Top Back-To-School Preparation Tips & Activities
Going back to school is a big transition for kids. Help them transition seamlessly with these genius back-to-school preparation tips!
Many children will be beginning their educational journey this year. How exciting! Others will be going back to school, possibly for the first time in 2 years.
As a parent, it is understandable that you might be feeling a little conflicted with your feelings. On the one hand, you might be feeling happy and excited about this new chapter. While on the other hand, you may be worried and anxious about how to prepare your child for going back to school.
However, there are a few helpful back-to-school preparation tasks that you can do to help ease your mind and prepare your child for success.
Top Back-To-School Preparation Tips For Kids
Preparing your child for school is often one of the best things that you can do to help them when it comes to this next chapter in their lives. They may also be feeling worried or anxious about it. Calm first day jitters with these tips!
Check Out The School And Meet The Teacher
One of the first things you need to consider is checking out the school and meeting the teacher with your child. Many schools will have a school supplies drop-off evening to make it easy to do this.
Depending on your child’s school, you may also get the chance to do a meet and greet with the teacher. This also will go a LONG WAY to ease their mind so they feel less anxious for the first day of school.
Read Books About Going To School
If your child is a little anxious about school or is worried about what might happen during those first few days then you may want to invest in some books that will discuss all about school and ease some of those worries.
A storybook will be able to share the feelings in a way they may not be able to and explain them in a way that your child will understand. Believe it or not, storybooks are GREAT back-to-school preparation tools!
This might be a good way to discuss the new start as part of your routine. Using books as a bedtime story can be a great way to ease the minds of your child.
Check out these books to enjoy together:
- A Letter From Your Teacher: On the First Day of School
- First Day Jitters
- Our Class is a Family
- Penelope’s New School
- We Don’t Eat Our Classmates
- The Pigeon HAS to Go to School!
Encourage More Independence
Help your kids be as independent as possible. What that looks like will vary by age.
For littles, it might be making sure they’re potty trained and able to tie their shoes. For older kids, it might be how to take care of their Chromebooks or how to use their planner.
After all, you won’t be there to help them. If they rely on you a lot then it might be time to ensure that you can help them to move forward.
Eating
Little kids need to be able to eat lunch independently. That means that one of my top back-to-school preparation tips is to start encouraging them to do it themselves at home over the summer so they’re confident about it when they start school.
Getting Ready For School
Helping them be more independent as they get up and get ready for the day will help them translate those skills to school. Plus, they will also need to be confident in going to the bathroom and then dressing again if needed.
The more you encourage them to be independent with getting dressed and completing morning chores, the more complete your back-to-school preparation will be.
Independent Play
At school, the teacher will have other children in the class, so they may not get the one-to-one attention that your child may usually get from you.
Part of back-to-school preparation is to help them feel confident and happy when it comes to independent play.
Back-To-School Preparation Includes Mastering Certain Skills
There will be some necessary preparation and skills that you might want to help them to master before they start school. These include:
- Be able to comfortably hold a pencil
- Recognize their name and the letters
- Count to ten
- How to use child-friendly scissors
If you’re worried about any of these skills, don’t be. They aren’t essential but they can help your child to feel settled and confident. The more you can help them, the better they will feel as they start their school journey.
Get More Social Over The Summer
Last, you might want to consider getting out and meeting other kids from school.
This past year has been crazy for all of us, and it has meant that many of us have not been around other people other than our close family units. For children, it may have been especially damaging in terms of their social skill development.
Let your back-to-school preparation include playtime. Arrange as many play dates as possible, and even try and meet some of the parents and children before starting school. It could make a big difference to the confidence levels of your child as they start school.
Some schools even go so far as to arrange playdates like these for their families and communities.
Back-To-School Preparation Tips And Activities Final Thoughts
Hopefully, these tips will help you prepare your child for the new school year. Don’t forget to grab a few supplies to help make the transition into the new school year easier and a little fun! Check out my Student Planner, lunch box jokes, and helpful school lunch ideas.
Grab 12 FREE back-to-school coloring sheets! 👇
Pin For Later!
