In today’s post: Find a free kindergarten readiness checklist you can use to determine if your child is ready to start school.
If you have a child heading to kindergarten soon, you may wonder if he or she is ready. Does he know all the things the teacher will expect him to? She can’t read yet – will she be behind all the other kids? Is he ready to be away from home for a half or full day? Should we wait one more year before sending her?
To help answer any questions you might have about school readiness, I’ve created a free printable kindergarten readiness checklist. This school readiness checklist covers both academic skills AND other skills kids should have before starting school: things like standing in a line, being able to zip up a coat, and taking care of all bathroom needs independently. At the end of the post you’ll also find kindergarten teachers’ answers to the question: what is the one most important thing parents can do to prepare their child for kindergarten?
Kindergarten Readiness
If you google your state and the words “kindergarten readiness checklist” you’ll likely find a long document describing the standards for entering kindergarten in your area. Unfortunately, many of those documents are very, very long, and are full of education or government jargon that can be a little hard to understand. To create my checklist I reviewed a number of readiness documents from different states around the country and interviewed kindergarten teachers to find out what skills they think are most important for new kindergarteners to have.
NOTE: I expected school readiness checklists to vary from state to state, but I was surprised to find they are quite consistent (both from the state documents and from teacher’s reports). If you work with your child to ensure that she can do most or all of the things on both lists, you’ll know she’ll be ready to head out for her first day at school.
Kindergarten Readiness Checklist
You can download the school readiness checklists (in three different colors) at the end of this post.
What academic skills should my child have before kindergarten? In order to show kindergarten readiness, your child should be able to:
- recognize and name basic shapes: square, circle, triangle, and rectangle
- recognize and name numbers 1-10, even when they are out of order
- count to 20
- count 10 objects, pointing to each one as she counts
- say or sing the alphabet
- recognize the letters of the alphabet, both uppercase and lowercase (even out of order)
- identify colors in an 8-ct crayon pack
- recognize her first name
- write her first name
- sort items by size, color, or shape
- hold a book and turn pages
- tell if two words rhyme
- identify some letter sounds
- say her parents’ full names and phone numbers (at least one)
All the teachers I interviewed said a child doesn’t need to be reading before kindergarten (and most kids aren’t), but that they should be read to regularly. Teaching nursery rhymes was mentioned as a great way to get kids reading-ready: knowing how to rhyme is HUGE when it comes to learning how to read.
If your child is having trouble remembering letter sounds, I can’t tell you how much I recommend this video: LeapFrog: Letter Factory
(affiliate link). It teaches the sounds of each letter in a fun and memorable way (the A’s all get scared by a monster, so they scream AAAAAH!). I’ve been absolutely AMAZED at how quickly my kids learned their letter sounds from watching it. You can get it in a combo pack with Talking Words Factory
, another LeapFrog video I love. ***These two LeapFrog videos are not available on Netflix, and are much better (IMO) than the ones that are.***
What other things (non-academic) does my child need to know how to do before kindergarten? Your child should be able to:
- put on his coat and zip it up
- tie his shoes
- take turns and share
- sit quietly and listen
- follow simple directions
- use the bathroom by herself (including zipping and buttoning pants)
- put on his backpack
- hold a pencil or crayon
- cut with scissors
- put things away
- hang his backpack on a hook
- wash her hands with soap
- use a tissue to wipe his nose
- cough into her elbow
- stand in line
- drink from a drinking fountain
- raise his hand and wait to be called on
- open any food containers in her lunch
It’s easy to forget some of these things when you’re preparing your child for school, but imagine how much time it would take for a kindergarten teacher to help 25 kids put on coats or hang up backpacks, etc. One teacher mentioned that kids who have all the other skills become “super students” who are able to help their peers.
You can print out these checklists and hang them up somewhere in your home, then let your child check off things as he or she masters them. Hopefully it will be a good way to get your child prepared and excited for school at the same time. (NOTE: if you think your child would feel overwhelmed by the idea of a checklist, just use it as a guide for yourself in what you teach.)
As a final note, I asked the teachers I interviewed what is the one most important thing parents can do to prepare their child for kindergarten. These are the responses I got:
- Teach kindness & respect (for rules, property, and people).
- Do activities at home where pre-kinders have to listen without interrupting, take turns, focus on the same activity for 15 minutes, use manners, etc.
- Read! Teach them how to hold book, how to turn pages, etc.
- Give them opportunities to play with other children.
- Give them some responsibilities and teach them to follow through.
- Teach nursery rhymes and songs.
- Give them chances to be away from home and family so they feel comfortable and confident when they come to school.
Download the school readiness checklists
Click these links to download the aqua version of page 1: academic skills and page 2: other skills
Click these links to download the red version of page 1: academic skills and page 2: other skills
Click these links to download the yellow version of page 1: academic skills and page 2: other skills
Lily Rose says
Thank you for sharing! This is a huge help as my daughter is starting kindergarten in the fall and most likely won’t have preschool again this year because of the virus….now I know what items we still need to work on ourselves.
Natalie says
Thanks for creating this! I am a kindergarten teacher and will be sharing this at our beginner’s day to guide next year’s parents. You’d be surprised by the range of abilities kindergartners have. Seems like every year I have one that’s 5 going on 35 and another that’s never done anything independently before. A simple check list like this will guide parents in the right direction.
Anna says
Thank you for sharing! This is a huge help as my daughter is starting kindergarten in the fall and most likely won’t have preschool again this year because of the virus….now I know what items we still need to work on ourselves.
