Idaho Ready to Learn: Countdown to Kindergarten is an exciting new program that supports parents of incoming kindergartners. We have weekly calendars full of activities you can do with your child to help them feel excited for all the fun they will have in kindergarten. Each week will focus on a different skill that will be taught in kindergarten. For each skill there are hands-on activities, digital games, and unplugged activities for every day of the week. Our website is a great place to find even more resources to help your child get excited and feel confident on their first day of school.

Check out activities, games, and challenges to help your child get excited for their first day of kindergarten.

IdahoPTV Kindergarten Readiness Kits
 

Every year, former Idaho classroom teachers and early childhood educators on Idaho Public Television’s Education team carefully curate and assemble robust Kindergarten Readiness Kits, which we deliver for free to rural schools in Idaho in coordination with schools' kindergarten registration. Learn more.

PBS KIDS for Parents en Español
 

Explore more than 150 Spanish parent resources to help you raise kind, curious and resilient children. Find parenting tips, hands-on activities, games, and apps featuring your favorite PBS KIDS characters. 

Lee Pesky Learning Center

208-333-0008

We work directly with families and with schools and organizations. Our team includes learning specialists, psychologists, researchers and counselors. We also have a training team that works in the field. We have many resources for families, teachers and organizations on our website.

The news section of our website has information about our free virtual preschool parent events. Our products section has links to an app called Go Parents! and more. We have resources for social emotional learning, math and literacy.

IdahoPTV - Families

208-373-7397

We work with families and educators to bring educational, social and emotional resources and activities to all families.

Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC)

208-338-4707

READY! for Kindergarten supports parents as they prepare their children for kindergarten with free parent education workshops.

Download our Kindergarten Readiness brochure.

Idaho Parents Unlimited (IPUL)

208-342-5884

Idaho Parents Unlimited works with parents, family members, and caregivers of children and youth with disabilities and special health care needs and the professionals who are a part of their lives. While our office is in Boise, we work statewide using technology, and we frequently travel to all regions of the state throughout the year.

IPUL also have a variety of parent resources as well as provider resources.

Idaho Special Education and Technical Assistance (SESTA)

1-844-IDSESTA (1-844-437-3782)

• Early Childhood Activity Bag Ideas
• Parent Resources

SESTA provides professional development to teachers and parents so they can support the learning of students with special learning challenges.

We also have preschool resources for parents to do at home.

Day By Day Idaho

Daily song, book, activity and videos for families to enjoy digitally.

Coronavirus Resources

The resources in this guide are intended to help parents, guardians, and families understand how schools and the state education system are responding to the expanding coronavirus outbreak

National Center for Improving Literacy

Research based practical reading and writing strategies for caregivers.

Extending Vocabulary | Ampliando del Vocabulario
You can help your children learn new words and extend vocabulary by simply listening and talking with them every day. Explain new words when doing any activity and encourage words that describe objects and locations such as next to, behind, underneath, or inside. 

Read a variety of books so your children can hear different kinds of words. 
What is your child’s favorite book?

Counting | Contando
Have you counted flowers or sticks with your kids? There are learning opportunities everywhere! You can help your child learn to count by touching objects as you count them out loud. Knowing how to count will help your child on the first day of school and all summer long!

Recognizing Print | Reconociendo la Letra Impresa
Knowing some letters on the first day of school will help your children succeed. Point out signs in your neighborhood, on stores, or restaurants to help your children begin recognizing that words are all around us.

Building Routines | Construyendo Rutinas
Knowing some letters on the first day of school will help your children succeed. Point out signs in your neighborhood, on stores, or restaurants to help your children begin recognizing that words are all around us.

Gross Motor Skills | Habilidades Motrices Generales
Playing with a purpose can help children become more confident as their bodies grow and develop. Take young children outside every day to run and play. 

Math - Comparing | Matemáticas - Comparación
Knowing how to compare objects is an important skill for your child to practice. Comparing objects helps children begin to understand that things have similarities and difference. 

Sorting laundry is a great way to learn to compare or collect things in nature and use descriptive words to talk about which ones are smooth, rough, long, short. Compare size, texture, shape, and color to help your child.

Story Time Ideas | Ideas para la hora del Cuento
There are learning opportunities everywhere, like reading books every day. Children find joy in making connections between the books they read and the world around them. Reading everyday will help your child be ready for school.

Understanding Emotions | Entendiendo las Emociones
Help your children learn words that describe their feelings. As Mister Rogers helped us learn, “It is okay to be mad or sad or scared. What matters most is what we do with the feelings that we have.”

Literacy Awareness of Sounds | Conciencia Literaria de los Sonidos
Did you know that pre-reading skills are built when children hear the sounds and rhythms of language? Helping children recognize different words, syllables, and sounds in language is an important step to becoming a reader. 

Fine Motor Skills | Habilidades Motrices de Precisión
Draw, squeeze, stack, build, run pages, paint! You can help your children increase strength and build coordination by encouraging them to practice using their hands. 

“This project was made possible by grant number 90TP0077-01-00. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.”