skills for starting school
White die with black dots.

Skills that make starting school easier

The transition from kindergarten to school brings new challenges and learning requirements for children. The school's task is to take up the children's preschool experiences and organize the transition in a child-friendly way. Important foundations for a successful start to school, including motor, cognitive, social and initial maths skills, are developed in early childhood. At school, these skills usually require intensive individual support to develop, meaning that certain developmental processes cannot be transferred exclusively to educational institutions. As the most important caregivers, parents make a significant contribution to a positive start to school by providing their children with the necessary experiences and appropriate support during the preschool years. Children learn through personal experiences in everyday situations and while playing at home or in the playground. Shopping together, playing a board game, naming colors, tidying up craft materials, tying a bow or playing ball games with other children are just a few examples. This list gives you an insight into the skills and abilities that make it easier for children to start school. You find more practical suggestions in the ›Support activities‹ section.
A girl with colorful hands against a purple background.
A blonde girl in a white shirt shows her age.
Personal information
Know your age and address
A boy buttons up a striped shirt.
Independence
Getting dressed on their own and fastening buttons and zippers
A child learns to tie a bow.
Independence
Tie a knot and a bow
Children with pencil draws the sun.
Fine motor skills
Holding a pencil in a relaxed manner and correct way
A happy girl with long hair against a blue background.
Early mathematical skills
Count forwards from one to ten, and if that goes well, from one to twenty
Smiling boy in a striped shirt against a blue background.
Early mathematical skills
Counting backwards from ten to one or from twenty to one
A meadow with cosmos flowers.
Perception
Looking at and describing plants on a walk
A snail in the forest on a tree trunk.
Perception
Observing animals on a walk and describing their characteristics
Colored board game figures with dice.
Early mathematical skills
Quickly recognize dice patterns up to 6 without counting and move a game piece the corresponding number of spaces
A brown hazelnut.
Early mathematical skills
Quickly recognize small quantities up to 4 in an unordered display at a glance and without counting
A white hamster on a meadow.
Language
Speaking in sentences about a favorite topic
An Asian girl cuts paper.
Fine motor skills
Use scissors safely
A child kneads an animal figure.
Fine motor skills
Shaping simple figures from children's modeling clay
Child making a paper plane.
Fine motor skills
Folding a simple shape with paper
A boy draws a picture.
Fine motor skills
Draw a picture with colored pencils
Child doing a card with flowers.
Fine motor skills
Handle glue with care
A child paints a picture with a brush.
Fine motor skills
Painting with a brush and bright colors
A boy stands on one leg.
Gross motor skills
Standing safely on one leg for a few seconds
Girl catches a ball in the nursery.
Gross motor skills
Throwing and catching a ball
A child jumps in the numbered squares of hopscotch.
Gross motor skills
Hopping on one leg
A child sharpens a colored pencil.
Fine motor skills
Independent sharpening of colored pencils
Boy with a helmet balancing on a tree trunk.
Gross motor skills
Balancing on a chalk line or a beam
A father accompanies a girl on the way to school.
Independence
Knowing and describing your own way to school
Handwriting of a child with its own name.
Fine motor skills
Writing your own name in capital letters
A child's drawing with a house and a sun.
Fine motor skills
Drawing a house and a sun
Child erases on a white sheet of paper.
Fine motor skills
Careful use of an eraser
White die with black dots.
Early mathematical skills
Read numbers from 1 to 6 and represent them as quantities
Children's hands hold many puzzle pieces.
Social skills and perception
Know games like memo, card games, dominoes, puzzles
A eurasian magpie has a grasshopper in its beak.
Early mathematical skills
Sort living creatures and objects according to their characteristics, for example food or drinks, forest animals or birds
A boy and a girl holding colorful arrows pointing right and left.
Early mathematical skills
Distinguish between left and right
Child tidies up a box of building blocks.
Independence
Cleaning up and organizing personal items such as toys and craft supplies
Child paints a rainbow with colored pencils.
Fine motor skills
Coloring pictures and following given lines
Open egg box with four brown eggs.
Early mathematical skills
Split a quantity of up to 6 elements into two subsets, for example 4 eggs are 3 eggs and 1 egg or 4 eggs are 2 eggs and 2 eggs
Open egg box with six brown eggs.
Early mathematical skills
Combine a quantity of up to 6 elements from two subsets, for example 3 eggs and 3 eggs are 6 eggs or 2 eggs and 4 eggs are 6 eggs
Little girl and boy measuring their height on blue background.
Early mathematical skills
Know and apply concepts of quantity:
  • larger
  • smaller
  • same size
Colorful toy clock show 2 o'clock.
Early mathematical skills
Recognizing and matching shapes:
  • circle
  • square
  • triangle
Mother with tulips and little son embracing the mother.
Early mathematical skills
Know and apply the following terms:
  • today
  • yesterday
  • tomorrow
Colorful gummy bears.
Early mathematical skills
Know and apply concepts of quantity:
  • more
  • less
  • the same number
A banana.
Color knowledge
Knowing and using colors:
  • red
  • blue
  • green
  • orange
  • black
  • white
  • brown
One long blue and four short red pencils.
Early mathematical skills
Know and apply the following terms:
  • straight
  • curved
  • angular
  • zigzag
  • long
  • short
  • wide
Three white chairs and a soccer.
Early mathematical skills
Know and apply the following terms:
  • on
  • above
  • below
  • next to
  • between
  • in front of
  • behind
A happy girl with long hair against a blue background.

Creating shared moments

Every day offers numerous opportunities to significantly promote the development of a preschool child. Setting the table together, reading aloud, doing arts and crafts and moving strengthen the child's development. Consciously make time for these precious minutes in which you are there exclusively for your child.
Copyright for content and images
Our content is protected by copyright. You are welcome to share it by providing a link to our website, so others can read the content directly on our site. You are allowed to use the headline or a short description to draw attention to the content. Copying full texts, sections, or images, as well as unauthorized posting or use without permission, is not allowed. Please respect the effort that goes into our content. Violations can be tracked and legally pursued using modern technologies, including AI.