Nickelodeon invites you to be part of a great adventure: Beyond the Backpack, a nationwide initiative to promote early kindergarten readiness for preschoolers. Getting ready for school requires more than having a backpack and the right school supplies. It also means getting your child ready to learn in five key areas: Family Engagement, Health and Wellness, Literacy, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math)/STEM and Life skills. This Toolkit has been developed to support and strengthen all of these early learning areas so every child has the tools they need to enter kindergarten ready to learn!
To develop this guide, Nickelodeon has teamed up with early childhood experts at Boston Children’s Museum, incorporating their extensive knowledge of families, early childhood and the latest in school readiness research. Boston Children’s Museum educators bring learning and expertise from their own “Countdown to Kindergarten” classroom — a life-sized model classroom where caregivers and children can experience going to school together! Families can participate in a circle time complete with stories and songs, counting and calendar games. They can try out activities at typical kindergarten-style learning centers, and even pretend to drive a school bus!
Beyond the Backpack complements Nickelodeon’s curriculum-based preschool programming by providing parents with tips, activities, and resources that focus on the five areas. It also offers lots of helpful tips to get your little ones ready for kindergarten. All families want the best for their children and starting kindergarten is a true milestone on the path to lifelong success. We hope you find this Toolkit a useful and fun way to start this exciting journey with your children! Click below to download in both English and Spanish.
