Preparing Your Pre-schooler for School: The Foundations of a Lifelong Love for Reading
- littlelearnerstuto
- Feb 28
- 3 min read
The moment your little one starts school is a milestone filled with excitement, pride, and perhaps a few tears. As a parent, you naturally want to give them the best possible start—but school readiness isn't just about knowing letters and numbers. It’s about confidence, independence, and setting the stage for a lifelong love of reading and learning. If you have a little one starting school this September 2025 then this is for you...
School Readiness: It’s More Than You Think
Many parents worry about whether their child can recognise letters or write their name before starting school. While these are helpful skills, true school readiness goes beyond academics. It’s about independence, resilience, and a love of exploration. Here’s how you can set your child up for success:
1. Encourage Independence in Dressing & Self-Care
In a busy Reception class, independence is key. Simple tasks like going to the toilet, putting on their coat, and changing into their PE kit can feel overwhelming for a child who has never done them alone. In the lead-up to starting school, encourage your child to:
Practise wearing their uniform to ensure they can manage buttons, zips, and fastenings.
Use the toilet independently and wash their hands.
Put on and take off their shoes and coat.
Accidents happen, and EYFS staff are always there to support your child, but helping them feel confident in these small tasks will boost their independence.
2. The Power of Play
Play is the foundation of early learning. It fosters cognitive, social, and emotional development, helping children build resilience, problem-solving skills, and friendships. Through games, your child can develop essential skills without even realising they’re learning. Try:
Games to develop turn-taking and patience.
Role-playing games to boost creativity and communication.
Outdoor play to enhance gross motor skills and confidence.
3. Talking and Asking Open-Ended Questions
The more conversations you have with your child, the better their language and comprehension skills will be. Open-ended questions encourage deeper thinking and communication. Instead of asking, “Did you have fun?”, try “What was your favourite part of today?” or “How did that make you feel?”. This builds confidence in expressing thoughts and feelings—an essential skill for school.
4. Developing Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills are crucial for writing, drawing, and even self-care tasks like buttoning a coat. Strengthening these small hand muscles early on makes learning to write much easier. Some simple ways to help include:
Colouring and drawing
Playing with playdough
Using tweezers to pick up small objects
Threading beads or pasta onto string
Building with Lego
Practising buttons and zips
These small activities help develop hand strength and coordination, making early writing less of a challenge.
5. The First Step in Reading: Oral Blending
Reading doesn’t begin with books—it begins with sounds. One of the first stepping stones to reading is oral blending, the ability to hear separate sounds and blend them into a word. You can introduce this naturally into everyday life:
“Can you put on your s-o-ck-s?” (socks)
“Shall we feed the d-o-g?” (dog)
Pausing and letting your child blend the sounds together builds their phonics foundation in a fun, stress-free way.
6. Spotting Initial Sounds
Helping your child hear the first sound in a word is a fantastic pre-reading skill. Model this naturally in conversation:
“Look, a cat! Cat begins with /c/.”
“There’s a ball! Ball starts with /b/.”
You can also play ‘I Spy’ using letter sounds instead of names: “I spy with my little eye something beginning with /s/…”
7. The Magic of Rhyming
Rhyming helps children recognise patterns in language, making reading easier later on. Make rhyming fun with:
Rhyming storybooks
Singing nursery rhymes
Playing rhyming pairs games (cat-hat, dog-log)
Supporting Their Reading Journey from Day One
Preparing your child for school isn’t about flashcards and worksheets—it’s about making learning feel natural and joyful. By focusing on independence, communication, play, and phonics foundations, you’re giving them the best possible start to their reading journey.
For even more fun, play-based learning ideas, check out my Ultimate Phonics Through Playbooks—designed to make learning phonics engaging and stress-free for both you and your child.
Starting school is an emotional time, but by focusing on these key skills, you can help your little one step into their new adventure with confidence and excitement!
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