As a transitional kindergarten and kindergarten teacher, I've been the person many parents ask, "How do I know if my child is ready for kindergarten?" So I've created a kindergarten readiness checklist and assessment to give you all the info you want, but before you go on, please note...
There is no one size fits all answer for parents because kindergarten readiness depends on a set of academic skills coupled with social emotional skills plus a familiarity for the classroom setting. Yet still this question begs an answer, so I'm going to do my very best to give you all the information you need in order to give your child the best chance at success.
When it comes to academic readiness there is a certain set of skills that if mastered before kindergarten will ensure that children transition more smoothly and have more success picking up kindergarten skills.
Most of those skills are reading and math related since there is an expectation that children have been exposed to numbers and letters for some time before kindergarten. Below is a FREE downloadable checklist that briefly shares the main reading and math skills kids should know before entering school.
In the checklist I mention knowledge of at least 10 capital and 10 lowercase letters. I've had many kids come into my classroom reading and some without knowing a single letter. All made significant progress, but if I were to say what my expectation was of kids, I would suggest kids be confident with at least 10 letters.
Letter sounds is a big skill too. Some kids know them all; some don't even realize that letters make sounds. If kids realize that letters have sounds before kindergarten and know a few of them, that's a really great start.
Just a reminder, lots of schools differ in expectations. I once had a kindergarten class with multiple children ready for division and then at another school where children entered kindergarten with minimal number skills so that I was teaching numbers 1-5.
I'm just trying to give you the best information from my personal experience coupled with knowledge of the kindergarten standards that all students in the US need to meet by the end of the year.
If you're looking for a quick and easy way to assess your children's letters, sounds, and knowledge of numbers you can purchase the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment now for only $4.00.
This assessment is meant to test the skills that children should know or have familiarity with before kindergarten. This is NOT the same as a Kindergarten Entrance Exam, where kids will often be tested on a wider variety of skills that show their mastery of pre-k AND kindergarten skills. Those are much longer and kids are asked about things they likely do NOT need to know yet.
Here's what's included in the 5 page assessment:
It's especially helpful to have the numbers and letters mixed up so kids cannot rely on the order to give them the correct name. Plus all the questions are written out so you know exactly what to say.
Don't keep wondering if your child is ready! Grab your Kindergarten Readiness Assessment and get the proof in your hands!
Below are the list of skills that help to have before kindergarten. If your child has a specific disability that precludes them from being independent in the self care skills, I would make sure to mention it to their teacher during their transitional IEP or 504 meeting before the school year.
I've taught transitional kindergarten for a number of years and have seen a number of scenarios. Ive seen many children enrolled in this extra year of school even when extremely academically advanced. I'm talking about kids coming in counting to 100, writing simple words, and reading short books, all coming in to Transitional Kindergarten which feeds into kindergarten.
As a new teacher in 2010, I asked them why they made this choice. I had not yet had children of my own and wanted to know the motivation behind "keeping their kids back a year."
Since my first year teaching TK, aka transitional kindergarten, I've come to shift my view. It no longer feels like children are "being held back" and feels more like they've been given "the gift of time."
Just because children can read doesn't mean they're necessarily ready for kindergarten. Social skills and parental intuition matter a whole lot.
Parents often chose the "gift of time" if they felt their child was not emotionally mature enough or able to be independent enough to go to kindergarten. Other reasons included social confidence or lack of interest in paper to pencil tasks.
Sometimes a parent can't put their finger on it, but they have this feeling that they need to start kindergarten a year later, and I say, "Go with your gut!" You know your child!
Are you feeling unsure of how to prepare your child for kindergarten this fall? Was their assessment just okay or did it make you want to work on some learning in these next weeks?
You're in luck! I've created a kinder-ready curriculum to teach the MOST important academic skills listed in the kindergarten readiness checklist. It's only 8 weeks long and presented in a way kids love and parents find SUPER SIMPLE!
Each week (for 8 weeks) I'll send you 5 hands-on activities to do with your child straight to your email. All activities are fun and hands-on. So, you'll see NO worksheets or have to enforce that your child do "work." In fact, the kids will be asking, "Hey, what's the next activity?"
All activities are less than 5 minutes to set up and the supplies will be super simple:
These hands-on learning activities ensure that your child masters the skills they need to have a smooth and successful kindergarten year. Heck, it might even catapult them to the top of their class. Best of all they'll be EXCITED about learning.
