Kindergarten Readiness Checklist

• Eats independently

• Uses restroom, including hand washing
  • Washy Wash Song
  • Wash Your Hands | Meet the Helpers
  • Potty Plan

• Puts on and removes outerwear (e.g. zips, buttons, ties)

• Asks questions and seeks help when needed

• Cleans up after self

Things You Can Do

• Patiently encourage your child to do things independently, even if it takes more time.
  • Nurturing Your Child’s Independence
  • Freedom to Grow

• Holds pencils, crayons, scissors, etc. correctly

  • Writing & Spelling - Meet the Experts
• Writes his/her first name
  • Kerry and Jalen Write a letter

• Uses scissors to cut straight and curved lines

• Turns a single page in a book

Things You Can Do

• Provide opportunities and support for your child to practice writing, drawing, and cutting. Help them practice lacing items, such as shoes. Have your child pour, stir, and participate in other functional activities around the home.

• Performs activities that cross the mid line of the body (e.g. right hand touching left foot, left elbow touching right knee)

• Hops, jumps, walks, and runs

• Bounces, catches, kicks, and throws balls

• Walks in a straight line forward and backward

• Balances on dominant foot for ten seconds

Things You Can Do

• Provide opportunities to develop strength and coordination. Get outside and play games with your child.

• Counts out loud to ten correctly

  • Bubble Pop
  • Monkey Jump

• Begins to count to 20

  • Count with Allie

• Counts objects by touching one object at a time

• Recognizes and creates groups of 2, 3, 4, or 5 objects

  • Fair Share

• Sorts similar items (e.g. blue toys and red toys)

• Sorting Box
• Sorta-ma-gogo

• Identifies, names, and draws shapes (e.g. circle, triangle, square, and rectangle)

  • The Highlight Zone
  • Chicken Blast Off

• Uses comparative words (e.g. more/less, bigger/smaller, longer/shorter, heavier/lighter)

Things You Can Do

• Play games in which your child counts out loud (e.g. hide and seek). Encourage your child to count objects in the environment (e.g. pieces of cereal, people in their family). Point out shapes in the environment (e.g., shapes on a sign).

• Tries new things

• Shares and takes turns

  • Elmo's School Friends

• Waits and listens while others talk

• Shows concern for others

• Plays cooperatively with others

  • Elmo's School Friends

• Works well independently and in small groups

• Separates from parent or guardian without undue anxiety

• Reasonably manages his/her emotions
  • Helping Kids Express Their Emotions
  • Using Emojis With Kids to Express Feelings
  • Guess the Feeling

• Knows his/her first and last name and can tell an adult

• Knows parent’s or guardian’s first and last names and can tell an adult

Things You Can Do

• Provide opportunities for exploration, play, and socialization with other children and adults. These experiences allow your child to practice their social skills. Sharing objects or time with an adult is different from doing so with another child. Children develop their imaginations by role- playing and pretending.

• Listens attentively and responds to stories and books

  • Story Book Builder
  • PBS KIDS Read-Alongs

• Speaks in complete sentences

• Speaks clearly enough to be understood by others

• Identifies rhyming words in stories, poems, and songs

  • Rhyme Time

• Knows that letters of the alphabet have specific sounds

  • Abey's Sandbox Search

• Identifies the first sound he/ she hears in random words

• Identifies signs, symbols, or logos in the environment

• Identifies some uppercase and lowercase letters, including those in his/her name

  • Paint by Letter

• Uses beginning writing skills (e.g. drawing, scribbling, writing) to express ideas

  • Letter Dance Party

   

Things You Can Do

• Have conversations with your child, including taking turns asking questions back and forth. During conversations ask your child to describe things they see, hear, smell, taste, and/or feel. Children learn language when they hear it and use it. Use signs in the environment as natural learning opportunities (e.g. That sign says “stop!” The first letter is s, it makes the “sss” sound: “ssstop”). Read a variety of books with your child.