Getting Ready For Kinder 1. A Practical guide for Parents

Starting Kinder 1 is an exciting milestone! At around 2 years 9 months, children are growing rapidly, not only in height, but in independence, thinking skills, language, and emotions. Schools in Malta now follow an emergent curriculum approach, where learning is inspired by the children’s interests and real experiences rather than rigid structured lessons. This means your child’s natural curiosity and strengths will be at the centre of their learning journey.

Here’s how you can support your child at home in ways that match what they’ll be exploring at school:

Self Help Skills

As your child prepares for kinder, practicing little everyday tasks builds confidence and self-reliance.

• Toilet training: Encourage them to recognise their body signals and independently use the toilet.

• Dressing and undressing: Practice putting on/taking off jackets, shoes, socks, and managing simple fasteners (zips, snaps).

• Lunchbox and bottle independence: Let them open/close their own lunchbox, water bottle and pack/unpack their bag.

• Eating : Show your child how to use a napkin and allow them to try feeding themselves with a fork and spoon.

 Fine Motor Skills

Children this age are refining the small muscles in their hands that are crucial for drawing, writing readiness, and everyday tasks.

Try the following activities:

• Picking up small objects

• Scribbling with crayons or chunky markers

• Opening/closing lids

• Using zips, buckles and buttons

• Threading beads or blocks

• Rolling and pinching play dough

• Finger painting 

• Small peg puzzles

Shapes, Colours, Numbers & Early Thinking

Cognitive (Thinking) skills develop naturally through play, conversation and exploring the environment.

Try these activities at home

• Colours & shapes: Talk about colours and shapes in everyday settings, “Can you find something blue?”, “Which is the round plate?”. Go round the house and explore and point out different shapes and colours

• Counting to 5 and number recognition: Sing number songs or count steps while climbing. Show them number cards and place the correct number of items to give them a sense of number value. You can also line up toys and count them.

• Sorting & matching: Group toys by colour, shape, or size. You can use different coloured plates and cups to help them sort according to colour. For example start with the primary colours red, blue and yellow. Place your container in the centre of a table and encourage them to sort out different toys in the appropriate container. 

• Size discrimination & sequencing: Order objects from smallest to biggest, or create simple sequences. For example for sequencing you can put different shaped wooden blocks in a line like a circle, rectangle and square, then a circle and rectangle. Ask your child 'what comes next?'

These experiences lay the foundation for later numeracy and logic thinking.

 Social-Emotional Learning and Play Skills

Kindergarten is as much about relationships and Socialization as it is about early academics. Your child will learn:

• Turn-taking & sharing

• Play with peers

• Recognising and managing emotions

 Talk openly about feelings (“How did that make you feel?”) and role-play everyday situations to build empathy and emotional vocabulary. Play simple games which encourage turn taking with each player. If your child has not attended day care, it might be a good idea to organise a play date with other children so they can learn to interact with their peers.

Practical Skills for School Readiness

Toddlers entering Kinder 1 benefit hugely from hands-on tasks.

• Scissor skills: Start with safe, child-friendly scissors and simple cutting lines on paper or snipping a play dough roll. You can also try Handy Scoopers to start encouraging this skill

• Sequencing: Simple sequencing activities like setting out cutlery before meals.

• Clean Up : Encourage your child to clear up and put away toys, colours and other items when ready from using them.

To help you prepare your child for Kinder 1, we have made a list of  useful items at a discounted price on our Kinder Intakecategory. 

Follow and share our blog for more ideas on how to prepare your child for Kinder.