Preschool Parents

PARENTSPreschool

Volume 1, Issue 2

3PRE-SKILLS
TO WORK ON
AT HOME



PARENTSPreschool



PARENTSPreschool

3 PRE-SKILLS TO WORK ON AT HOME

©Carla Cosner

Copyright © 2020 Carla Cosner

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be re-
produced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy-
ing, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the copyright holder.

Creative design, layout, and editorial content
©Carla Cosner

contents page 7
page 9
introduction page 13

Daily Life Skills page 17

Routines

Communication

3 Pre-skills to Work on at Home

6

Introduction

Preschoolers learn
Pre-skills

Pre-skills are skills that children, between the
ages of two and five, learn to get them ready for
school. There are many ways to work on pre-skills
in the home that will build developmental skills
for success in preschool, including: daily life skills,
routines, and communication. Developing and
practicing these pre-skills at home provides a good
foundation for learning in which new skills can be
built on. This foundation will help children suc-
ceed, not only in the preschool environment, but
also throughout their school years and into the
work place as adults.

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3 Pre-skills to Work on at Home

8

Chapter One

DAILY LIFE SKILLS

Daily life skills teach a child how to be self-suffi-
cient or independent. Children can begin learning
early life skills at the ages of two or three in the
home environment.

Life skills help build responsibility, social/inter-
action skills, emotional skills, and self-care. Chil-
dren need to learn how to work with others so
they can be successful in the classroom, and later
in the workplace environment.

“Every Home is a
University and the

Parents are the
Teachers.”

Mahatma Gandhi

It is important for parents and other family
members to model skills that are going to help
create positive interaction with others, such
as: being helpful, being kind, showing respect,
cooperation,resilience, patience, using good man-
ners, following rules, expressing emotions, and
listening to others.

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3 Pre-skills to Work on at Home

Activities At HOME
to build daily life skills:

• Helping With Simple Chores. There are simple
chores at home that young children can help
with. The chore of helping to sort and pick up
toys is a good “first chore”. Other chores that
children 2-5 years old can help with include:
sorting/folding laundry, putting laundry away
(at least to rooms they go in), sorting/setting
out silverware, carrying items to the trash,
dusting, watering plants, and feeding the pets.
(Developmental Skills: responsibility, self-care,
social, attention and memory.)

• Self-help Tasks. Toddlers have a drive for being
independent, so many self-help skills will come
natural to children. Some self-help skills to en-
courage include: pouring a drink on their own,
helping to dress self, pick out clothes, prepar-
ing toothbrush and brushing their own teeth,
going to the toilet on their own. (Developmen-
tal Skills: personal responsibility, self-care.)

• Getting Along With Others. The home is the
first place that children learn cooperation and
getting along with others. Activities and tasks
to exercise getting along include: helping adults
or siblings, following family rules, working

10

Chapter One: Daily Life Skills
together to resolve an issue or problem solve,
and participating in family games or events.
(Developmental Skills: adult interaction, peer/
sibling interaction, social role.)

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3 Pre-skills to Work on at Home

12

Chapter Two

ROUTINES

Children need routines in their day. Routines
provide consistency, therefore providing predict-
ability. With predictable sequence, children feel
safe and are more capable of exploring and learn-
ing.

“Look for the
Magic

in Daily Routine.”
Lou Barlow

Routines teach children how to manage and
organize their environments, as well as managing
their behaviors and actions. When children can
predict their environment, they are more likely
to cooperate, with less power struggles. Eventu-
ally children become set in the routines and able
to build on those routines to take their indepen-
dence to the next step.

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3 Pre-skills to Work on at Home

Activities At HOME
to create Routine:

• Have a Set Time & Routine for Your Child to
Wake Up and to Go to Bed. Start each day
off with a set routine. This helps to ease the
morning grumpiness and sets the tone for the
whole day. As well, ending the long day with
predictable routines, lessens meltdown and

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Chapter Two: Routines

resistance when little ones are exhausted and
parents’ patience is wearing thin. Children
(and parents) need to wind down before bed. A
bath, a snack, quiet time, story time, dimming
the lights, and speaking in softer voices, are
all great signals that it is time to transition to
nighttime. It takes time and consistency to get
into a routine, but the benefits are worth the
effort.
• Meal Time Routines. Have routines for before

meal time, during meal time, and
after meal time. (Such as: washing
their hands, helping to set the table,
taking the plate to the sink.)
• Play Routines. Play is play, but
routines can be put into place for be-
fore and after play, to make clean up
and the transition to the next activ-
ity go smoothly. Try incorporating a
warning or timer for when play time
is ending. Have a routine for clean up
- making sure everyone helps.
• Keep Routines Consistent.
Routines create rituals, which builds
closeness. Closeness builds family
strength and memories.

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3 Pre-skills to Work on at Home

16

Chapter Three

COMMUNICATION

In early childhood development, two areas of
communication include: expressive commu-
nication and receptive communication. The
use of words, gestures, and other sounds to
express wants and needs is called expressive
communication. The ability to understand spo-
ken words, as well as non-verbal communica-
tion (eye contact, facial expressions, gestures,
posture) from others is called receptive com-
munication.

“True communication goes
beyond talking and listening:
it is about understanding.”

Gerald Campbell

Expressive communication and receptive com-
munication are both pre-skills to work on at
home before your child starts preschool. Com-
municating with your child helps them develop
skills for communicating with others.

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3 Pre-skills to Work on at Home

Activities At HOME
to Build Communication Skills:

• Encourage Words. Babbling sounds begin any-
time in the first six months after birth. From
six months to twelve months is when syllable-
based sounds (ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba) are used
to identify individuals/objects. Between 12

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Chapter Two: Routines

months and 24 months single words grow
to between 10 and 50 words, and two-word
phrases appear (Da-da go.) Encourage babbling
by talking and singing to your baby, and using
babble to imitate the sounds they can perform
- this back-and-forth is the beginning of conver-
sation.
• Naming Games. Around 12-18 months tod-
dlers can point to body parts, favorite objects
and people, and pictures in books.

• Teach Gestures. By 24
months, toddlers will under-
stand many words - more than
they can speak. Tantrums can
occur when they don’t have the
word they need to express what
they want. Teach your tod-
dler gestures to help - pointing,
leading, giving, and simple hand
signs. Combining your words
and their gestures will help build
vocabulary
• Listening. Practice listen-
ing to songs, stories, and read-
alouds. Each of these activities
involve words and will help
improve listening, vocabulary,
and understanding.

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