At an age where they have 13 years of schooling ahead of them (or more), it's vital that we get kids excited about learning. Check it out!
When introducing the concept of measurement to children, we always start with non standard measurement.
At the ages of 4-6, children understand the concept of short, long, taller, etc but they usually have no understanding of centimeters and inches, making those standard units of measurements too abstract for them.
So in preschool and kindergarten we introduce units of measurement that kids can really wrap their minds around. Usually those are regular household objects and toys.
Measuring is a practical skill that kids use when pouring water, comparing who had more cookies, determining who is taller, etc. In this activity kids delve in deeper to understand measurement of length and height with non standard units!
Though measuring length is usually the first thing that comes to mind when we think of measurement, there are actually multiple types of things we measure. Here are some of the standard units we use for these measurements:
Adults are used to pulling out a ruler, measuring cup, or using a scale to measure things. Usually we can visualize something close to a foot or a cup, if we needed to estimate. But children do not have that awareness yet, so instead teach them to measure with non-standard measurement unit.
These non-standard units can be anything but are best when the child selects them and are of high interest: shoes, lego pieces, stickers, race cars, etc. The one thing that they MUST be is uniform in size.
A child cannot measure their height in legos and markers! Instead one unit needs to be used at a time and lined up end to end, just as we would do when measuring with a ruler.
In the United States, the common core standards introduce standard measurement in second grade.
Before then, kids are expected to understand the concepts of measuring objects without using standard measurement tools, like in this first grade standard:
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.A.2
Express the length of an object as a whole number of length units, by laying multiple copies of a shorter object (the length unit) end to end.
In each of these activities, kids use objects instead of rulers to measure length. There are a few rules for measuring precisely that kids should follow when lining up their nonstandard units:
To play "Measuring Me," you'll need blue tape and access to items around the home that are (mostly) uniform in length. Some ideas are shoes, blocks, markers, crayons, envelopes, etc.
While you have the blue tape out, check out TAPE SHAPES!
The non standard measurement unit for this activity is my favorite... snacks!
You can choose anything that is uniform in size, and I recommend items that are easy to line up end to end like pretzel sticks. Of course, a classic and fun snack to use is goldfish.
There may be opportunities to talk about halves or beginnings of fractions in case snacks don't line up exactly. You could also round up or round down...
Want another fun math snacktivity? You'll love PUNCH MATH!
This is one of my favorite math centers for the winter. Kids love to see the family of snowmen and compare their heights from shortest to tallest before measuring them in unifix cubes.
Student in this teacher's classroom measured and compared the lengths of different vegetables during a farming unit. Their teacher made them non standard bean rulers to practice measurement in a developmentally appropriate and fun fashion!
I love this simple yet genius measurement activity. Draw one straight line on a piece of paper and one crooked, anyway you choose. Have kids guess which is longer and then use paper clips to measure which one is longer.
Want a free week of hands-on learning activities that will wow your child? I'll send it right to you!
There is a major math skill that shows up when teaching kids how to separate laundry...SORTING!
Sorting helps our little ones discern differences and similarities, learn how to create categories, and begin to problem solve. Imagine how helpful sorting is in your everyday life.
You sort silverware, clothing, and toys all to create organized systems in your home. At the grocery store, items are sorted by categories for ease and efficiency of shopping. Recess at schools is most often sorted by grade level to keep kids of the same age together.
Sorting happens all the time, and kids need to know how to sort in more than one way in order to make sense of new information as they process the world around them. So let's teach these kiddos how to separate laundry before and after, and lighten your load while keeping them learning!
There are so many ways to separate laundry but for kids these are the main ones you'll want to focus on.
Before washing categories:
After washing categories:
In kindergarten kids need to..."Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count." -Kindergarten Common Core Standards
This activity encourages your child to sort the same objects in more than one way. Also there are opportunities for you to ask your CHILD how they think they should sort and separate the laundry, both before and after washing.
Being able to sort the same group of objects in more than one way shows diversity in thinking. It also engages us to problem solve: What is the best way to sort? There may be more than one answer.
For example, it might be better for the clothes to be sorted before washing by color in order for color not to leak from brights to whites. But since I don't have enough whites on my own, I may have to combine all the sizes to run a load of whites. This will make it harder to sort the laundry afterwards by person!
