4 Ways to Prepare your Kids for School
TRANSITION SMOOTHLY INTO A NEW ROUTINE
Is your child starting daycare, preschool, or kindergarten soon? In an effort to help our children be prepared for the days ahead, we wanted to pass on 4 easy ways you can communicate and help kickstart their success.
A NEW SCHOOL YEAR. A NEW EXPERIENCE.
A new school year is upon us and for many families in the ETP community this means new experiences are ahead! Whether you’re entering preschool or Kindergarten, changing classrooms and teachers, or starting daycare, it’s an exciting time for our us and our children.
With any new transition, there are emotions to navigate, questions to answer, and unknowns to talk about. So what might it look like to help our children prepare for the days ahead? What can we do beyond just visiting the classroom and meeting the teacher?
Here are a few practical ways we can support our children and help them transition more smoothly into their new routines.
Talk TO YOUR CHILD
Children are introduced to a lot of new vocabulary and social routines in the first weeks (and months) of school. “Line up!”, “Raise your hand!”, “It’s circle time!”, or “Let’s put this in your cubby.” Think through some of the vocabulary or situations your children might encounter. Be the first to talk to your child and show them what this might look like. Talk to them about what these words mean and how they can respond.
TIP: Start talking about school early. Attempt to have multiple small conversations leading up to the big day. “School is a new fun place. There will be new friends. You will have a teacher that is going to teach you so much!”
HELP THEM LEARN TO COMMUNICATE THEIR NEEDS
Simply put, we want them to be able to communicate their wants and needs while they’re at school. Words like “help”, “no, thank you” or, “I don’t like that” are concrete words they can say.
TIP: Consistency is key. What moments in your day can you begin to practice?
PLAY PRETEND
Gather your favorite character toys, stuffed animals, and dolls. Using their fluffy friends, role play what their day might look like.
What does the morning look like? What might the afternoon look like? Are they riding the bus or is someone dropping them off and picking them up? Will they have nap time? Do they eat in the classroom or in the cafeteria?
Verbally communicate and go through the sequence of tasks to help them learn what they’ll need to do. Set the scene and make it fun!
TIP: Read a book about going to school! Scroll down for a short list of our favorites.
START SOFT
Over the years, we’ve found some little ones benefit greatly from starting soft. This looks like beginning your new morning routine a week (or two) before school actually begins. Call it a practice round and know that you’re free to practice and work through any challenges.
TIP: Create a picture schedule using images of real items or pictures online to represent each step. Example: A picture of clothes for getting dressed; A toothbrush; A bowl of cereal for breakfast; bus or car for leaving to go to school/daycare.
Additional Resources
Books
Books are great resources for preparing your child for daycare or school. It’s a low pressure way to introduce the concept of going to school.
Here’s a list of 10 books on this topic. We linked each book, but also check your local library or search online for an author read aloud video!
Go to School (The Berenstain Bears)
Pete the Kitty’s First Day of Preschool
Olu’s Teacher: A Story About Starting Preschool
Are we missing one of your family’s favorites?! Let us know in the comments!
Play By Play guide
The Play by Play is your ultimate cheat sheet for play based learning activities. It’s the perfect way to introduce early learning concepts and support carryover of skills. With over 40 different learning targets (using the toys you already own), the Play by Play provides a flexible framework for building foundational language skills that are necessary for life skills and academic success. The best part? There’s virtually no prep involved.
Ready to learn how to increase your child’s understanding & communication skills through play?
Learn more here and grab the Play by Play for only $35!
Play Day Challenge (7-Day Email Series)
If you want your child to communicate and interact with the world, you get to show them how to do that! Whether you have 5 minutes or 20 minutes, start here & use our 7 easy strategies. Here’s to play days that increase learning, language, and life skills.
Allow your child to participate in the world with you.
Get quick, practical tips for open-ended, no-pressure teachable moments.
Practice structure and simplicity.
Incorporate use of basic concepts and vocabulary in everyday routines.
We hope you found these tips helpful! We’d love to hear from you – what strategy are you going to try? Are there any tips you’d add to this list? Here’s to a great school year ahead!
