Music reaches more of a child’s senses than simply his hearing. Music exposes children to a variety of stimuli and may actually help their brains build stronger pathways. Use music to teach children about any topic you wish. When you’re talking about weather, make up a song about the water cycle. When you want to teach children about animals, sing “Old McDonald Had a Farm,” adding in all the animals and animals sounds you can think of.
Playing pretend has many benefits beyond simply keeping preschoolers entertained. Dressing up in costumes, working in a play kitchen and setting up a pretend store require children to work together and help them get an understanding of how the world works. These activities also can teach children practical concepts about literacy and counting. For instance, in a play kitchen, children can examine the words on food boxes. In a pretend grocery store, preschoolers can use play money to learn about counting and budgeting.
Art projects are always beneficial because they help preschoolers develop fine motor skills that will later make learning to write easier. Make books about letter sounds by asking each preschooler to draw pictures of objects that start with the letter and binding the pages together to make one book for the class to share. Make nutrition collages to teach preschoolers about healthy eating. Pass out magazines and ask children to pull out photos of healthy foods to glue to sheets of paper. To teach children about kindness and charity, make construction paper cards to send to a retirement home or veterans’ center.
Bringing special guests into your preschool classroom opens your students’ eyes to new topics while also helping them build and practice social skills. Invite a dentist to come talk about dental hygiene, or ask a mail carrier to come explain how the postal system works. This is an opportunity to talk to your students about how to behave around adults as well as giving them practice with polite listening and with raising their hands to ask questions. After guests leave, read books about the speaker’s topic and teach children some new related vocabulary words.