Taylor Anderson says
As someone that might be a parent soon, I’ve been wanting to learn more about enrolling a child in kindergarten and what they need to know. It was helpful when you said that one should give their child opportunities to be away from home and family, as it will help them feel more confident at school. What time of year does one typically complete the enrollment process for the upcoming school year?
Hellen says
I always create a checklist too. It is pretty handy. Thanks.
julie says
well said! I am on this thread because I am a preschool teacher for 32 years now. the requirements and expectations change seems like yearly, i try and keep up so i can prepare my preschoolers as best i can, mine is a play based center, focusing alot on science and art, i have been both in the classroom and in a preschool classroom. you are absolutely correct when you describe hands on with the children gives us far more opportunity to understand the children, thank you for your reply to this subject
mAGGIE says
THANK YOU! My son is an early September birthday, meaning he would miss the cutoff for kindergarten by 9 days… Our district just enacted a pilot program for kids that fall into this category to start early if they meet the readiness requirements. These checklists will be a great tool over the next couple of years as we start to suss out if we are on track to start early of if it’s wiser to hold back!
Dana Doyle says
The only issue I took with this is that preschoolers (by the time they end their 4yr old program ) should know ALL of the letters (upper and lower case), even out of order. Nowhere in the NYS Pre-kindergarten Foundation for the Common Core says this. It actuay reads that by the end of their 4 yr old program, they should know “SOME” of the letters of the alphabet (upper and lower case), especially those in their name. It is very subjective. If Kindergarten is asking children to know ALL of the letters of the alphabet , then they are not following the standards correctly.
RV says
I guess you must not be a teacher because if you were, you would see how advance learning letter sounds and distinguishing letters would make your child. I am actually both a parent to a kindergartener and a kindergarden teacher. So I get it. Forget NYSCC AND TEACH YOUR CHILD!!!
mAGGIE says
RV- where is Dana’s comment did she reject the idea of teaching children letter sounds/shapes? she simply (and correctly) noted for anyone with kids in NY, this is not a requirement for kids entering kindergarten. As the post noted, requirements vary state by state and if any NYS parents see this post, her comment serves only to let them know that isn’t a barrier for their kids.
Lisa winstanley says
Thank you for making these handouts. I will be attending some pre-K meetings in the near future, with parents whose children will be entering Kindergarten next year these will be very helpful. I love how you commented on the Leap Frog videos. They are great and I think you should offer that advice on future printouts. Kindergarten has changed so much in the last ten years and the parents need to know.
Christina says
Thanks for this, its very helpful. I have an almost 2 year old and I have started to work with her for about an hour or 2 a day before supper on some “educational” things to help prepare her for later in life. I know she’s in the play and don’t care years but it helps to get her started since she loves to learn. If you have any other suggestions on reading that would be awesome. She loves books!
Lenore says
Christina, I’m a kindergarten teacher and I would say at your daughter’s age I would read, read, and read to her. Get predictable books that she can pretend to read to after you’ve read them many times. The love of reading is very important and unfortunately ,many of my students don’t come to school already enjoying books.
Delilah says
I appreciate you sharing the Kindergarten readiness checklist. My 2 1/2 year old got 18 checks from the 2 sheets.
Do you have a word list? It would be interesting to see how she scores on that.
Thanks, Delilah
Time says
Here are the criterias to have a 2.5 year old do all this.
Have one child…Check
Don’t have Grand parents live with you… Check
Mom doesn’t work… Check
Dad works alot…. Check
Mom obsessed with having the smartest kid… CHECK
Have nothing else to do…. Check
katie therou says
My daughters (2) √ were able to do all of these thing by 2.5-3!√ I was a single mother. √I worked a lot! √We all lived with my Mother for five years and that was wonderful for them. √ I read and worked with them as often as I could. I was never obsessed with having the smartest child in the room. √They are both very smart. Are you are making excuses for being a lazy parent? Resentful of others who have done the hard work? And believe me, I had other things to do but they weren’t as important as my children.√
Sam says
Right?!
Anonymous says
Wow…somebody is bitter. I meet all but two of your criteria (I’ll let you guess which ones) and my kid doesn’t do all of those. I must just be a lazy pos right? She’s proud of the fact that she feels like she’s doing a good job. If you have yet to acquire that confidence in yourself, maybe work on that instead of trying to tear someone else down. Ppl like you (the over competitive; either on the positive end or the negative end of the spectrum) are why women feel it’s so difficult to have mom friends. Cause heaven forbid they have the audacity to feel good about themselves and their accomplishments. Having a 2 or 3 year old who can do a lot of stuff IS an accomplishment. It’s also kind of irrelevant in the grand scheme of things since it doesn’t dictate future so why would you give a crap? It doesn’t affect you personally in any way, shape, or form. Someone needs to go back to kindergarten and relearn that “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all”.
Sarah Grondin says
AMEN!
Eliza says
I agree. Let’s encourage each other, not tear each other down.
It may seem overwhelming for some, plus we dont know what is going on in others lives.
Personally it made me feel better when someone said it’s okay if your child doesnt know all his ABC’s upper And lowercase, just keep working on it and a will be fine.
Encouragement and understanding, that is what we should be doing and teaching.
It’s amazing that a single working parent made all those achievements, props to her. It also doesnt mean Im doing something wrong if Im not at her level.
Lead by example and encourage others instead of bullying or bashing them.
You all are doing a great job by even looking up this article. You are a great mom♡