Kindergarten Readiness Activities

Learn to create your very own rain stick! Practice fine motor skills, get creative, and encourage mindful listening when you shake your rain stick. Talk about and describe the weather while exploring colors and sounds with your child as you read the book Raindrops to Rainbow by John Micklos Jr.

Learn to make a beach in a bottle! Practice fine motor skills, observing and describing, and calm active minds and bodies by watching the water flow and swirl in the bottle. Don't forget to share a beach book like Kevin Henkes' Little Houses, a quiet, thoughtful book about exploring the coast.

Work on creativity, counting and those fine motor skills with your child as you work your way through your own adventure inspired by "Dog's Colorful Day!"

Follow a polar bear in the snow in this question and answer book. Have your child make a prediction with each question then play a fun game of "feed the polar bear" by rolling a die and counting out snacks to "feed" him. Practice counting, fine motor skills and narrative skills together.

In rhyming text, a group of happy green peas celebrate the special holidays of each month, and the passing seasons. In the activity, children will learn about the months and the seasons, helping them understand the passing of time. This also teaches them about change, big or small.

Join Amara as she searches for pumpkins and finds a variety of produce on her farm. Explore and discover new, exciting food. Can you help Amara find the pumpkins for her autumn potluck?

Join Pete as he rocks out with pumpkins and practices his numbers! Then create your own festive fall paper pumpkin. Practice measuring, cutting, counting and more school-ready skills!

First, go on a journey through a ocean landscape and learn how marine animals live by reading Over and Under the Waves by Kate Messner. Then, play the Over and Under game to practice position words and build vocabulary with your little one. You can use whatever items you have nearby, as you shout out different position words. Make it fun!

Try out this smelling match game! Play that engages the senses is great for a child’s development. Focusing on one sense in an activity like this can increase a child’s understanding of their body and their ability to communicate about the world around them. This activity also allows kids to problem solve through exploration and trial and error, which is something they'll need to do to find solutions and overcome obstacles in school. Fun fact, your olfactory system or sense of smell can be so strong that sometimes when you smell a certain scent it will make you recall a particular memory!

Naming emotions is an important part of learning how to manage them. Share this book and activity to start a conversation about feelings with your child.

Help your child practice their fine motor skills with this colorful craft!

Help your child develop letter knowledge with this language and literacy activity. Letter knowledge is knowing that the same letter can look different and that letters have names and sounds.

Create a sensory bin for your child using materials you have at home! Sensory bins offer many lessons to prepare for kindergarten, such as counting, sorting, and encourages exploring.

So many bubbles! So many bubble books! Making bubble solution and blowing bubbles teaches children many skills that help them get ready for kindergarten! Read, make, play, explore and more at home and at OC Public Libraries!

Make a lion.

Your Name is a Song is a celebration to remind all of us about the beauty, history, and magic behind names. After reading this beautiful book, we invite you to share with your child how you chose their name. After talking about their name, create a fun activity of name letter recognition. #ocpubliclibraries #ocpl #kindergartenreadiness #name #earlylearning #childrensbooks

Road trip bingo: Traveling for the holidays? A road trip is a great opportunity to have fun and build kindergarten readiness skills!

Mr. Round and Mr. Square: In this fun non-fiction book by Patricia Fitti, Mr. Round and Mr. Square never see things the same way. When Mr. Round says the car is coming, Mr. Square says the car is going. Will they ever agree? After reading, create your own Mr. Square world!

Dough Waterways: Introduce children to waterways and landforms, important geography concepts, with play dough. Children will learn new words and make connections that help them better understand the world.

Leaf Man Book: Explore the great outdoors and get creative with Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert! This book and activity pair are all about observing the natural beauty around us and being inspired by the beautiful illustrations in picture books.

Counting to 100: This activity provides a visual representation of numbers up to 100. Studies have shown that a visual element can help children to grow their numerical skills faster. Additionally, this activity helps strengthen fine motor skills by asking kids to stack small items carefully AND practice coping strategies if their stack falls over.

