Heading back to school after the holidays can always feel a little nerve-wracking for children — and especially parents!
Luckily, there are lots of tips and tricks that can help ease your child’s worries and transform their nerves into excitement. Read on to discover how you can transform their return to school and get the year off to a great start!
6 brilliant back-to-school tips
1. Bring back a daily routine
Ease your child back into their school routine by reintroducing earlier wake-ups and bedtimes before school begins. Be sure to do the same in your own routine!
As with adjusting to a new timezone, this will help your child get back into a work mindset and make the transition into term much easier – in particular, so that waking up early on the first day of term won’t come as a nasty surprise.
Once the term begins, keeping up the routine will help your days to run more smoothly. Having time slots for specific activities, such as homework time or reading time, can also be a great way to help your child relax and focus.
2. Learn a little every day
Introducing a little learning into your days is a great way to refresh your child’s learning and fill any gaps in their knowledge, creating a solid foundation for them to build on in the year ahead.
The good news is that you don’t need to buckle down with mountains of books and wave goodbye to the last days of summer; just a few minutes of learning a day can do wonders!
Doodle is specifically intended for this purpose. Designed to be used for 10 minutes a day, it revises tricky topics and introduces new areas, making it a great way for children to catch up and get ahead before the term begins. Why not give it a try today?
3. Continue your family fun
Whether it’s playing board games, having movie nights or heading to the local park for a picnic, carrying on with your fun family activities will help your child to relax while enjoying their last days of summer.
Try to continue these activities once the term begins after school or at the weekend. This will allow your child to unwind and have fun while spending some quality time together as a family.
4. Chat about any worries
If your child is particularly worried or nervous about starting school, seeing their friends for the first time in a while or having lots of new topics to learn, chatting to them about how they feel can be really helpful.
Encourage them to share how they’re feeling and reassure them that it’s perfectly normal to feel a little anxious sometimes. Sharing a smile and a hug really helps too!
5. Stock up on stationery
There’s nothing quite like a new pencil case brimming with colourful pens and pencils to get a child excited about returning to the classroom!
Why not treat your child to some shiny new stationery or a rucksack featuring their favourite character for the year ahead? Your child will be so excited to show their friends their new stylish backpack that they’ll be counting down the days before school begins.
6. Get prepped the night before
So you’ve stockpiled enough stationery to last for years and have your new uniform prepared. Before you know it, it’s the night before school!
Ask your child to lay out their uniform and help them to pack up and prepare everything they’ll need, including their pencil case, a water bottle and even a lucky mascot if they’re feeling a little anxious.
Preparing any snacks or lunchbox items the night beforehand can also save you valuable time (and stress!) the following day. Simply label the items with their name and pop them into the fridge so they can easily pick them up in the morning.
With all of these back-to-school tips in place, you’ll be set and ready to go for the big day! Don’t forget to take a photo of your child before they head off for their first day back at school.
For more mathematical fun, DoodleMaths creates every child a personalised work programme tailored to their ability.
With over 40,000 interactive exercises to enjoy, DoodleMaths ensures progression through the curriculum and, most importantly, is lots of fun! Why not try it for FREE today?
