7 Life skills Kindergarten parents need to teach their children
The first 6 years of life is a time when all of a child’s foundational skills begin to develop. So what are the life skills Kindergarten parents need to teach their children? Read on to find out what the most important developmental skills for preschoolers are!
7 essential life skills parents should teach their children from an early age
1. Visual perception skills
Visual perception is the ability to interpret what the brain is seeing. This is one of the life skills Kindergarten is very important for children to learn effectively. Parents and teachers can train children through several activities such as:
- Show your child a few objects, then cover them and ask them to name the objects (development of visual memory).
- Spot the difference in two similar pictures (development of visual discrimination).
- Match, arrange, and sort shapes, blocks, beads, etc.
- Create a picture using basic cuts or color pictures from nuts,…
2. Preschool life skills – Auditory cognitive skills
Auditory perception is the ability to interpret and attach meaning to sounds. It is important for children’s reading, spelling, and language development. Parents and teachers can train children through many activities such as:
- Teach your child a variety of rhymes, poems, and songs.
- Play games with rhyming words (develop auditory discrimination).
- Play the game to distinguish the sounds of the animals Introduce children to musical instruments.
- Introduce children to musical instruments.
3. Listening Skills
This is a life skills Kindergarten involves auditory perception that helps children understand and listen to people around them so that children can calmly and easily communicate with people around them. Learning to listen is a very important skill, parents and teachers can practice for children by:
- Play games that focus on listening attentively to information.
- Talk about a series of problems/tasks and encourage your child to do it all in order.
- Clap a sequence or make a series of sounds on the drums and ask your child to repeat.
4. Language skills
Language development involves the ability to hear and speak. Children must develop speaking skills to easily learn to read and write after 1st grade, explore the world around them, communicate information, socialize, express emotions, and have fun. Parents and teachers can do some of these activities to help children develop this essential Early Childhood life skill:
- Talk to your child often to develop speaking skills (grammar, vocabulary, etc.).
- Discuss your child’s day at school, events, ask about his friends…
- Talking regularly about interesting topics helps your child develop imagination and learn many new words.
- Ask lots of questions to elicit your child’s personal opinions.
5. Preschool life skills – Gross motor skills
Children develop large muscles before small muscles. The early years of a child’s life should be full of opportunities to develop these gross motor skills. Some activities for children to develop gross motor skills include:
- Outdoor games, obstacle courses, climbing games, etc.
- Play catch with friends.
- Exercise, dance to the songs
6. Fine motor skills
Fine motor activities help children practice coordination between senses and body parts. This is very important for children’s later learning to write as well as increasing their sensitivity, ingenuity, etc. Children entering Kindergarten can already develop fine motor skills such as they can cut, hold a pencil between their thumb, index, and middle fingers, getting dressed, serving themselves, and practicing demonstrating other important skills. Parents and teachers can encourage children to develop this Early Childhood Life Skill through activities such as:
- Artistic activities with a variety of tools and media (paints, chalks, crayons, large brushes, etc.)
- Some manual activities such as cutting, gluing, tearing, gluing, beading, etc.
- Participate in science classes such as: Doing fun experiments, assembling models…
7. Creative thinking skills
Creativity is an important skill that must be stimulated and honed over time. Creativity is not only about art but also about thinking and problem-solving, all of which are essential skills throughout life. Parents can ask lots of questions during story time to develop higher-order thinking skills. Such as questions about predicting the outcome, how a character can solve a problem, what the action will lead to (cause and effect), etc.