Kindergarten offers kids the chance to make friends and develop social skills in a safe, structured environment. It’s also when many students begin to really learn, especially in the foundational areas of literacy and math.
Help kids build an understanding of numbers through hands-on activities like counting blocks and beads. Encourage young children to use their fine motor skills in drawing and writing — those scribbles will eventually become legible letters!
Social and Emotional Development
A child’s social-emotional development is just as important for school success as cognitive development. Children need to know how to interact with others, take turns and work as part of a team.
Teachers facilitate this development with activities like role-playing and group games. They also teach children how to express their emotions, which is essential for forming healthy friendships.
Studies have found that kindergarten prosocial skills predict outcomes like whether kids graduate high school on time, obtain stable employment as young adults and avoid involvement in criminal activity. Early prosocial behaviors may even have more power than cognitive skills to predict lifelong outcomes.
Language and Literacy Development
In kindergarten, teachers help children develop language skills by encouraging them to listen and speak with confidence. They also introduce them to a variety of age-appropriate literature, sparking their imaginations and nurturing a love for reading.
Early literacy skills, including conversational and oral language and alphabet knowledge, are essential to children’s overall academic achievement. Research shows that children with strong early language skills perform better in school and have more successful social relationships throughout their lives.
In addition to learning about the alphabet and numbers, students learn to write letters of the alphabet, simple words and phrases and participate in group discussions and storytelling. Activities such as tracing, doodling and painting are also used to strengthen fine motor skills.
Math
Children in kindergarten learn to count, recognize numbers and shapes, and do simple addition and subtraction. They also explore patterns and quantities through hands-on activities that make the learning more meaningful.
Teachers like Murphy find it challenging to advance student math skills while keeping them engaged. Some students arrive at school already able to rote count, while others struggle to master the basics.
One solution is to use a math program that provides engaging lessons that engage kids with productive content that progresses them through skills in an orderly way. DreamBox Math does just that, using adaptive technology to ensure each child is working at the appropriate level for their skill set.
Science
Children have an innate curiosity about the world. This curiosity helps them make sense of their experiences from why the sky is blue to how plants grow.
In kindergarten, teachers encourage this natural curiosity by engaging students in meaningful explorations about things that are close to home. A sink or float experiment, for example, provides an opportunity to build science skills and develop critical thinking by making predictions and investigating results.
Our kindergarten STEM lessons align to Next Generation Science Standards. They also incorporate math and literacy activities, which supports children’s learning of science concepts while laying the foundation for future STEM explorations.
Creative Arts
Creative discovery through art and imagination nurtures holistic development, boosting cognitive, language, and social skills. Young children’s creative explorations help them learn to express themselves, imagine, and develop a sense of self-confidence and independence.
Using different materials for painting helps kindergarten students learn about colors and textures. They also improve their hand eye coordination, which aids in fine motor activities like writing and cutting.
This fun painting project turns muffin tins into unconventional paintbrushes. It’s a great way to expand sensory exploration and encourage creativity, risk-taking, and abstract thinking.
Technology
In kindergarten, children begin to develop basic technology skills. Interactive whiteboards and educational apps capture their interest, while adaptive learning software adapts lessons to each child’s level of understanding.
Simple drawing and storytelling apps help children build digital literacy, while interactive math activities foster fine motor skills and cognitive processes. Educators should carefully balance these activities with traditional hands-on and physical learning opportunities.
Provide clear explanations and discussions before beginning a technology-based activity. Incorporate regular movement breaks and outdoor activities to maintain a healthy balance between screen time and physical activity.
Physical Activity
Physical activity is important for kindergartners’ growth and development. It teaches them to understand their body’s movements, builds self-esteem, and helps with emotional regulation. Exercise also fosters social interactions and teamwork.
A study of two kindergartens in Gondomar city, Portugal found that one of the kindergartens had higher compliance with best practice indicators to promote PA (called KG-high), while the other had lower compliance with these PA-related practices and policies (called KG-low). Children from KG-high demonstrated better motor competence than children from KG-low. This is likely because they were exposed to more structured PA lessons and more daily active play outdoors.