be. You can practice at home by taking turns with your favorite toys, letting a sibling or friend go first down the slide, or taking the first cookie offered. The more time your child spends with other children, the easier this will be, so hit the park, storytime at the library, or take a class with other kids this summer.
Stay Somewhat Organized
We’re not talking Marie Kondo here, but preschoolers will be expected to find and return things to and from specific places – balls in the basket, blocks in the bin, books on the shelf, etc. So, crank up the “Clean Up” song on your phone and start practicing with your child’s room or playroom. Ask where the stuffies or books go, then see if your child can put them there. A stopwatch can be fun and motivating, too. “How fast can we put the blocks back in the bin? Read, set, go!”
Ask Questions
Getting your kiddo comfortable with asking questions now can head off a lot of discomforts later, when they need to ask to go to the bathroom, to have a snack, where the doll in the red dress is, or what time you’ll be coming to pick them up. The confidence to ask questions also opens the door to curiosity, a key learning component. Practice talking to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and close family friends this summer.
Communicate and Manage Emotions
No one expects your preschooler to suppress their emotions completely, but identifying and communicating their feelings in a simple sense – I feel frustrated, or I’m so mad – is extremely helpful in a preschool setting. Having strategies to move through these feelings is also beneficial. You can build these skills this summer by using words to point out your little one’s feelings, ala “I see you’re feeling unfortunate!” and talking them through those feelings with statements and solutions like “What might make you feel better? Would you like to look at a book or have a snuggle with your bear?”
Practicing these skills over the summer will help your little one assimilate more easily into the preschool setting in the fall. And when that first day comes, your calm, cool, excited attitude will go a long way toward reassuring your little love that preschool is going to be great! Looking to practice some of the academic skills your little one will be learning in preschool?
Check out our Skill Builders! Activity Sets
Source: Learning Resources
- Chenne Daig
