Review the letters of the alphabet with your child. You can create a file folder activity to come up with a letter matching game that will help your child identify capital and lowercase letters. On one flap of the file folder write a list of capital letters. On the other flap of the file folder write a list of lowercase letters. Make sure the letters are not in the same order. Give the file folder game to your child and have her draw a line between the letters that match. Another alphabet activity is to take alphabet blocks and roll them onto the floor. Ask your child to read you the letters that are facing up on the blocks. Create a game out of it by giving her points for each letter she gets right.
It is a good idea to work on your child's counting skills before he gets to kindergarten. Counting games can be played in a variety of ways. A simple way is to take your child's favorite snack, such as grapes or pretzels, and have him count the number of them that you place in front of him. You can also turn this activity into a sorting game, especially if you use foods that come in different colors or shapes. For instance, place purple and green grapes into a bowl and have your child pull out all of the green ones and put them into a pile. Then, have him pull out all of the purple ones. This activity helps with color identification.
Your child may already be able to do some basic reading. If so, practice reading simple books with her out loud so that she gets used to identifying words and hearing herself say them. You can incorporate some reading comprehension activities to help strengthen her reading knowledge. For instance, read a simple story and then have your child summarize to you what the main points of the story were. Or, while you are reading a story together, ask questions along the way so that your child is forced to think about the events taking place in the story.
Identifying shapes will help your child succeed in kindergarten. You can start off by purchasing a container of colorful foam shapes, or making shapes out of construction paper. Put the shapes into a pile and have your child pull out the ones that you name, such as circle, triangle and star. Or, have your child create a shape collage using various shapes that he cuts out from magazines, pictures or images that you draw. This activity will expose him to how shapes look when they are next to each other.