Go the step further and asking your child to describe HOW they want to sort gives us insight into how our child views the world: Is the size of something a bigger factor than its function? Is it more helpful to do lights together instead of whites? How come? These are critical thinking skills!
I had a giant pile of clean laundry I ignored for about 3 days. I asked Big Sis how we should sort it. She decided by color, so we did that and problem solved as things had more than one color or pattern. But color wasn’t a practical way to sort laundry.
I asked her how we could sort the laundry to make it easier to put away. She said “by house room.” She then made a kitchen pile, a baby pile, mommy and daddy pile and her own. Of course then her sister came and ruined it but that’s life!
For more helpful laundry rules, you can check out this comprehensive article about How to Separate and Wash Laundry.
This is more up to you! Make these rules as a family, and try out different ways to sort. Here are some of the ways to separate we came up with for our clean laundry.
Now that your kids have learn how to separate laundry, they can apply their sorting knowledge to shapes with these 5 shape sorting activities!
Want to teach kids to do their own laundry? Stuffed Suitcase has a guide for what age they should learn what!
If you haven't tried water bead sensory play with your preschooler, get ready for your new go-to summer activity.
Water beads first got popular as a kids' toy when I was student teaching. The kids in my class would carry them in little containers, calling them their babies! I didn't even realize till much later that they are meant to be for flower arrangements. These teensy tiny little balls grow through osmosis in just a few hours.
These are my favorite water beads on Amazon.
I chose them because they say they've passed kids safety testing, but make sure to always use caution when playing with small objects as they can become choking hazards . You get 55,000 beads for under $8!
*As an Amazon affiliate I may make a small commission based on links in this article, at no additional cost to you.
When you first bring out the water beads, they're unbelievably tiny. We inspected them and made observations: what colors they were, their size, shape, and texture.
Next we put them in a container and added two cups of water (for one tablespoon of waters beads). The girls made a "fancy guess" about what might happen and I introduced the word "hypothesis." A hypothesis is a prediction or a fancy guess based on information you already know.
Big Sis had recently watched a Doc McStuffins episode about a toy that grows when put in the water, so she predicted it would grow! In just over an hour the tiny balls were looking larger, like splotchy orbs in the water. After naptime, the water beads were about 20 times the size, at least, and ready for some sensory play.
This is a great activity to do outside especially during the summer!
Just to be clear, the beads will be rolling around. If your toddler is prone to putting things in their mouth, this is probably not the best toy for them. Lil Sis (almost 2) is not inclined to put random things in her mouth. Even still, I'm always cautious and watch her with small toys.
I cut a hole in an Amazon box and put the funnel in the top. Under the funnel, I put a taller clear container for the water beads to drop into. I gave each kid a scooper and a straw. Then I asked them how they could get the balls into the container.
With Lil Sis, she was laughably confused about where the "ballies" were going until I turned the box around. Then, she could see them shooting through the funnel and down into the containers. Since some water beads had grown rather large for the funnel opening, I gave the kiddos reusable straws to use for pushing the balls down.
Keeping my almost 2 year old busy is quite a feat and we sat doing this for around 40 min! If you're looking for more ways to keep a 2 year old engaged in play, check out these 10 ways to play with 1 simple setup.
Big Sis was really motivated to fill her container to the top. She also loved the force the straw created as it pushed the water beads through.
Lil Sis was always turning the box around to check on the beads and where they had gone. She was definitely working on some object permanence, inspecting the box from different angles and looking for where the sensory beads went!
I love open ended play and exploration, because each time can be different. We will definitely be playing with these again.
Teachers of young children talk about one to one correspondence, but what is it? One to one correspondence is counting one object for every number said.
Without one to one correspondence, one will not be able to count objects accurately. When a child is able to count one object per each number said, they also understand that a number represents a specific quantity.
At what age do kids develop one to one correspondence? This can be between the ages of 3-5. In kindergarten, kids are expected to count up to 20 objects with one to one correspondence. In preschool up to 10.
*As an Amazon affiliate, I may get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.
Picture this: you're playing a board game. Your child rolls a 5 and they move their piece WAY MORE than 5 spaces, while managing to only count to five. They're not cheating! They lack one to one correspondence.
