Getting ready for Kindy!

Starting kindy is an exciting time for the whole family.

Getting your child ready for kindy can be a large task. Below is a list of skills that are useful for kids to have before starting kindy and some activities you can do at home to support these skills from our Occupational Therapist, Kiara and Speech Pathologist, Emma. 

 

Skills for starting kindy: From a Speech Pathology Perspective

Generally, kids starting kindy have the following comprehension (understanding) and expression (talking). 

 

Understanding skills:

  • Follow more complex two part instructions (e.g., “give me the teddy and throw the ball”).
  • Understand simple wh-questions, such as ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘who’. (e.g. “What colour is that?”)
  • Understand the concepts of ‘same’ and ‘different’.
  • Sort items into groups when asked (e.g., toys vs food).
  • Recognise some basic colours.
  • Answer most questions about daily tasks (e.g. “What do you need to do x?”)
  • Understand most wh-questions, including those about a story they have recently heard.
  • Understand some numbers.
  • Show an awareness that some words start or finish with the same sounds.

 

Talking skills:

  • Functional communication skills – verbal or AAC. This means the child has enough skills to get their message across most of the time and be understood. 
  • 90% intelligible speech to unfamiliar people 
  • Say at least four to five words in a sentence.
  • Use a variety of words for names, actions, locations and descriptions.
  • Ask questions using ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘who’.
  • Talk about something in the past, but may use ‘-ed’ a lot (e.g., ‘he goed there’).
  • Have a conversation, but may not take turns or stay on topic.
  • Use words, such as ‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘because’, to make longer sentences
  • Describe recent events, such as morning routines.
  • Ask lots of questions and use personal pronouns (e.g., he/ she, me/you) and negations (e.g., don’t/can’t).
  • Count to five and name a few colours.

Skills for starting kindy: From an OT Perspective

Generally, kids starting kindy have the following self-management, self care, motor, emotional regulation and play skills. 

Self-management skills:

 

  • Recognise their own belongings, including their own bag, hat, lunchbox and water bottle 
  • Follow simple routines, such as washing hands and packing away toys in the correct spots 
  • Organise themselves to join in on group activities 

 

Self care:

 

  • Use the toilet independently, including being able to undress before and redress afterwards, able to wipe successfully with some help provided at times 
  • Feed themselves independently using a fork and spoon, and should be able to easily manage finger foods (sandwiches) 

 

Motor skills:

 

  • Hops on one foot, balances on one foot 
  • Goes up and down stairs 
  • Catches a ball most of the time 
  • Draws a person with 2-4 body parts 
  • Uses scissors and can open/close to cut a line 
  • Copies a cross and square 

 

Emotional regulation: 

 

  • Persist with challenging tasks that might be unfamiliar 
  • Recognise basic emotions (happy, angry, sad, scared) 
  • Express emotions to a trusted adult 
  • Seek out co-regulation from a trusted adult (wanting comfort through cuddles, discussion, breathing) 

 

Play: 

 

  • Cooperate with others during play activities 
  • Share belongings and toys with peers 
  • Share ideas during play 
  • Engage in a variety of play types (structured play, active play, pretend play and constructive play)

 

Activities to try at home to support kindy readiness:

 

The following activities have SP and OT tips designed to help your child be ready for kindy!

 

  • Routines: Supporting children to develop their self-management skills by knowing what is expected of them and by establishing consistent expectations. 
    • OT Tip: Set up clear routines by making sure that your child knows what is happening next. This supports transitions within the Kindy environment (e.g. moving from playtime to lunch). 
    • SP Tip: Model “first → then” language. “First put your socks on, then put your shoes on”. This sort of language is what they use in kindy to give children instructions.

 

  • Sensory play: Using a variety of different textures and sensory experiences, like sand and water play, toys with lights/sounds, playdoh, slime etc. 
    • OT Tip: Support your child to develop their understanding of how their body feels by playing with a variety of different textured resources. Beans, rice, marbles, shaving foam and playdoh are great ways for children to learn about their own sensory preferences and regulation. 
    • SP Tip: Use adjectives/describing words to talk about the senses – how does it look, feel, sound, smell and taste (if tasting friendly).

 

  • Dressing dolls
    • OT Tip: Practising dressing skills through play is a great way for children to practise doing up clothing fastenings (zips and buttons), which ultimately support them to engage in dressing tasks. To support achievement, steps might be required to be broken down into smaller steps (e.g. parent lines up the buttons, child pushes them through). 
    • SP Tip: Use different types of words to talk about what they’re doing. 
      • Use verbs (doing words) to describe what is happening – “zipping”, “pull”; use adjectives (describing words) and nouns (objects, people, animals, places etc) to describe what they’re using – “a red dress”. 
      • Use prepositions (location words) to describe where the clothes are “on”, “off”, “up”, “down”.
      • Use phrases and sentences with a mix of these words to help your child develop their vocabulary and understanding of dressing and other tasks. 

 

  • Label emotions in play
    • OT Tip: Support your child by identifying common emotions (happy, angry, sad, scared) in play activities and by demonstrating different ways the character can overcome this emotion (e.g. “The doll is going to her mum for a hug”).
    • SP Tip: Model the emotional vocabulary throughout play, and why the character/thing might be feeling that way – “Barbie is feeling sad because she lost her shoe”

 

  • Outdoor play: obstacle course/playground
    • OT Tip: Provide your child with opportunities to independently navigate obstacle courses and playgrounds. Allowing your child to learn about how their body works outdoors supports their balancing and motor planning skills which are essential. 
    • SP Tip: Use location, direction and movement based vocabulary in outdoor activities to support their understanding and expression – 
      • “Jump up and down!”, 
      • “Kick the big ball”, 
      • “Go around the trampoline, then throw the ball into the hoop”.

 

  • Craft: making things!
    • OT Tip: Support your child to develop their fine motor skills through craft activities. Activities which require cutting, glueing and assembling of pieces are wonderful for children to strengthen their motor skills. 
    • SP Tip: Stores like spotlight and kmart quite often have craft kits, but you can use whatever you have at home to make something together. You can even just use paper scraps to make a collage.  
      • Give your child instructions throughout, using verbs (doing words like ‘cut’, ‘glue’, ‘stick’) and adjectives (describing words like colours and shapes). 
      • After the activity is finished, model a retell using “first → then, last” style language. 
      • You can use a whiteboard or pictures and questions to help your child remember the steps.

 

  • Mr Potato head 
    • OT Tip: Mr Potato head is wonderful for supporting children to engage in social play, particularly when completed in group settings. Practice negotiating in play with your child by sharing thoughts and wishes in play, and then find a middle ground between the two ideas. This supports children to be able to accept others’ ideas. 
    • SP Tip: This is a great activity for working on vocabulary for common categories such as clothes, body parts, colours, and same/different! During or after making your potato head talk about the parts and what is the ‘same’ or ‘different’. 
      • For example “My potato head has a blue hat, your’s has a red one – that is different!”. “Both of our potatoes have green shoes! They’re the same colour!”

 

For further information regarding the skills kindy children will learn at kindy, please follow the following links:

 

 

 

If you have any questions or if you would like to enquire about boosting your child’s skills before kindy, please contact Cooee Speech Pathology and Occupational Therapy on 3265 4495 or via email at [email protected]. 

 

Written by Emma Lefever Speech Pathologist & Clinical Lead & Kiara Moodley Occupational Therapist

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