Kindergarten Readiness

Kindergarten Readiness

Readiness for Kindergarten – Play and Learn with Puzzles

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There are so many different kinds of puzzles, but today’s post is about jigsaw puzzles, usually wood or thick paper pieces that have to get put together. (Or, there are puzzle resources on line or electronic devices.) As with blocks, puzzles encourage all kinds of learning and kindergarten readiness. On a short list would be such skills as:

  • problem-solving, fine motor coordination, comparing, matching, reasoning
  • sequencing, patterning, visualizing and visual perception,
  • part-to-whole relationships, emotional control and regulation
  • figure-ground awareness, goal-setting (finishing the puzzle,) perseverance
  • memory, attention and focusing, patience, language stimulation

The task of connecting pieces is also happening in the brain, with all kinds of learning connections being made. Puzzles come in easy shapes with only a few pieces to extremely challenging ones with hundreds of pieces. For grown-ups who want to play there are ones with thousands of pieces and 3 dimensions. For both genders and all ages, puzzles can help brain development. Readiness for kindergarten can be quite a puzzle, can’t it?

 

Kindergarten Readiness

Readiness for Kindergarten – Play & Learn With Blocks

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Have you ever gotten up in the middle of the night in bare, unprotected feet and stepped on a lego unnoticed in the dark ? Those edges are really sharp and poky. Lego and other blocks are marvelous for all kinds of learning and kindergarten readiness. These are just a few of the skills that kids learn when building and playing with blocks:

    • lifting, pushing, pulling, weighing, carrying, balancing, manipulating, stacking, problem-solving
    • organizing, planning, fine and gross-motor coordination, perseverance, achievement
    •  visualizing, shapes, counting, spatial orientation, cooperating, imagining and pretending

There are even more brain connections that kids make when playing with blocks and other readiness for kindergarten learning. For very young toddlers, there are sponge blocks that don’t hurt when they fall over. For older kids there are many different kinds of  plastic or wooden ones. For future engineers there are geometric shape blocks that triangle together. Blocks are also gender neutral and appeal to girls as well as boys. (If you ever want to know how attached kids get to blocks, ask a teenager if you can sell a few bags at a garage sale or even just borrow some for school.) Scrap wood can be used to make a set of wooden blocks for generations of block play.

Here is a very short 6 second video that shows how differently a wee one plays with blocks than an older child does:    How does your child play with blocks?

Kindergarten Readiness

Readiness for Kindergarten – Toys, Play and Learning

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Playing is the most important learning strategy for kids. It is so essential that it has been enshrined in the United Nations Rights of the Child. Through play, children explore and discover but more importantly, this is how their brains grow and build connections. The activity does not matter; it could be building with blocks, cuddling a stuffie, putting together a puzzle or throwing stones in a puddle. It could even be helping to wash the dishes or put away the groceries. If a child is eager and having fun, creating and manipulating, this is Play.

Kids do not only play with toys. They play with anything: the plastic containers in the kitchen drawer, the box the toy came in, the cans in the cupboard, the pile of clean, folded laundry. Anything!! That’s why parents and caregivers panic when it’s much too quiet. But because toys take center stage this month, December’s blog posts will look at how preschool kids learn by playing with different toys and how toys can help little ones with readiness for kindergarten.

Today, squeeze in a few minutes for you to play with your little one. Play is their vehicle for learning and play-time is crucial for healthy development and kindergarten readiness. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, ” We do not quit playing because we grow old, we grow old because we quit playing.” What do you and your little one like to play?

 

Kindergarten Readiness

Readiness for Kindergarten – Memory and Instruction Fun

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Ever noticed how when parents ask kids to do something the kids have “selective listening”? (I think it should be called “selective ignoring’) While that may be the issue, we may be sabotaging the situation ourselves by giving kids more things to remember than their memories can hold. For example, when we say “Okay, you … Continue reading Readiness for Kindergarten – Memory and Instruction Fun →

Kindergarten Readiness

Readiness for Kindergarten – Picture Memory, 1 2 3 Smile!

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Did you take some Thanksgiving photos yesterday? Photos can help kids–and grownups-with memory skills and readiness for kindergarten. Our brains use pictures as well as words to create memory connections. Try this yourself first to check out your memory. Look at a picture you took recently, perhaps yesterday for Thanksgiving. Now, turn it over and … Continue reading Readiness for Kindergarten – Picture Memory, 1 2 3 Smile! →

Kindergarten Readiness

Readiness for Kindergarten – Memories and Patterning

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Sometimes, when we have to remember a large amount of information, we use the strategy of noticing a pattern. Suddenly, the amount of information we need to hold in our memory is much, much smaller. The pattern makes the job easier. Being able to notice, figure out and make patterns is a powerful thinking strategy … Continue reading Readiness for Kindergarten – Memories and Patterning →

Kindergarten Readiness

Readiness for Kindergarten – Imaginary Play and Memory

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With the weather getting colder in many places, how about an inside activity to promote kindergarten readiness? Imaginary play develops in preschool children and needs some complex thinking and memory skills. Kids need to remember their role and what actions are taking place even when they can’t ‘see’ them. While they have countless possibilities when … Continue reading Readiness for Kindergarten – Imaginary Play and Memory →

Kindergarten Readiness

Readiness for Kindergarten – Memories and Videos

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This is the best excuse for taking lots of videos of kids–to help both their memory skills and readiness for kindergarten. Memory, like other thinking skills, is something that develops as kids grow and develop. Memory grows by using it. This is where a video, either camera or phone, can help. Take short videos of … Continue reading Readiness for Kindergarten – Memories and Videos →

Kindergarten Readiness

Readiness for Kindergarten – Memory and Drawing

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Little kids have show n’ tell, big kids have Facebook. Big kids also have cameras and phones to take pictures of things they want to remember. What about little ones? They draw pictures. Drawing a picture is another strategy to help kids remember. Did something exciting happen at Halloween? Or on a child’s birthday? Provide … Continue reading Readiness for Kindergarten – Memory and Drawing →

Kindergarten Readiness

Readiness for Kindergarten – Memory & Show n’ Tell

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Is show and tell one of your child’s highlights? Kids don’t save show n’ tell just for daycare or preschool. They want to tell moms and dads and practically anyone who will listen about what they make with their blocks, the pictures they color, why they have bandaids, exciting news and more. This seems to … Continue reading Readiness for Kindergarten – Memory & Show n’ Tell →