Kindergarten Ready ... Set ... Go

Let’s get your child ready for kindergarten! Children’s first experiences in school can influence the way they relate and learn for the rest of their life. Kindergarten readiness focuses on a child’s physical, social-emotional and cognitive development – rather than just a child’s age. Providing young children with a variety of experiences will help their development and get them ready for school.

We have a special section of books in the Kids Library called School Readiness. There are books on letters, numbers and shapes. We also have wordless books that provide great opportunities for you and your child to tell your own stories. Our children’s library programs, such as Preschool Storytime, Musical Storytime and the Learn & Play Bus are full of songs, stories, movement and rhymes – experiences that will help your child get ready for kindergarten!

Get ready activities

• Let them use safety scissors. This will help develop fine motor skills.
• Play catch to help develop eye/hand coordination and spend quality time together.
• Take walks together. Talk about what you see. Afterward, draw a picture of what you saw. This helps develop their storytelling skills.
• Sandbox play will allow your child to explore math concepts such as measurement, more/less, bigger/smaller and equal.
Build something together with blocks – wooden, LEGO^® or cereal boxes. Put puzzles together. Both help develop problem

solving skills.

• Read a book together. Ask open-ended questions. Ask your child to tell the story in their own words.
• Play with playdough. Rolling it out and squishing it helps strengthen finger muscles.
• Create a store or restaurant for some dramatic play. Let your child create grocery lists or write down your order at the restaurant.
• Put on a puppet show for the family. Puppets can also help your child’s social-emotional development by giving them a “friend” to talk to or a way to speak to another child without having to directly talk to the child.
• Give your child a word, like “cat” and ask them come up with rhyming words using all of the consonants: bat, gnat, mat, zat – nonsense words are great, too!

Blockfest

Friday, Feb 16 and Friday, April 20 Parents as Teachers is holding Blockfest at the library 9:30-11:30am. Children 8 and younger will enjoy five block-play stations designed to maximize fun and learning. Parents will receive a free block play handbook with information on the stages of block play and tips to help your child learn match and science concepts while they play at home.