Developing hand strength, fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination all helps prepare your child for writing, you can do this by:  making construction models (Lego or other bricks)

• using scissors
• threading beads or pasta onto string
• drawing and colouring
• helping to prepare the dinner or baking (mixing and chopping)
• using playdough (rolling, pinching, poking)
• physical activities (climbing, ball games, obstacle courses)

One of the most useful things you can do to get your child ready for school is to make sure they are comfortable doing simple tasks by themselves. These include:

• Going to the toilet – Recognising when they need and practising using the toilet independently, this will get your child into the habit of completing the toilet process by themselves.
• Getting dressed – Practise getting dressed independently, it is also a good idea to have a few dry runs with the PE Kit!
• Putting on shoes – Practise putting shoes on and taking them off. Velcro shoes are preferable, unless they can tie their shoes themselves.
• Eating – Practise eating independently by using a knife and fork, opening their lunchbox and being able to open everything in the lunchbox – some yoghurt tubes and drink cartons can be tricky.
• Hand hygiene – Practise washing their hands independently and show them how to access soap themselves.

Learning at Priory Infant School is a social activity and children develop by playing alongside their peers. You can encourage this by:

• Practising conversations - give your child time to talk, you could take turns to talk about the best part of your day over the dinner. Can they ask questions to find out more? Can they remember what their sibling's favourite part of the day was?
• Encouraging sharing and tolerance - sharing games such as Snakes and Ladders let children practise social skills and turn-taking. Be sure to use the language of turn-taking, like 'Whose turn is it next?' and 'Thank you for waiting'.

Good communication is essential for learning. As well as being the foundation for reading and writing it is also vital for children’s personal, social and emotional development. Here are some ideas of what you can do at home to help: 

• Solving simple problems - encourage your child to resolve problems by talking when they don't understand or something isn't going well. It is important that they also learn when to ask an adult for help.
• Making decisions – give your child lots of opportunities to make decisions, give opinions and discuss their feelings. Would they prefer cereal or toast for breakfast? Which toy is their favourite?
• Role-play – encourage role-play at home, whether it is fantasy dressing up, acting out real-life roles such as a doctor or teacher, or small-world play with little figures.

We do not expect children to have amazing literacy skills at this age – that is what school is for! However, there are some ways you can get your child ready for learning:

• Help them recognise their name – It will be helpful if your child can find their name as it will assist them in keeping track of labelled clothes and other belongings.
• Share stories - reading to your child improves their vocabulary and listening skills, and acting out stories is a great way to practise communication.
• Drawing, colouring and painting – these type of activities are good for introducing children to mark making, this is the first step in becoming a great writer!
• Phase 1 Phonics – Phonics begins before we introduce letters, to help your child you can play some of these listening and attention games:
• Explore the sounds that animals make, including imaginary ones like dragons!
• Play with musical instruments, can they make a simple rhythm?
• Play some music and ask your child to stamp, march or dance to the beat
• Singing nursery rhymes
• Encourage your child to replicate noises they hear as you go for a walk.

As with early literacy skills we do not expect the children to come to school as Mathematicians already! However, there are some ways you can get your child ready for exploring Maths at school: 

• Number hunt - go on a number hunt around your local area and take pictures of any numbers you find. 
• Counting songs - share counting songs together such as 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive, 5 little speckled frogs or 10 fat sausages.
• Counting - count objects as you set the table for dinner. Can your child get five forks or three cups out
• Mathematical vocabulary – Use words such as longer, shorter, bigger, smaller as you play with your child.