**Activities and Opportunities
Fun and interesting activities should be part of a family’s routine. There are many activities which you and your child engage in during each day that can be excellent learning experiences for your child. The important thing to remember is to support your child’s curiosity, imagination, and sense of wonder as they encounter each new learning experience.
Talk to your child. Talking builds brain connections, language and listening skills, and prepares your child for reading.
Read to your child.
- Brain cells make connections as a child hears words, looks at pictures, and sees letters.
- Hold your child close and talk to them about the pictures, the story, and the book’s features.
- Ask questions. What do you think will happen next? What did you like best about the story? The least?
- Reading is one of the most important things parents do to support their child’s beginning reading development.
Allow opportunities for your child to:
- Sing and play
- Learn rhymes
- “Read” books
- Write notes, lists, stories
- Help you shop
- Help you do chores
- Explore and talk about the outside world
- Listen to a story and draw a picture. Talk about it.
Spend time with your child. Show patience with your child. Virtually every activity during your child’s day can be a learning experience.
Self Help Skills
- Potty trained and can take care of all toileting needs
- Eats with a fork and spoon
- Zips and buttons clothes
- Blows nose independently
- Enjoys good nutrition
- Has healthy sleep habits
Social Skills
- Gets along with others
- Respects self, others and property
- Understands sharing and taking turns
- Talks in sentences
- Sits and listens for a short period of time
- Shows Patience ad is considerate of others
- Keeps hands and feet to self
- Work with other cooperatively
- Understands the meaning of the word “no”
Does your child have…
- Curiosity
- Enjoyment of learning
- Confidence
- Creativity
- Attention to tasks
- Reflection
- Interests and attitudes
Cognition and General Knowledge
- Having a basic knowledge of concepts and the workings of the environment in which the child participates is an important readiness skill
- When a child can solve basic problems, it will be through their curiosity and the ability to acquire, organize and use information in more complex ways.
- Gaining mathematical skills is also very important for a child’s kindergarten readiness. This can be through an understanding of numbers, discriminating shapes and colors, simple patterns, size, location and time.
How is your child’s —
- Expressive language – speech that is understood or use of a nonverbal system of communication
- Understanding skills to effectively interact with others
- Early literacy skills are part of language development (awareness of print, understanding that writing has a purpose.
Fine and Gross Motor Skills
- Isolates one or two fingers
- Uses scissors to cut on a line
- Uses markers and pencils while holding paper
- Folds and tears paper
- Holds ruler with one hand while using pencil to draw
- Holds paper with one hand while applying glue with the other
- Runs, stops, changes direction
- Hops
- Gallops
- Combines motor skills to use some sport equipment
- Performs simple tumbling stunts
- Rides tricycle
**Copied from the Indiana Department of Education, Indianapolis, IN