When given a quantity of objects and asked to count, many kids count faster than they register each object resulting in counting to a number that is MORE than the actual number of objects!
This happens because kids learn counting as a rote skill. Children memorize the number order much earlier than they learn to count objects, so saying the numbers in that order is automatic. For many, they are just saying numbers without any knowledge of numbers representing quantities.
So, we have get them to SLOW DOWN!
The best way to build one to one correspondence is to give children a way to slow their counting. So, I teach my students a counting rule called, "Touch 1, count 1." For every object they are counting, they must either touch it, or move it to another spot completely.
This snack activity, aka snacktivity, is a highly engaging way to build one to one correspondence with items you already have around the house.
For a very basic one to one correspondence activity - perfect for 2-3 year olds, try this build your own board game activity!
With this simple hands-on learning game, your kid will love learning number recognition, one to one correspondence, numeracy, and even arithmetic. Just grab these few supplies and get ready to play.
For preschoolers, I recommend numbers between 1-10. For kindergarteners, numbers ranging from 1-15. Don't go into the teens unless your child has mastered 1-10.
For this version, your child is solely focused on number recognition and one to one correspondence.
To start, present your kiddo with the straw and talk about the numbers they see on the aluminum. Their mission is to uncover their snack by identifying the correct number and punching through the aluminum foil that many times.
Invite your child to play by asking them to punch number 3 three times, number 5 five times, etc.
By punching the straw through the aluminum foil they're forced to slow down their counting and follow the "touch 1, count 1," rule of one to one correspondence.
They'll be thrilled to reveal the snacks underneath with each punch through. For an additional way to practice, you can have them count the snacks as well!
Once your preschooler or kindergartner has a good grip on number identification try this way of playing that builds number sense using more than and less than.
Call out actions such as, "Punch a number that is more than 5. Punch a number that is less than 2."
Another way to play this way is to show them on your hands a number of fingers and ask them to find a number that is more than or less than that many! That way they're "subitizing" the number of fingers, translating that into the number they identified, and then building their knowledge of more and less.
You guessed it: have your child determine which number is the sum or the difference to your simple arithmetic problem, and punch the number the correct number of times to reveal the snack beneath.
Use call outs like, "Punch the number that is 5 +1!" and "Punch the number that is 4-2!"
To scaffold and make this a little less tricky, use your fingers to show addition and subtraction. Hold up 8 fingers, "Punch the number that is this many take away 3!"
Did you grow up learning about positive self talk? I didn't. As little girls in the 80's and 90's, we were not taught to be empowered and confident. Adults focused on teaching us to be humble, not to take up too much space, and not to brag. Awareness and teaching of positive self talk for kids has only recently come into the spotlight.
Social media these days bombards kids with picture perfect images of what life should look like, and studies have shown that children, particularly pre-teens and teens, have become more self conscious and less confident (read more here). Often social media is being used a measure of their like-ability or popularity and effects their self worth. Even at a young age, we need to encourage positive self worth and self esteem building activities.
Although I usually share early literacy and math activities, I firmly believe in teaching the whole child. Children can only learn when their needs are being met emotionally, and if a child is experiencing something emotionally heightened, they may have trouble learning something new until those emotions are addressed.
When we build kids' confidence they feel more ready to take on challenges and deal with issues that arise. For example, a coping skill I have observed even in very young kids is positive self talk to help get through a tough situation. This can be anything from saying to oneself, "I'm a big kid! I can do it," to "I won't give up."
Most recently my friend told me her two year old was talking to himself encouragingly before bedtime in a new place, and he built his own confidence to get through an unknown and scary thing for him.
When confidence is low, kids are less likely to learn. By teaching kids how to use affirmation statements and see the positive things about themselves, we will increase their confidence and their ability to take on new, difficult tasks at home and in the classroom.
I use Confidence Cookies with my own children and the members of The Fun Club to teach about positive self-talk. In this activity our children are encouraged to see themselves in a positive light and speak about themselves positively out loud to us. Not only do I have all the kids do this activity, I also advise ALL adults doing the activity to participate!
When a parent or caretaker participates in positive self-talk, that is modeling the skill for the child, and the adults who care for us are our most important influences.
If your child sees yourself speaking positively, gently, and kindly about your own self; then they're more likely to do the same for themselves. The same is true if they hear you putting yourself down or speaking in a self-deprecating manner. Be mindful of what you say when you think they're not listening!
