When my son was in preschool, I created this free Kindergarten readiness book for him. I printed it out, bound it into a 3 ring paper folder, and made a copy for each child in his class and the teachers had the kids work on it for a few months before preschool ended.
It is both a keepsake book plus, having gone through the ropes with his two older sisters, a Kindergarten readiness book to capture all the academic concepts I thought he needed for Kindergarten:
- Counting to 10
- Bonus: counting to 10 in Spanish
- Letters of the alphabet
- Bonus: lower case alphabet
- Days of the Week
- Colors
- Bonus: Counting to 100 (and even by 10’s!)
I included some drawing prompts too:
- Self portrait
- Favorite animal
- What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
- Favorite Thing to Do At Preschool
Download this FREE printable book:
My Book About Me
Preschool Self Portrait
I just love seeing self-portraits of my kids. The first thing my kids did in Kindergarten was draw a self-portrait. They also did one every month for that school year. I guess there are specifics that teachers look for that indicate cognitive reasoning and whatnot — the more body parts the better. I just like the art.
Days of the Week All About Me Book
Though this book is done over the course of a couple of months, I wanted to capture the day and how my child felt. Preschoolers are so in the moment that I thought it would be fun to look back on this day and see what was going on.
Counting to 10
The idea for this page was to count to 10. I wanted the number, the word for the number, and a physical representation of that number that kids could count out. It was hard to find a dingbat of 10 things that would fit on the page!
My son was learning Spanish so I threw that in too. It was amazing to me when I parent-helped on that day how easily all the kids could count in Spanish.
Colors
I did not know that my son’s favorite color that day was black! The drawings were unexpected too.
Alphabet: Upper and Lower Case
I think it’s important for kids to know their upper case alphabet letters before entering Kindergarten but I wanted to work on lower case as well. Lowercase is extremely confusing as many letters look the same — b, p, d — for example.
The kids drew their favorite animal on the next page. For some reason, my son wanted a bigger space so he used a separate paper that was stapled in. His jaguar looks like a bee, no? I just love that stripey tail. I think he was seriously into Go! Diego Go! at the time and is confusing a tiger with a jaguar. I just love that!
Counting to 100
While counting to 100 is a skill my kids learned about halfway through Kindergarten, some kids are ready for this in preschool. I related it back to their height and the kids had fun being measured.
I put the numbers by 10 in red in case you wanted to count by 10′s. I also use this to show patterns in numbers. My son would notice how all the numbers end in 9 down the 9 column, for example. He is a math kid and sees patterns all around him. But I just wanted to introduce this concept of numbers and skip counting for any child who shows interest.
My Favorite Thing to Do in Preschool
We helped kids with spelling or writing if this was an issue but it was great practice to write a sentence. I also just love knowing what made him happy in preschool!
When I Grow Up
No preschool keepsake book is complete without future career aspirations! I think they did a space unit in preschool that clearly got the kids really excited! Today, four years later, my son would say he wants to be a chef, video game developer, or just live at home with mommy as his career of choice. We may have failed to launch here but at least he will help out with the cooking!
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What a nifty book! If my child were starting kindergarten this fall, I’d certainly work on this over the summer. Great job!
Thanks so much Cathy. I made it 5 years ago before I started blogging but I really loved creating it. It’s now something I treasure with my son’s drawings and his writing. I’m so glad you like it!
What a wonderful resource. Thank you so much sharing. And I must say, that picture of your son on the cover of your book just about made my day! What a cutie!
Thanks Stacey! Isn’t he such a chunk-a-lunk? He was a huge baby that grew up to be a very small boy! LOL!
This book is great! And your son’s drawings look so much like Johnny’s right now! Very cute and useful idea!
Thanks MaryAnne,
My son was 5 at the time. Is Johnny 5 too? He had one additional year of preschool because he missed the cut off. It turns out, now that my son is 8, that he does still love to draw.
Yes, he is 5 – he has a December birthday. I hope Johnny continues to love to draw like your son!
What an awesome book! I need to start this with my son. Thanks 🙂
Hi Tanya,
Let me know if your son likes it. At the preschool, they’d do about one page a day/week.
Great idea! I’m going to keep this around as a reference of things to work on with little buddy. Strangely, he has the counting in 10 to Spanish down pat…
Hi Jeanette,
That’s so awesome he know 1-10 in Spanish! I hope he likes the rest of the book!
I love this! I love this! I was looking for something like this yesterday Mia i swear. Damian wanted to have “his own learning time”. You really have been a amazing help when it comes to my reluctant learner. I am forever grateful and he loves his new books! thank you so much.
Hi Vanita,
I’m so glad Mr. Damian likes it. Tell him that my son did this book when he was 4-years-old. I hope he likes it too!
This is a must have resource for Parents with kindergarten kid(s). Very well compiled I must say.
Thanks so much Viren. I had so much fun making the book!
Hey, perfect timing! My son is in his last year of preschool. Thank! Definitely going to print this out and work on it with him!
Hi Ann,
Please let me know what he thinks of the book. I made it for the preschool to do in class and give to parents at the end of the year as a keepsake book. We treasure ours.
I love this! My son’s preschool teachers made him a huge scrapbook and I’m super thankful to have it. He just finished last week and I know that it will be something fun to look back and remember how much he has learned a grown. I love your book that really showcases the knowledge of the child!
Thanks Jackie,
I was trying to combine freezing a moment with time with the things they are supposed to know in order to be ready for Kindergarten but I love the idea of a giant scrapbook too to save all those precious preschool memories!!
This is such a great review and keepsake! And it’s so generous of you to share it! Thanks for sharing it at Teach Me Tuesday on Preschool Powol Packets!
Hi Carla,
It’s truly my pleasure to share it. It was a labor of love to create and I treasure my son’s finished book. I hope more parents will have keepsakes to look back on with their kids. It’s so much fun to read later on in life!
Wow, you clearly put a lot of time into making this booklet. Thank you so much for sharing it. It’s always fun to see how much a child grows over a period of time. This book is perfect for that.
Hi Kirstylee,
It was a labor of love! We treasure the one my son made and read it as a bedtime story a few times a year. It was wonderful to capture that precious moment in time! I’m so glad that you liked it too!
How totally cute–LOVE your book!
Thanks so much Asian Mommy. It was truly a labor of love to make it and now a treasured keepsake.