31 for 21 Day 10: Preschool readiness

Micah knew the alphabet, numbers, colors, and letters when he entered preschool this fall.  And he says them out loud (he sometimes signs the colors when he says them).  A few of my Facebook friends asked how we got him to that point.  So, here are some of the things we've done with Micah to prepare him for preschool:

1. Alphabet: Foam letters and numbers for the bathtub. Micah loved picking up a letter and asking what it was. Eventually, he knew them himself. They're great because it engages multiple senses (adds tactile).

2. Alphabet: "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" book

3. Alphabet: Magnetic letters and numbers. We don't have a fridge that works with magnets, so I bought a small magnetic chalkboard with wooden magnet letters (Melissa & Doug).

4. Numbers: Count everything :-)

5. Numbers: see #1 and #3

6: Shapes: wooden puzzles

7. Colors: "Favorite Things" Signing Time video (the song, "Do You Know the Colors of the Rainbow," is addicting)

8. Colors: Point out colors of everything your child sees.

9. All of the above: Flashcards, preferably those with texture and pictures.

10. We're currently working on categorizing by colors (next is categorizing by vegetables, fruits, vehicles, etc.) with some flashcards I bought at Target for $1.

11. The best $50 I spent was on a Teach My Toddler set.   It has multiple activities for all four of the areas of focus.

When "testing" your child, start with just two choices. It has taken Micah a LONG time to look at a page with a lot of information and point to something red, for example. It's often too much information and he just can't absorb it all. When he had learned his colors, etc., I could point to something on a page and ask, "What color is this?" and he could say "Red." But if I asked him to point to something red, he couldn't do it. He really enjoys one of his iPad apps where he has to choose between just two colors, but he likes it because it's easy now, LOL.