According to the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood, only 44.1% of Kentucky children and 43.5% of Logan County children were ready to enter kindergarten in 2022. The Kentucky State University Area Agent for Family and Consumer Science and the Logan County Cooperative Extension Service, in partnership with the Allen, Logan, and Simpson County Early Childhood Council, seek to improve kindergarten readiness in Logan County by engaging and educating families with children ages three to five.

The Preschool Pumpkin Days (held in October) and Preschool Spring Fling (held in March) programs were designed to educate families about the domains of kindergarten readiness: cognitive, language and communication, physical well-being, social and emotional, and self-help. The programs were implemented by the Kentucky State University Area FCS Agent, Logan County Extension Agents, and family resource directors from Logan County and Russellville Independent school systems.

60 preschoolers attended Preschool Pumpkin Days and 75 preschoolers attended Preschool Spring Fling with their families. The preschoolers were provided with resources and activities to practice kindergarten readiness skills including healthy eating, literacy, physical activity, self-help skills, gross and fine motor skills and social skills. In addition, parents were provided information on school readiness as well as training on how each provided resource could be used to teach and reinforce school readiness skills. Only 18% of parents in attendance felt that their child was ready for kindergarten before the event, according to a school readiness survey. Several parents stated that they intended to use the resources provided to help their child practice skills and become kindergarten ready.