Preschool ideas

Krissy Livingston asked me this morning if I had any suggestions for teaching preschooler basics at home. We didn't get to finish our discussion - as is typical at church - so I've decided to list them here in case anyone else is interested (not that I'm an expert, but it's always nice to get fresh ideas from other moms).
Some of them are my ideas, some of them I gleaned from others. Some of them are a lot better then others, but sometimes you get desperate.

• Give your child a bag (gift bag or tote bag makes this more fun for them) and tell them to find something red to put in it. For older children you can tell them to find 3 things that start with the letter 'B'. Many variations are possible. Make sure they return the item before you give them their next 'assignment'.
• Tape a red, yellow, green and blue piece of construction paper in 4 different spots in your largest room. Using Uno cards, have your child flip over the top card and run to the construction paper corresponding to the color of Uno card they turned over. If you're up to it you can 'race' them to the color and whoever gets there first gets to turn over the next card. This can also be done with more colors and CandyLand cards...or less colors if you remove any you don't want. Another 'boy' option would be to have him fly and airplane to the appropriate 'runway'/ construction paper. Or drive a truck to the right 'garage'.
  
• Opposite charades: this is one Cathryn Johansson just told me about. Have them act out "near" by standing near you and then act out "far" by standing far from you. You can do big and small by having them reach up high and squat down low. Open and close with their eyes and mouth. Loud and Quiet, Fast and Slow. If you use props you could do full and empty, up and down ect... It might work for older kids to do the opposite of what you ask them to do.
• If you have animal crackers for a snack (or something similar) you can give your child "money" (poker chips) to pay for individual crackers. You can say "this cracker will cost 4 coins." They will have to count out the right amount for each cracker. Some crackers can 'cost' more then others.
• Use a muffin tin to have your child sort out different colored beads. Each well is a different color.
• When you want to clean up all the toys, have the children play "Yes, Mommy." Noelle actually tolerates this about once a week but I don't know if that's normal. You remind them that to obey means to say "yes mommy" and then obey, right away, all the way the happy way. Then say "Noelle." To which she replies "Yes, mommy". Then you give your instruction "Take your shoes back to your room." For some reason when I say we're practicing "yes, Mommy," she wants to show me how well she can do.
• To teach your child how to accept and a appreciate a gift I take an old gift bag, put in any toy (not a new one), put tissue paper on top. Give your child the 'gift' and have them open it. Instruct them how to open the gift, look the giver in the eyes and say thank you. As Noelle's gotten older we've taught her to say something nice about the gift. "I love the color." "I've been hoping for one of these."
  
• Use "Memory Game" cards to have toddlers find matches (face up)
• Rhyming 'I Spy' - "I spy something on your feet that rhymes with fox. What is it?" "I spy something on your head that rhymes with chair."
• Use the grocery store flyers to have your child circle all the 1's. Another time have them circle the 2's. If you want to go a step further, you can cut out the numbers and help the child glue the numbers on a piece of construction paper. Hang up the pages so your child can see a page of 1's, a page of 2's etc...
• Write or print out a page of letters from the computer and have your child use a highlighter to trace them.
• Play "what doesn't belong?" by having your child look around and find something that is out of place and put it where it belongs (cleaning up in disguise). They get to mark a point for every item then find that 'doesn't belong' that they put away correctly.