What’s Magnetic?: This activity is great for children to practice the scientific method approach with observations, predictions, experimentations, and conclusions. This activity allows them to explore the cause and effect of the invisible force and the items it attracts.

Pom Pom Sorting: This game will help your child learn their colors, numbers, and develop their fine motor skills. These skills will help them be kindergarten ready to do things such as holding pencils and using scissors.

Mindfulness Activity: Help children focus on the here and now by using their senses to notice their surroundings. This gentle mindfulness activity helps children learn how to manage their emotions and can be done anytime and anywhere!

Shaving Cream Writing: Pre-writing skills don’t always need to involve a pencil or crayon, just using their fingers like this increases the necessary muscle power they’ll need when they begin using writing implements. This activity is a fun and messy way to practice letters, numbers, shapes, and more. If your child doesn’t like the way the shaving cream feels on their fingers try using a paint brush or a popsicle stick.

Book & Activity Box: This fun and simple activity will have your kids creating and taking initiative in no time. Why is this activity great for learning? This activity offers open-ended toys and materials that your children can use and explore in their own way. This helps engage their creativity and develops their flexible thinking skills.

Shape Pizza: Recognizing shapes is foundational knowledge for children. The ability to confidently recognize shapes will directly transition into learning how different numbers and letters look. This fun activity will not only strengthen those skills, but will also help with fine motor skills.

Family Origami: A fun, three-step origami activity for children. Learning about family helps enrich a child’s connection to their family history and it helps them to better understand history in general – they’re learning about the past!

Physical Health Activities for Kids: Daily physical activity is vital for children of all ages! Benefits include stronger bones and muscles, lower stress, more flexibility, and increased cognitive skills. Try these activities to get kindergarten ready!

Letter Art: Letter knowledge is knowing that the same letter can look different (upper and lower case letters) and that letters have names and sounds. This important pre-reading skill can be practiced at home by making letter art, tracing letters with fingers, talking about the names and sounds of letters, and pointing out letters around the neighborhood or in a book.

Asking Open-Ended Questions: Open-ended questions are ones that can't be answered with a simple, single word answer. This type of question can allow for more discussion opportunities. Open-ended questions encourage children to express their ideas fully and use more complex language, essential for developing children’s oral language and communication.

Paper Plate Emotions: Make emotion plates together! Having these emotion plates can help your child show you the emotions they are feeling and by having the emotion written out on the front, your child can begin to recognize the word that describes that emotion. Being mindful and being able to name your emotions is an important skill for both children and parents.

Building with Play Dough:  Providing opportunities for your child to use their hands to explore things like play dough, building a paper straw structure, and cutting straws helps them use their small hand muscles. Using these muscles will build their fine motor skills, which will help them be able to use a pencil, feed themselves and button or zip up their clothing.

Let’s Count 123: A fun and simple counting activity for children. Why this activity is great for learning? This activity helps build their understanding of identifying numbers and how to represent it by using pom poms.

Sensory Bag: Make a Sensory Bag! This simple and fun guessing game challenges children to use their sense of touch and growing vocabulary to describe the shapes and textures of hidden objects. Recognizing the curves and lines of familiar objects prepares children to identify the shapes of the different letters of the alphabet.

Stringing Activity: Stringing or threading activities are not only build the small muscles necessary for writing, they also build persistence by supporting a young child’s growing ability to focus on a difficult task.

Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt: Take a walk around your neighborhood and do a mini scavenger hunt. See how many things you and your child can spot around your neighborhood that are the same color, shape, or size!

Mapping Your Neighborhood: This activity supports spatial thinking by helping children visualize where objects and places are in relation to one another.

DIY Adding Machine: Make a simple Adding Machine by taping two paper tubes above a container. Choose a favorite collection (pom poms, pebbles, blocks, anything that fits!) and start adding. Not only does this activity begin building their ability to solve simple addition problems, but it is also great for hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

Hide and Seek Monster Review: Not only does this activity promote letter and word recognition, it allows children to express themselves creatively and to exercise their fine motor skills!

Kindergarten Readiness Activities

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