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Key points
- Being unprepared for kindergarten is associated with continued academic struggle throughout the school years.
- Research shows that self-regulation abilities, social skills, and persistence when entering kindergarten are associated with later success.
- Research also shows that math skills, fine motor skills, and exposure to books are associated with increased readiness for kindergarten.
Many children enter kindergarten without the skills needed to be fully ready to participate in classroom learning. In fact, research reveals that 56 percent of children in the United States show challenges in at least one area of development when entering kindergarten. Being unprepared for kindergarten is associated with continued academic struggle throughout the school years. Specifically, this line of research indicates that children entering kindergarten with more advanced math and literacy skills are more likely to show continued success in later grades and a lower likelihood of dropping out of high school. In addition, social and emotional skills, self-regulation, and attentional abilities when entering kindergarten are also important predictors of later success.
So what can you do, as a parent, to prepare your child for kindergarten? Does the research provide any insight into what skills are most important for your child’s later success?
1. Work with your child on their self-regulation abilities.
Research finds that advanced self-regulation skills allow children to “catch up” even if they start behind their peers academically. Self-regulation when entering kindergarten is also associated with improved reading and math skills, as well as enhanced general academic performance, later in elementary school. Children can work on this skill through cooperative play with other children and playing games, such as Freeze Dance, Simon Says, or Red Light/Green Light.
2. Help your child to further develop their social skills.
Provide ample age-appropriate play opportunities, set up playdates, and role-play social situations with your child. Social skills when entering kindergarten have been found to be related to success as an adult, including the likelihood of graduating college and gaining employment.
3. Help your child to get excited about learning!
Find subjects they are interested in, and use these subjects to weave in math, reading, and science. Praise your child for their efforts when they stick with a task. Research finds that children’s attitudes toward learning and tendency to persist in learning when entering kindergarten are associated with improved academic performance up until 5th grade.
4. Don’t forget to work on math skills.
Research finds that math abilities in kindergarten are strongly predictive of later academic success.
5. Work on your child’s fine motor skills.
You can help your child to develop these skills through coloring, sewing, crafts, puzzles, or even playing with squirt bottles. Research finds that fine motor skills when entering kindergarten are related to later math, reading, and science test scores.
6. Read, read, and read some more!
Research finds that exposure to books prior to kindergarten is associated with increased kindergarten readiness.
References
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