Ten top tips to prepare your child for primary school

With primary place applications due in soon and September only just over half a year away I have a lovely guest post to share with you about helping your child be ready for school. The University of Derby put together this great post from their research. These suggestions and are ideas are fabulous and I love the Talk Talk Talk one! So many people talk to their children without really thinking and listening about the effect. 

With the deadline for 2016 primary school places just around the corner, Eva Cerioni, Senior Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education at the University of Derby, gives her top tips on what adults can do to make sure their little ones are school-ready.   

1.      Love your library

Find your local library and take advantage of the high-quality, engaging books available as well as activities led, such as story time. Taking your child to the library is an exciting way to engage them with reading from a very early age which will underpin many vital areas of their development.

2.     Talk, talk, talk

As a parent, you are the role model and the more you talk with your child, the better their understanding of the world will be. Communication also helps to develop speech as children will hear you pronouncing sounds correctly and will model themselves on you.

3.     Play dates

Arranging ‘play dates’ encourages your child to make relationships and communicate with their friends through play. How we interact appropriately with one another is essential to social development and children need to learn to consider the needs and feelings of others so that they can play fairly and happily.

4.     Story and rhyme time

Read stories daily to and with your child, encouraging them to join in with repeated passages and identify rhyming words. Reading helps your child develop their imagination, so encourage role play based around stories that you have read together

1.      Go for a walk in the deep, dark woods

Go outdoors, splash in the puddles and play in the mud while going on a ‘Bear Hunt’ or on a mission to find ‘The Gruffalo’ linking favourite stories your child has read. Developing your child’s imagination in this way will not only prepare.

6.     Capture their creativity

To encourage creative development, provide your child with paints, modelling clay, chunky chalks and beads. This will also help develop your child’s fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Always encourage your child to talk about what they have created which will help them to develop their speech, language and communication skills.

7.     Playtime at the park

Encourage your child to climb, jump, push, pull and help them to develop their gross motor skills and special awareness as they run around having fun. Playing in the park will also develop their understanding of sharing equipment and turn-taking.

8.     Have ‘Maths Moments’

Helping your child to count out loud, count objects, order objects by size, sort objects into different categories and identify shapes is something you can easily do which will help prepare your child for their mathematical journey at school.

9.     Great bakes

Baking helps children to understand the importance of following instructions and measuring. You are also promoting healthy eating by baking at home and encouraging your child to eat homemade food. You can even sneak in some of your five a day fruit or vegetables!

10. Letters and sounds

Help your child to recognise letter names by singing the alphabet song and identify letter sounds. This will help your child begin their journey through phonics in school where they will learn to read and write, understanding the relationship between letters and sounds.