Life skills for kids, ages 6 to 11

Between 6 and 11, children can learn many of the skills adults assume they picked up somewhere: brushing for two full minutes, riding a bike, tying shoes and a square knot, cracking an egg, making a bed, counting money, staying safe in deep water and getting out of a house fire. These 19 units set out what a child can do by 12, and the lessons below teach each skill step by step.

19

units

64

outcomes

29

lessons

27

on the checklist

Body

Teeth and handwashing

• Can brush with fluoride toothpaste for two minutes, twice a day
• Can clean between the teeth once a day
• Can wash hands with soap for at least 20 seconds
• Can bathe or shower and wash hair without help

1.1 Washing your hands properly1.2 Getting water out of your ear1.3 Brushing your teeth for two minutes

Movement basics

• Can ride a bike without training wheels, in a helmet that fits
• Can throw and catch a ball
• Can sit on the floor and stand up without using hands
• Can get the 60 minutes a day of active play recommended for ages 6 to 17

1.4 Riding a bike1.5 Getting up off the floor without your hands

Breathing to calm down

• Can breathe slowly to a count: in for 4, out for 6
• Can use slow breathing to settle before a test or after a fright
• Can breathe through the nose while walking

1.6 Slow breathing to calm down

Mind

Naming and managing feelings

• Can name a feeling more exactly than “fine”, “bad” or “mad”
• Can calm down with slow breathing or a grounding trick (5 things you see, 4 you touch, 3 you hear, 2 you smell, 1 you taste)
• Can cry in front of someone trusted without apologising
• Can tell an adult when a feeling is too big to manage alone

2.2 Naming what you feel2.3 Grounding yourself after a fright2.4 Letting someone see you upset

Boredom and self-direction

• Can stay bored without reaching for a screen
• Can start something from nothing: a drawing, a game, a walk
• Can finish something after it stops being interesting

2.1 Staying with boredom

People

Making friends

• Can introduce yourself and ask a question back
• Can invite someone to do something
• Can make up after a falling-out

3.1 Introducing yourself and asking a question back

Speaking up in a group

• Can ask a question in front of the class
• Can ask an adult for help
• Can speak to a group for one minute

3.2 Asking a question in front of a group

Apologising

• Can say what you did, without “but”
• Can say how it affected the other person
• Can offer to put it right, and then do it

3.3 Apologising properly

Money

Counting money

• Can count coins and bills
• Can count back change
• Can save toward something for a month

4.1 Counting back change

Safety

Water competency

• Can enter water over your head, surface, float or tread for a minute, turn around, swim 25 yards and get out
• Can put on a life jacket that fits
• Can explain why nobody swims alone

5.4 The five water survival skills

Fire safety

• Can name two ways out of every room and the family meeting place
• Can get out fast, since a home fire can leave as little as two minutes to escape
• Can test a smoke alarm and change its battery
• Can smother a pan fire with a lid and turn off the heat, never using water
• Can stop, drop and roll

5.2 Plan two ways out in a fire5.5 Test a smoke alarm and change its battery5.9 Put out a pan fire with a lid5.10 How is a fire extinguisher used? The PASS method

Personal safety for children

• Can say no to any adult who asks for a secret from parents
• Can use a family code word
• Can tell a trusted adult what happened

Information

Mental math

• Can find 10% by moving the decimal point, and build 15% and 20% from it
• Can estimate a total before the cashier says it
• Can tell when a number is too big or too small to be right

6.1 Work out a tip in your head

Searching well

• Can tell a paid ad from a search result
• Can choose search words that find the thing
• Can check a fact in two independent places

Kitchen

First kitchen skills

• Can crack an egg cleanly
• Can measure with cups, spoons or a scale
• Can follow a short recipe in order
• Can make a sandwich and clear up after it

7.2 Cracking an egg cleanly7.3 Following a recipe and measuring accurately

Home

Making a bed and folding clothes

• Can make a bed with the sheet flat and tucked
• Can fold a T-shirt and pair socks
• Can pack its own school bag

8.1 Making a bed with tucked corners

Hands

Tying shoes

• Can tie a bow that holds
• Can double-knot it
• Can re-lace a shoe after a lace comes out

9.1 Tying shoelaces that stay tied

Paper, post and handwriting

• Can wrap a box-shaped present neatly
• Can address an envelope with a return address and put the stamp top right
• Can write by hand so a stranger can read it

9.2 How to wrap a present9.3 Addressing an envelope

Knots

• Can tie a square knot and tell it from a granny knot
• Can tie a bowline, a fixed loop that doesn't slip
• Can tie a clove hitch around a post
• Can tie a figure-eight stopper knot

9.4 Tying a square knot (reef knot)9.5 How to tie a clove hitch9.10 Tying a bowline

Take the 2-minute test