Download your FREE Confidence Cookies by Forward with Fun.
Keep the confidence cookies in the kitchen in a jar on the table. When you sit down at the table before a meal, have someone pick a confidence cookie from the jar. Everyone at the table has to answer the question. Your kids can even make their own cookies and add them to the jar for even more prompts. Incorporating positive self talk into your day is a process, not just a one time thing, so keep using those Confidence Cookies!
Hands on learning is my secret to teaching reading so kids are never bored!
I NEVER use workbooks or worksheets.
When I say "hands on learning," I mean any kind of learning where your child is actively participating in creating new knowledge or solving a problem. This is also called learning by doing. From your own childhood, did you ever really learn something from a worksheet? I remember the projects, the games, the activities that got me and my classmates up and moving, creating, and solving problems.
Hidden Object is a hands on learning game that combines reading skills with a fun, element of surprise.
What you'll need-
On the Post-its, write the letters your child is learning. If you're child is just starting to recognize letters, I recommend starting with the letters of their name.
In this version, children will either say the letter name or the letter sounds as they lift each bowl on the hunt for the hidden object.
If your child has moved into reading, try sight words or CVC words in a particular word family (on example is the AT word family with words like cat, rat, bat, sat, etc).
Another idea would be to include words that have a new sound they've just learning like digraphs: sh, wh, th, and ch.
This simple hands on game can be used for so many different skills: letter sounds, letter identification, sight words, CVC words, digraphs, etc.
In this instance, Big Sis was practicing reading CVC words (consonant vowel consonant words) that had different vowels in the middle. If I notice her struggling with a specific vowel or letter sound, I would put more words with those sounds on the Post its.
Whenever I discuss early literacy skills like reading CVC words and sight words, I want to reinforce that all the games and wonderful activities are only part of the reading puzzle. The biggest thing you can do for your child to have success with reading from an early age is read to them everyday.
Like teaching your child through hands on learning games? Want to teach you 4-5 year old to read using hands on learning? Check out The Fun Club! Subscribe for a free week of activities right now!
I think I traumatized one of my kindergarteners with my lesson plan on how to make a leprechaun trap.
Even 10 years later, his mother and I recount how she had to convince him leprechauns were not real, but he swore that they came to school and messed up our classroom. I'm so sorry, Dude! Just trying to do some engaging hands-on learning with the kiddos.
So be warned, that it might be a good idea to tell your child that maybe after all, it was you who tripped the trap after all.
*As an Amazon Affiliate I may make a small commission based on any items you purchase from links in this post, at no additional cost to you.
Before making the trap, you'll going to want to have a plan. What materials will you want to use? What object might lure a leprechaun into your trap?
This project involves so much learning from science to STEM to writing. In the first steps, kids will plan and prepare to build their leprechaun trap using my FREE How I'll Make My Leprechaun Trap printable.
Download the printable and you're ready to make an easy leprechaun trap in minutes. If you don't have all the supplies listed on the left hand side, tell your child/students what you do have. You might want to show them the materials but not let them use them just yet.
Using the printable, have them draw a plan of what their trap will look like. What will they use to lure the leprechaun into the trap? Hopefully, something shiny!
For older kids who can already write, have them label their leprechaun trap plans so that the reader will know what materials they plan to use for which parts.
Ask your child/students, how will the leprechaun know to come to the trap. Will there be any signage to entice them to come inside?
Now let's build it!
While watching the kids build their leprechaun traps you might feel inclined to jump in and say, "Oh what about this? It would be cool if we..." but I encourage you to stop yourself and let this experiment be completely child led.
In the planning stages, we have provided the questions to provoke problem solving and the materials to inspire. This is the kids' part to be the engineers! Giving our children full creative freedom is hard, but it means that what they create is 100% their own.
Whenever I feel the urge to place value on my children's creation or make suggestions, I try to use the technique called "Say what you see." I just narrate what is happening. So instead of saying, "I love that little door you made," I might say, "You made a door out of paper." Sometimes I just try to step away and see what they'll come up with completely on their own!
These easy to make leprechaun traps will surely bring some excitement to your home or classroom. So now what do you do with them on St. Patrick's day?
