Summer Learning Before Kindergarten - Printable Activity Guide

Every year, parents ask for ideas to keep their child learning during the summer before kindergarten. I resisted making any summer learning before kindergarten guide for many years because, more than anything, I want my students to PLAY during the summer. However, when I didn’t give anything to my student’s parents, what they ended up using were workbooks and activities that interrupted play more than anything I would have suggested. This is why I have created this summer learning before kindergarten guide. To give parents SIMPLE activities they can do at home that will continue to build the skills your students have been learning in your class and hopefully alleviate some of the anxiety about entering kindergarten.

Play & Learn Summer: Summer Learning Before Kindergarten Guide

I encourage any parent with a rising kindergartener and PreK teachers looking for something to send home this summer to grab it now. So here it is, Play& Learn Summer, your printable guide to simple summer learning before kindergarten. There are two versions of the guide – one for parents and one intended for teachers. The teacher copy includes unlimited downloads and a special letter template for you to write a handwritten letter to your students as they move on to kindergarten.

Who is this summer learning before kindergarten guide for?

Any rising PreK student’s family would benefit from this printable activity guide and the simple activities inside. The activities are so easy to follow you could hand it off to a babysitter, grandparent, or even school-age sibling!

What’s inside?

This printable guide has 25 simple learning activities with simple instructions anyone can follow. These activities work on the skills your child or students need to continue building all summer before kindergarten. This book has three main sections: Learning at the kitchen table, scavenger hunts, and learning outside. I’ve made it as simple as possible for busy parents to fit in some learning without pressure on them or their children. There are literacy activities like letter recognition, playing with letter sounds, and math including counting and shape recognition, fine and gross motor development, and more.

Most importantly, the activities in this printable guide are geared toward parents who don’t necessarily have a background in education and want simple ways to keep their children learning this summer.

My Child hasn’t attended preschool or PreK and will enter kindergarten in the fall. Is this the guide for me?

Probably not. If your child has not gone to preschool and will enter kindergarten this fall, I highly suggest you buy Everyday Preschool and spend some time doing some of the activities every day. This printable kindergarten readiness activity guide builds on previous learning, while Everyday Preschool is better to create the foundation and then build on it. Buy Everyday Preschool on Amazon here!

I’m a teacher and want to send this home with my students this summer. Can I print out multiple copies?

Yes. I ask you to buy the teacher option, which permits unlimited downloads – and comes with a special pdf that includes a letter template for teachers to write a note to each student they give this guide to. The guide has very few photos and can easily be printed in black and white for easy copying.

I have color and black and white versions of the letter template in the teacher’s copy of the book!

Above all else, please remember this.

More than any of the skills these activities help build, rising kindergarteners need to know how to be a friend, how to ask for help when they need it, and self-help skills like opening lunch items, navigating bathrooms alone and getting dressed with very little help. But spending a little time with these activities and playfully learning with your child this summer will help you feel more confident about sending them to kindergarten in the fall. That’s why I created the summer learning before kindergarten guide.