Preschool Preparation, What to pack and how to Prepare for Preschool.

Yes, I know! It is the middle of the school year. Why am I writing about preschool preparation now? Well, this is the time that the seasons change. It starts to get warmer. So that means some of the items you usually send need to be changed up. This is also the time that parents should start looking into different preschools for their children to start in the Fall. In many locations you can’t register in the Summer and Fall is too late. So now is the time to get your kids enrolled and start preparing and knowing what items to look for on sales over the summer.

Preparing for Preschool- Selecting the right school

When it comes to preschool many things factor into your selection. Things to ponder may include

• Location
• Distance from home
• Will you be driving your child or is there a bus system in place
• School ratings
• Teacher/student ratio
• Academic achievements
• The curriculum taught
• Teacher experience
• Hours in the classroom
• Quality of the classroom equipment.
• Cost
• Resources available for developmental delays
• Discipline action Policy
• Parent ratings

Those are just a few of the most common. You want to visit the preschool/s that you are considering. You don’t want to go into this blindly. Many preschools are amazing and very good at teaching our children. But many are merely a glorified daycare and don’t teach any curriculum at all. You want to ensure you are getting your child into the correct preschool.

You also want to ensure that they have a good discipline action policy. I know, they are preschoolers. But that doesn’t mean that an overly abusive child that continually hurts other children should be left in the same classroom and allowed to continually hurt and bully the other children. You need to make sure they have a policy in place and that it is one you can feel comfortable with. Sometimes there are children that are more aggressive than others and harder to control. It happens. You need to feel comfortable that your child will be safe at the preschool you choose.

Preschool Preparation; the preschool supply list

When it comes to preschool preparation,  you will find that you will get a supply list from your school. This isn’t like a normal school supply list. You most likely won’t be required to furnish pencils, paper, crayons, binders, etc. But there are some personal items for your child you will be required to send to school for the duration. And also others that you will send back and forth each day such as:

• Extra pair of clothes. They do fun activities in preschool and sometimes clothes get wet or dirty or paint spilled. They like to have an extra pair of clothes for your child to change into if this happens. 
• Diapers and wipes. Depending on when you start your child in preschool, they could still be in diapers. Nothing wrong with that. Especially if they are going to a special Developmental preschool like my daughter Jade is attending. It’s rather common. So you need to ensure you send in diapers and wipes each day.
• Extra underwear! If your child is potty trained; well accidents are very common. You want to make sure they have extras available.
• Water bottle, or drink cups.
• A regular sized backpack. As tempting as those adorable mini backpacks are; they need a backpack that has a pocket that is standard backpack size. This is because they will be bringing home full sized papers and forms and their artwork throughout the year. You don’t want them crumpled in a ball at the bottom.
• A Coat. Obvious.
• In the winter they also need winter coats, hat, snow pants depending on your location.
• Medications. If your child is on special medication or has allergies, things will need to be set up before hand with the teacher to ensure this medication is available for your child while they are at the school. Including an epipen should they have an allergic reaction.

 

Preschool preparation: the most important item for your preschool supplies

Once you have selected a preschool, registered your child and gathered his/her supplies there is only one thing left to do. Label it! I can’t stress this enough. Your preschool preparation isn’t complete until you label all your supplies. Label every single item you send to their preschool! It is super easy for items to get mixed up. And when there are lots of kids in a classroom, it’s hard to tell which item belongs to which child.

With the extra clothing; they usually request that you place them in a ziplock bag with the child’s name on it. That is awesome. But I take it a step further. I label each item of clothing. Why? With my oldest I sent him to preschool. He has a bag of clothes with his name on it. And yet he still came home with someone else’s shirt one day. And his clothes were lost. Don’t know what happened. There was some mess up at preschool. The clothes got left out and mixed up. So, I now always label each item of clothing.

Label the backpack. Label the coat. Label the mittens, hat, snow pants, boots! Label everything if your child has a food allergy. Make it apparent and easy reminders.

