Stage60–72 m
5 to 6 years
Most of what prepares them for school is not in a book
The final year before school. Self-control, attention span and abstract thinking are all developing fast. The best investment this year is habits and self-management, not getting ahead academically.
What to feed
- Milk
- 350-500ml of milk or dairy a day.
- Meal pattern
- Three meals and one or two snacks, close to an adult diet at about half the portion.
Can start eating
- Essentially unrestricted; whole nuts still only sitting down and calm
Not yet
- Sugary drinks
- Frequent oily, salty takeaway
- Snacks used as emotional comfort
Worth knowing
- Breakfast quality directly affects the morning at school, and it needs protein
- Let them help plan the week’s meals — fussiness drops noticeably
- Teach them to read sugar content on a label. It is a skill for life
- Watch the BMI curve. Weight rebound at this age is worth catching early
How much sleep
9-12 hours a day
- Daytime
- Not needed
School usually starts earlier than preschool. Begin shifting bedtime earlier a month ahead, fifteen minutes at a time.
Vaccines in this stage
No scheduled vaccines in this stage.
What most children do by now
Gross motor
- Rides a two-wheeler
- Skips with a rope
- Coordinated, fluent movement
- Some real stamina
Fine motor
- Writes their name and some simple characters or letters
- Stable pencil grip
- Some can tie laces
- Drawings have detail and setting
Language
- Retells a full story with added detail
- Understands and uses complex grammar
- Recognises many words, begins simple reading
- Resolves conflict with words
Social and cognitive
- Stable friendships
- Understands why rules exist, not just that they do
- Can take another perspective
- Cares about fairness and right and wrong
This is what most children manage in this window, not a pass mark. A few months either way is common. The signals worth acting on are in the doctor section below.
Height and weight reference for this ageWhen to see a doctor
If any of these apply, do not wait for the next routine check.
- Cannot sit and do one thing for ten minutes
- Language clearly behind peers
- Cannot hold a pencil, notable fine motor difficulty
- Persistent social isolation or aggression
- Any suspicion about vision or hearing
- Anything flagged at the pre-school check needs follow-up
What to practise
- 01
A fixed reading slot
How · Twenty minutes a day. They read or you read, it does not matter. What matters is that it is fixed and uninterrupted.
Why · A reading habit established before school is the most stable predictor of academic performance across primary school.
- 02
Manage their own time
How · Give them a visual timer and let them decide what to do with twenty minutes.
Why · Time awareness and self-management should be practised in low-stakes settings. Learning it when homework starts is too late.
- 03
Problem-solving conversations
How · In a conflict, ask three questions: what happened, what do you want, what could you do. Let them produce the plan.
Why · Handing them the structure rather than the answer gives them something they can use for years.
Day to day
- A full check before school: vision, hearing, teeth, growth
- Oral hygiene during the change of teeth; fissure sealants for permanent molars
- Keep the school bag under 10% of body weight, and watch posture and lighting
- Teach what to do in an emergency: parents’ phone numbers, how to ask for help
Common questions
- Do they need a school-prep class?
- If self-care, attention and expression are fine at preschool, usually not. The content gets repeated in year one, and "I already know this" is a real source of classroom disengagement that teachers report. Reading and outdoor time are better uses of the hours.
- Their handwriting is a mess. Normal?
- Yes. The small muscles and bones of the hand mature around 6-7. Before neatness, secure the pencil grip, the sitting posture, and the willingness to write at all.