As a little one transitions from toddlerhood to this 3-5 year old age range, there are some important play skills that they ideally will develop during this time as a way that they can exercise the parts of their brain that get them more ready for the school setting. The key thing with school and readiness for starting school has very little to do with learning numbers and letters and far more with giving our kids a strong foundation for social skills. This looks like expanding their mental frameworks (more abstract thinking and learning how their actions influence reality) as well as giving them opportunities to practice their language skills. Our role during this time is not so much teaching our child as it is encouraging them to explore concepts themselves and to really guide their curiosity and start to see patterns in the world around them.

This is why the concept of Montessori preschools is so great. This kind of free play setup allows kids the independence to explore, learn cause and effect skills, interact with peers and start to try and initiate play or get someone to play with them, teach them the rules of a game, etc. Another critical piece is giving kids the environment where they are not so intensely controlled where they can have some freedom to try and sort through a problem on their own first, whether that's figuring out how to operate a toy or feeling out how to resolve a conflict with a classmate. This is also why it's really important at this age to give lots of opportunities for imaginative play that doesn't have too many boundaries, like blocks, dress up, assorted arts/craft supplies, and even simple dolls/figurines to encourage more of these pretend play schemas. 

We also talk about developmental parenting and how promoting this habit of encouraging curiosity in our kids throughout all of our home routines really sets them up for school readiness. With early encouragement from a nurturing parent to explore and ask questions about how the world works, kids will gain the confidence they need to continue branching out to experiment with how things work and start learning patterns. 

A child's most important teacher is their parent, so it's important that we foster a spirit of curiosity in our kids by being curious about what they are doing and thinking and helping them engage with these new encounters and revelations they have in order to help them make sense of the world in a meaningful way. Regarding school readiness, the best thing we can do for our kids is create in them a love for learning, as this reaches infinitely further than simply teaching them to memorize information.

And perhaps above all, don’t stifle all of the "why" questions! It can be overwhelming to feel as a parent that all you do is explain why questions but this too is critical in setting our little ones up for success.

Developmental Parenting

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