If your child has a food allergy, you can get labels that specifically mention the food allergy. Send in their own snacks with these labels on them, to remind teachers of the food allergies.

And don’t forget to label the diaper wipes! You will probably want them back if they haven’t used them all. In our preschool the wipes and diapers stay in a child’s backpack at all times unless they need to be changed. Then they are taken out and are supposed to be put back. But a teacher can get distracted and sometimes the wipes don’t get put back right away. Then you are stuck replacing a near new package of wipes. Yes. This has happened too. So I now label the wipes. That way if they get left out, they can find their way back to my child’s backpack.

I don’t bother with the diapers; because lets face it. If they are taking the diaper out of the backpack, it’s to change your child. I’m not going to want that diaper back. EWE!

 How do you label for preschool preparation?

When it comes to preschool preparation labeling I use sticky labels. You  can use Magic marker, but lets face it. It forever marks that item. Which is good if your child was going to always remain that size. But your child will eventually outgrow the clothes. They will get passed down. Then you will want to be labeling them for the next child. Or they will be given away. But who wants clothes with someone else’s name written all over them?

Sticky labels are much easier too. They don’t have the risk of the ink leaking through or blurring if it gets wet. Plus with water bottles, even a Sharpie permanent marker eventually rubs off. You want something that will stay in place longer. As spring approaches, I am changing out the items I send to preschool with Jade. That means I need to start labeling items again.

She no longer needs her winter gear, winter coat, or winter clothes at school. Now it is time for a light jacket, lighter clothes and such. So it’s time to get labels on them before I send them to school with her. For her clothes I’m using the Kiddo Tags Sticky labels for clothing.

They are amazing. You can design them in a large variety of colors, fonts and characters making them specifically unique to your child. There is no iron needed. Just remove the sticky label from the sheet and place on the clothing tag. Or if there isn’t a tag, directly on the clothing. Rub well to ensure a good stick. And you are done! Plus they last through many washings! They are designed to stay on the clothes while you are using them. But you can still remove them once your child outgrows the clothing so you can still donate them to others.

For everything else I use the Kiddo Tags Sticky labels value pack. It is definitely the best solution for labeling everything you send to preschool or daycare. They are brilliant for labeling the backpack, water bottle, diaper wipes and more. They come in a value pack of multiple sizes to ensure a perfect fit for whatever you need to label.

I made these ones a little more universal so I can use them to label items for our entire family. Like my water bottle. The boy’s water bottles and backpacks they take to school. Or any toy they may take to a play date. And you don’t have to worry about them coming off, as they are dishwasher safe as well.

Preschool preparation; the playdates.

So part of preschool preparation is that your child will be building relationships and making friends. Now Jade rides a bus to her preschool because it is so far away. She has a developmental preschool that focuses specifically on improving her developmental delays. So our choices for location were zero. Just the one choice. But I do love this preschool. But this means I can’t drop her off or pick her up and meet the other parents and teachers. So how do I get her social interaction outside of the classroom with the friends she is making? The Playdate Kit is a great solution for that.

They are basically like “business cards” for your family. But a lot more friendly. I can send these to school with Jade and have her teacher put on in the backpack of the kids she’s most comfortable with. You can customize them to have your child’s name, your name and phone number. Then leave a note on the back inviting the other parent to give you a call so you can set up a playdate.

After you have selected the preschool you want your child to attend; gathered, labeled and prepared their school supply gear and have their social needs lined up you are now ready for your little one to head off to their 1st day of school!

Ok, well; maybe not. The emotional battle is one I can’t help with. But I can help you be as prepared as possible for everything else.

If you want to add Kiddo Tags amazing Sticky labels to your Preschool preparation, regular school preparation or even summer camp preparation be sure to visit and follow them on Facebook and Twitter. I have yet to lose an item that I have labeled with Kiddo Tags! I sure love them. And the designs are super cute with hundreds of customization options.

Can you remember when your child went off to preschool?

Are you prepared for your little one to go off to Preschool?

What would you add to our list of Preschool Preparation?