The countdown to the first day of preschool is on!
Those sweet memories of helping your child prepare for school and being away from you, maybe for the first time. You are probably starting to pick out their first-day outfit, getting a fresh haircut, and prepping what to pack for their snack time goodies. But don’t forget to prepare them with important skills for what’s to come!
Sure they will start to learn their ABCs, days of the week, months of the year, and bring home the cutest art projects so to help them make the most out of their fun-filled days ahead.
Here are 5 ways to help prepare your child before they start preschool.
1. Get them familiar with their clothing! You want your kids to look their best, but they also need to know how to pull their pants up and down when they need to use the restroom by themselves and put on and zip up their jacket when it starts to get cold outside. Mom Tip: Your preschool teachers will love you if you opt for pull-on pants vs zippers and buttons unless they know how to use them themselves.
2. Leave the tie shoes and Mary Janes at home! I’ve been in preschool classes where the teacher is spending more time tying and buckling shoes than teaching the kids. Sure learning how to tie/buckle shoes is important, but leave that learning time for after school. The best option is velcro and slip-on shoes they can (and know-how) to put on and take off on their own. Sandbox play is a staple at preschools so dumping out the sand usually happens daily. The more they can do by themselves the better.
3. Swap out the electronics for art supplies at home! Coloring with crayons, cutting with child-safe scissors, gluing, painting… these are all skills they will be using in preschool. Getting them familiar with these items at home will help them in class. Recently a preschool teacher mentioned she had kids this last year who have never colored with crayons or cut with scissors. Creativity and yes, even the messes that come with it is key at this age and such an important part of development! Make an art box with glue, kid safe scissors, crayons, watercolors/paint, buttons, pom-poms and construction paper that you can take out with them and have fun creating masterpieces together.
4. Are your kids ready for snack time? Some preschools may provide snacks for your child, but if they don’t start serving your child their snack in the containers they will be packed in for school. Can they open and close a ziplock bag/bento box on their own? Open that yogurt container? Open a string cheese wrapper? Open a juice box straw and punch it in the top without making a mess? Think ahead when you are packing their snack/lunch. Start practicing with them now and learn what they can and can’t handle on their own. Sure, there will probably be adults there to help them but if they can learn ahead of time, they won’t have to wait for someone to come help them - and focus more on getting on the playground to get their wiggles out.
5. Start talking about how much fun preschool will be. Separation from you is sometimes the hardest part of the first day, for both of you. Drive by their preschool, talk about their teacher, and be overly excited about all the fun preschool brings! Walk them through how to drop off and pick up will be. Assuring them that even though you are away from each other, you’ll be back to pick them up after. Start thinking about what the day will look like after you pick them up. Will you bring a packed lunch and head to the local park? Will you go home, have a snack, and rest? Routines are so important for kids at this age. Start reading books together to help with the first-day jitters and find ways to make morning time fun. Mom tip: Whenever I knew I was going to be away from my kids I would draw a heart (with a red sharpie)on the inside of their wrist and mine. I would tell them how I was always with them and they could look at their heart when they missed me as a reminder they would see me soon! We still do this today when we are gone from each other for more than a day. 
We hope these tips will help you prepare your little/s the best you can and help treasure these preschool moments.
