Kindergarten Readiness Skills Checklist

Inside: what should my child know before kindergarten checklist 2022? This kindergarten readiness skills checklist for parents will help you get your 5-year-old ready.

My child recently turned 5, and all parents of 5-year-olds have Kindergarten on their minds, right? Our Pre-K 5’s classes have begun Kindergarten Readiness (and this summer will do Kindergarten Camp). We’ve had two meetings already with early childhood educators sharing information about Kindergarten and what parents should be expecting and working with their kids at home, as well as what the schools are doing. 

One of the best ways to help kids get ready for kindergarten is to use kindergarten readiness worksheets, designed to help children learn the basic skills they need to be successful in kindergarten. They cover a variety of topics, including numbers, shapes, colors, and letters.

As we’re going through the Kindergarten readiness skills checklist ourselves, I wanted to share the journey and help you prepare your child for Kindergarten, too by sharing all the skills needed for kindergarten.

 

How to prepare your child for Kindergarten

 

Don’t forget to grab your printable free kindergarten readiness checklist here.

Is your child ready for Kindergarten? What are the requirements to start kindergarten?

Entry to Kindergarten timing will depend on the state and the Department of Education, but typically kids have to be already 5 years old or turning 5 before the cut-off date for starting in that school year. Some states have the cut-off as October 1, but some have September 1. Either way, our November baby had to do an extra year of preschool. Your school will have a school readiness skills checklist for you to follow.

This extra year allowed him to work on many skills that he was previously too young to have mastered, and all these skills are important for success in Kindergarten. There are many skills that kids are expected to have on their first day of Kindergarten, and it is up to preschool and us as parents to get them ready.

Resources for Kindergarten – What skills should a child know before kindergarten?

In this post, I am sharing the information provided to us during our Kindergarten Readiness meetings with our Pre-K regarding skills expected on the first day of kindergarten, along with a list of wonderful posts with resources. These are all skills to know before kindergarten assessment.

I am sharing roundups and posts from this blog and articles by fellow creators. Enjoy these helpful kindergarten readiness worksheets.

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist – Skills your child will need for Kindergarten

I’ve heard the skills that are required can be filed under the following categories: cognitive skills, listening and sequencing, language and literacy skills, social-emotional skills, fine motor skills, and gross motor skills.

Cognitive skills for Kindergarten

Cognitive skills that will help your child be better prepared for kindergarten include:

• Identify letters of the alphabet
• Know their primary colors
• Recognize basic shapes
• Be able to count to ten and recognize numbers
• Know basic coins 
• Know the days of the week and the months of the year

Resources to help with developing Cognitive skills:

• ABC Mouse – my preschooler LOVES it – great learning games with engaging activities and rewards. It’s his “important” app that gives me no guilt when he has screen time. Get your first month free! Read my review.
• Here’s a great roundup of kindergarten readiness activities for preschoolers 
• Teach a preschooler their days of the week with this organization tool
• Here’s a fun apple-themed counting activity
• Try this easy color activity, and check out the book for more ideas
• This toy is a great learning experience – music, counting, and more!
• Math and counting learning activities for preschoolers 
• ArgoPrep has great online classes for K-8 math and ELA. They also offer a great variety of free Kindergarten worksheets!

Language and Literacy skills for Kindergarten

Language skills and emergent literacy skills are a vital step in Kindergarten readiness. This is your kindergarten reading skills checklist.

Children should be able to identify relationships such as:

• big and little
• short and tall
• more and less
• up and down
• top and bottom
• in and out
• over and under
• front and back
• slow and fast

Children will also be expected to:

• Classify objects according to their size, shape, quantity
• Be able to write their own name
• Speak using complete sentences
• Repeat their full name and birthday. Know their age.
• Often also expected to know their address and phone number.
• Recognize rhyming words
• Often also expected to recognize some basic sight words
• Express ideas through drawing pictures

Resources to help with developing Language and Literacy skills:

• ABC Mouse also has great reading activities. Get your first month free! Read my review.
• Little Passports – great activities for Early Explorers (monthly subscription box). Read my review.
• Try the Homer Learning-To-Read App. The learn-to-read program proven to increase early reading scores by 74%. Get your 30 day free trial.
• Starting early with developing language skills in toddlers and preschoolers is important
• Also, here are ways to prepare a child to read besides teaching the alphabet
• Here’s a great idea for pre-writing skills
• Alphabet and literacy skills activities for preschoolers 
• Phonics in Motion is a great literacy program that helps teach kids to read via movement and play!

Listening and sequencing skills for Kindergarten

Listening and Sequencing skills include these abilities:

• Follow directions
• Paying attention
• Listen to a story without interrupting 
• Retelling a simple story in sequence
• Repeating a sequence of sounds or numbers

Resources to help with developing Listening and Sequencing skills:

• Reading to kids at home daily is a great way to practice storytelling and listening without interrupting
• Here’s a great pattern recognition activity that’s great for sequencing

Social-emotional skills for Kindergarten

Social-emotional skills include the following very important skills:

• Get dressed on their own (including shoes)
• Sharing with others
• Getting along with others
• Maintaining self-control
• Separating from parents easily (no separation anxiety)
• Take care of toilet needs independently
• Clean up after him/herself
• Play independently
• Focus on one activity

Resources to help with developing Social-emotional skills:

• Help a child regulate emotions with a “calm down corner“
• Executive function skills are also very important in Kindergarten

Fine motor skills for Kindergarten

This is your kindergarten motor skills checklist.

Fine motor skills needed for kindergarten include:

• Hold pencil and crayons with fingers
• Trace a straight line, a vertical line, a circle
• Hold and use scissors correctly
• Cut on a line
• Work a puzzle
• Use glue, paint, and other art materials
• Button buttons
• Able to tie shoes
• Zip clothing

Resources to help with developing fine motor skills:

• Hands-On As We Grow kindergarten readiness activities are amazing and easy. Join the activity room during open enrollment. There are also several free 5-day activity challenges that she does that are all so much fun!
• Here’s a fun rain cloud craft that is great for fine-motor skills

Gross motor skills for Kindergarten

Gross motor skills include:

• Bouncing a ball
• Throwing a ball or bean bag
• Catching a ball
• Kicking a rolling ball
• Walking a straight line
• Hopping, jumping, skipping, galloping,
• Clapping hands

Resources to help with developing gross motor skills:

• Here are sensory input ideas that are great for gross motor skills
• This run around the numbers is great for learning and gross motor skills

Printable kindergarten readiness checklist

Enjoy this kindergarten skills checklist PDF with a printable kindergarten readiness checklist of the skills discussed in this post.

 

Kindergarten is a time for your child to explore and learn new things. With this kindergarten skills checklist, you can help your child be prepared for success in school and life. How are you preparing your children for Kindergarten?