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Lucie begins her first day of pre-K this afternoon, and is so excited to start! A wonderful book from Random House that captures this feeling is Kindergarten Countdown by Anna Jane Hays and illustrated by Lind Davick.

A little girl named Lucy counts off the days by naming what she’ll do in kindergarten, what she’ll wear, and what she’ll learn. The countdown is a great way to prepare kids for that exciting first day of school (if you have a preschooler or in my case a pre-K’er, then substitute the right grade when you’re reading it out loud).

Not only was I thrilled that the main character had the same name (though spelled differently) as my daughter, the book captured the excitement and all the things she had to look forward to - making friends, playing games, practicing writing, using your manners, and so on.

Activities
This would be a really fun book to use as a countdown to the days leading up to school. You could read Kindergarten Countdown and combine it with a calendar. Assign an activity like “buy school supplies” or “pick out school clothes” to the days before school starts. You could also make time to come up with snack and lunch box menus. Each time you do a countdown to school activity, you could discuss all the exciting things they will be doing, and answer any questions your son or daughter may have.

If your child is apprehensive about his or her first day, having a Kindergarten Countdown activity would be a good way to help them through their fears. You may even want to combine the calendar with a “dry run” by getting up early, getting dressed, getting their backpack ready, and pretending to wait for the school bus, or walking or driving to school. Many schools have open houses before the first official day, and that’s a great opportunity for your child to walk around the school, meet the teachers, and find out where the bathrooms are.

More Bento School Lunch Ideas
Are you tired of bento box lunches yet? I hope not because they’re so fun to look at even if you’d never take time to make them. Check out Laptop Lunches, a website featuring American-style bento boxes designed to help book, The Laptop Lunch User’s Guide: Fresh Ideas for Making Wholesome, Earth-friendly Lunches Your Kids Will Love. (A good pairing with this book is Ann Cooper’s Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children.)

Another site to check out is the Lunch in a Box blog. Blogger “Biggie” makes bento boxes for her preschooler, “Bug.” Read her Need for speed: A mommy’s lunch manifesto. I’m very inspired by this wonderful blog, though I’m not sure how much bento box creativity I can get out of PB&J and pudding - the only two things my son Nathan wants to eat for lunch these days.

(And thanks to The Common Room: Recipe Carnival - LUNCH for the bento links and other great lunch ideas.)

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