How To Prepare Your Child For The Start Of Preschool
It is a challenge for all children to start preschool. A new stage begins and as parents we are afraid that our children will have difficulty adapting to a new routine and environment. This even applies to parents whose children have already gone to a daycare center or have had a nanny. Here are some tips to help you prepare your child for preschool.
All children need a period where they can adapt to this new phase in their education. Although it may be difficult at first, they will adapt faster than you might think. But to facilitate the transition, parents can initiate activities with their children that can better prepare them for the start of preschool and the new adventure they will embark on.
The most important thing is that your children look at everything you do as a fun activity and not as a boring lesson. So, do you want to know what you can do to prepare your child for the start of preschool? Keep reading to find out!
Activities and tips to prepare children for the start of preschool
Some of these tips come from preschool teachers and the US Department of Education ‘s “Learning Partners” program . All of these tips can help you prepare your child for preschool.
The following activities prepare your child to listen, follow instructions and work together as part of a group. These are the three most important goals in preschool pedagogy. Below we look at each of them.
Read a story to your child every day as part of your daily routine
In many preschool classes, the teacher sets aside a short time, 10-15 minutes, to read a story to the children (it can be a story about starting preschool). If you encourage the same routine at home, your child will find it very easy to follow the activity and sit still in one place while he or she listens carefully to what the preschool teacher reads or says.
Reading aloud encourages children to listen, as they have not yet learned to read in preschool. The more familiar they are with reading aloud, the easier it will be for them to later learn to read for themselves in the future.
Reading aloud to young children is a great way to develop reading comprehension from an early age. So when you read a story to your children, you can ask questions about what they have heard. When children really like a story, they ask you to read it to them over and over again. In the end, they may know the story so well that they can practically tell it by heart.
Practice listening and following instructions to prepare children for the start of preschool
In preschool, children often sit at their tables or in circles and the preschool teacher asks them to be quiet and listen. One activity you can do with your children is to ask them to sit quietly and listen to everything around them. Then ask them to describe everything they hear. For example, mother cooking, a bird singing, the voices on TV, the wind making the curtains flutter, etc.
It is not only important for young children to listen but also to follow instructions that require more than one step. This is because it is one of the things they have to do during the preschool activities. So you can give them prompts and instructions for various tasks around the house – for example, picking up toys from the living room and taking them to their room, or washing their hands in the bathroom before helping to set the table.
You can also play guessing games like “My northern eye sees…” when you go for a walk. Here, each player must practice waiting their turn to ask each other what they see. At each turn, you give each other clues about what you are looking at. At the same time, the other must ask questions to find out what object or action it is.
Have a ritual to say hello when your child goes to preschool
For many children, preschool is the first time they have to spend time away from their parents. Therefore, they may be afraid that you will not return or they do not know how to pick them up, which makes them worried.
Therefore, it is good to create a routine to say hello then. That way, it will be easier for them to separate from you before they go to their preschool.
When you leave your child at preschool, give him or her a kiss and a hug, a secret handshake or sing a song… Whatever you can think of to break the tension. In this way, your child will associate this moment with being in preschool for a while and understand that mom or dad will come back later again.
Prepare your child for the start of preschool with social activities
When children go to preschool, they need to know how to behave and get along with other children. Maybe your child has gone to open preschool or has cousins and little friends to play with. This makes it easier for them to relate to other children. However, if your child has not been in many of these contexts or has had contact with any children, it is important to prepare activities where he or she can interact with others.
It is good to go to a playground, enroll your child in dance lessons, swimming or any other activity. In short, all the activities that your child enjoys and that help him or her relate to children of the same age.
In preschool, it is important for children to know how to share, wait their turn and collaborate with other children.
Talk to your children about what they can expect when they start preschool
It is normal for children to feel nervous before starting preschool, as it is new and unfamiliar to them. Therefore, it is important that you do not say things that create false expectations, whether good or bad.
Just talk to them about what preschool is and answer their questions and discuss problems if they have any. Explain what kind of activities they will be allowed to do, that they will have classmates, where their preschool is located, etc.
As you have seen, these are just a few tips and activities that you can use to prepare your children for preschool. In this way, they become less nervous and the transition becomes as painless as possible.
While it may break our hearts to be away from our children as they begin a new phase in life, you will soon see that it is worth it. So, let’s make the best of it!
