Increase School Readiness (Right in Your Own Home)

There are many things you can do in your own home, that don’t cost a lot, but can increase your child’s school readiness skills. Try one of the following each day or pick one room in your home each week and come up with other activities:

1.    In the living room – Ask your children “how tall is the lamp?” Use a measuring tape or ruler, then count the inches with them as they measure. Ask your child to look in the newspaper ads for certain letters and combinations of letters; or have your child cut out pictures of furniture, which they could place in the appropriate room on a big floor plan you provide using a brown paper shopping bag.

2.    In the kitchen – Let your child help with the food shopping list. Ask your child to check shelves to see what's needed, your child learns to spell and say words like bread and cheese. Write a number in each cup of an egg carton. Into each cup, have your child places a corresponding number of buttons.

3.     In the bedroom – Help your child learn the different names of clothing (shirt, sock, etc.) and body parts they are attached to by using the bedroom as a place to point these words out as your child gets dressed. Say the words aloud as clothes go on and off. The bedroom is a great place to play rhyming games-"sock and clock," "bed and head" - rhymes like these are all around the bedroom. Rhyming games are fun to play when you are getting your child ready for bed and improve reading readiness skills.

4.    In the laundry room - Your child can match and count socks as they help you fold laundry. Talk about colors, count buttons,  etc.

Source: http://www.megaskillshsi.org/introduction.html