I was gifted a Kindergarten Toolkit in exchange for a review + photos. I actually forgot I was supposed to write a review! Seeing how much all three of my kids have enjoyed it, though, and considering how much I love sharing my favorite things with you, it just made sense to write an entire post about it. So you should know I wrote this without realizing I was supposed to write it. Clearly all opinions are my own.
And my opinion is that this product is genius.
The purpose of the Kindergarten Toolkit is to give parents resources for preparing their children to enter kindergarten.
Margot will start elementary school in just a few months, and even though we’ve been through the process with Mila, it’s still feels like a Big Deal and we want to be sure she’s ready for it. I know we are not unique there. Every parent who has sent a kid to school for the first time knows it’s easy to get kind of manic about doing workbooks or practicing handwriting or even getting kids into “the right preschool” so they are ahead of the learning curve.
We all just want our babies to have every advantage possible. The biggest question on every parent’s mind is, “What does my child need to know before they start kindergarten?” And with so much information available online, it’s hard to really pin that down.
Which is exactly why I love the Kindergarten Toolkit: they tell you what your kid should know AND how you can help them learn it.
Our Kindergarten Toolkit included:
- an instruction booklet
- flash cards (upper + lower case letters, colored shapes, numbers, and sight words)
- a whiteboard, dry-erase marker, and eraser
- sidewalk chalk
- a tote bad to carry everything
Honestly, I can make my own flash cards, we’ve got a whiteboard I could let the kids use if I was a fun mom (spoiler: I’m not), and sidewalk chalk is cheap. But the instruction booklet? That thing is GOLD.
The first page includes simple instructions on how to use the toolkit.
The second page lists ten Kindergarten Goals that your child should work on to, as they put it, “help build a foundation for kindergarten.”
Everything after that shares how to use the resources in the toolkit to help your child reach each goal. Games to play, simple learning activities, informal ways to assess their progress, etc. There’s even a “toolkit on the go” section with teaching suggestions that don’t use the resources in the toolkit.
It. Is. Brilliant.
The toolkit breaks things down so simply that it takes nearly all the stress out of kindergarten prep. I mean, you might still worry a little about the social aspects of school, and it doesn’t, like, register your kid for kindergarten on your behalf. But all the educational stuff? No longer an issue.
Confession: I’ve mostly let Mila be in charge of helping Margot with her Kindergarten Toolkit. She needs the reading practice, and she adores playing school. So she pretends to be the teacher, Margot is her student, and together they are practicing letter sounds + sight words + singing the months of the year.
Speaking as a mother who both values education but is also kind of lazy, it’s a dream come true.
(That said, Margot gets a leeeetle annoyed that Mila “always” gets to be the teacher.)
(Also: please note the two-year-old below sharing his current favorite word. *facepalm*)
My favorite thing is that they offer special pricing for school districts. Do you realize what that means? An elementary school could, in theory, give a Kindergarten Toolkit to every single family with an incoming kindergartner as soon as they get registered. What a great resource to parents! And what a great way to set up the kindergarten teachers with students who are prepared to jump right into the curriculum on day 1!
Guys. Nobody is paying me to say this, but I’m gonna say it anyway: I think every 4 or 5-year-old needs one of these things. It’s that good. Whether you’re a parent or grandparent or preschool teacher or whatever, you need to check it out. I’m planning to order some of the additional flashcard sets because a) my kids think they’re great fun and b) why not learn + practice more?
Hooray for clever products that help children succeed!
(361 + 263 + 130 weeks)
What are some of your favorite resources for preparing kids for kindergarten?
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