Get a list from the school your child will attend, your parenting group or your doctor of the skills a child is expected to have prior to starting school. Consult the list and set realistic goals such as "counting to 10 and doing basic adding and subtracting," "knowing the alphabet and the sounds," and "recognizing shapes." Use this list to monitor how well you are doing with the games. Develop more learning games if you aren't progressing as quickly as you would like.
Play with the alphabet. Stress the sound of each letter and ask what it is. Hang an alphabet chart at a height your child can reach. Have her point to the correct letter when you say, for example, "Bbbbbread, what letter is that?"
Label objects around the house, such as chair, mat, bed. Ask your child to tell you the letters in each word and then to sound it out and identify it with the object it describes.
Get a big clock with movable hands and start a telling-the-time game. Teach the four quadrants -- 12, 3, 6 and 9. Explain the long hand and short hand and proceed to more advanced concepts, such as "10 after 11." Although many clocks are now digital, it is important for children to understand the concept of time and how it relates to a clock.
Get some objects for your child to count, such as ten small colored balls. After learning the numbers from one to ten, introduce on concept of adding and subtracting by adding and taking away the number of balls. After they learn the numbers, flash cards can be added to associate the numerals with the number of objects and reinforce the concepts.
Learn shapes with cookie-cutters. Dip the cookie-cutters into tempera paint and then print the design on paper. Cut out the shapes, have your child color them and hang them around the house. Identify squares, circles, ovals, triangles, rectangles, stars, diamonds and hearts.
Work on eye-hand coordination skills by giving your child drawing and tracing books that are available at local bookshops. Staying within the lines when coloring and painting is another skill to work on.
Introduce guessing games such as "I spy with my little eye" to teach colors. This game is also good for teaching vocabulary words for items found around the house and seen outdoors.