The day before St. Patrick's day, I have the kids lay their traps wherever they think the leprechauns will be searching for gold and shiny goods. I make sure that they have their lure inside the trap.
Once I'm alone, I go and snag the gold coins/lures out of each trap.
This is the kicker, the piece de resistance, that probably really made my little student frightened: the footprints. Are you unsure of how to make little leprechaun footprints around your trap?
Easy! Get some green paint. Make a fist and paint the bottom side of your fist before gently stamping it across the surface of your choosing. Then dip your pointing finger in the green paint and create little toes over the foot print. Tada, adorable leprechaun footprints, and they couldn't have been made by an adults large feet!
So yeah, it's a good prank, but if your child or students are iffy on the subject, show them how you did it!!!
The kids will flip when they see the leprechauns have sprung their traps without being caught. This is usually when I leave a little note from the leprechauns saying something like, "You almost got me!" or "Try again next year!" If you're looking for some more St. Patricks Day STEM activities, especially for the classroom, check out The Stem Laboratory!
I used to cringe the first week of kindergarten when all the kids would come in their new, lace up shoes. If only I had learned the Cheerio Method of tying shoes earlier!
In those first weeks of kindergarten, I knew I'd be spending lots of time tying laces on cute little sneakers, feeling trapped! Eventually, I would send an email home, asking parents to please send their kids in Velcro or non-lace-up shoes until they learned how to tie them.
Though we would practice tying shoes in class, the usual bunny loop method required more double-handed dexterity than most of kindergarteners have. Even with lots of practice the kids would often get stuck after the first step. That was until I was introduced to the Cheerio Method of tying shoes!
The Cheerio way will teach your child how to tie shoes in 5 easy steps, and it works! It breaks down the most difficult part into two simple steps that kids really understand and can take ownership of. This is true hands-on learning.
This method does make a slightly different knot. Just pull up on one of the loops and it'll undo itself, simple as pie!
Step 1-Take the two strings and cross them over. Now take one of them and put it through the hole and pull them tight.
Step 2- This is the step that makes the biggest difference! Do the same thing again, but instead of pulling the strings all the way tight, I'm leave a little hole big enough for a Cheerio. (It can be bigger than a Cheerio, but Cheerio is a cute reminder for them).
Step 3- Take one lace and put it through the Cheerio making a little loop. Don't pull it yet.
Step 4- Repeat on the other side.
Step 5- Pull both loops outward and the shoe is tied!
Generally kids learn to tie their shoes between the ages of 5-7. The real answer is that everyone learns at their own pace. Tying shoes takes practice and dexterity.
For children that struggle with fine motor skills, it may take longer. To learn more about how to build up fine motor skills, check out this article that includes many fun, hands-on activities that strengthen the small muscles in fingers, hands, and wrists required for children to manipulate shoelaces, buttons, zippers, and writing utensils.
Using The Cheerio Way, I've helped many children aged 4-5 years old learn to tie their shoes. It works better than the "Bunny loops" version that requires children to hold a knot with one hand and then pull a lace around that and through with the other hand by removing that part completely!
Usually kids master the first step and get stuck, but with the Cheerio Method of tying shoes, they feel more comfortable moving to the second step since it's basically just a repeat! This method is also more accessible to kids with limb or finger differences that may struggle with manipulating objects using both hands.
Again, this question doesn't have a solid answer. The best way to teach your child is the one that works for them. I would even try more than one method and see what clicks.
There is the bunny loop method, which is actually how I was taught. The saying for tying your shoes with the bunny ears method goes like this:
Over, under, around and through,
Meet Bunny Rabbit, pull and through.
Another option is the double bunny ears method. Instead of pulling the bunny around and through, you make two loops, cross them over one another, then pull one under and through.
To me, both the bunny loop and double bunny ears method require lots of coordination on the part of the child. Looking for fun and easy ways to increase your child's dexterity? Check out these mega-fun fine motor skills activities.
Just because they require more dexterity doesn't mean these are not great methods though! I actually had a MEGA-VIRAL pin about shoe-tying on Pinterest that has over 6.5 million impressions. It had lots of love and some truly grumpy comments from people who did NOT want to learn any way but their way of tying shoes. HAHA!
But in all seriousness, the Cheerio method of tying shoes is an excellent option for kids, but that's just what it is, an option. Choose whatever works for you!
