Stock shelves in the room with books appropriate for preschool students. Books that engage young readers not only with text but also pictures are important, because children love to look while they read. These pictures can help move a story along or inform. If you're going to read to students, find books where words rhyme, or you can create character's voices or sounds, like a lion's roar or a squeaky mouse, to keep the children's attention. Set up space in the room where everyone can sit down in a group on a soft carpet, on mats or small chairs.
Place several large magnets, a few plants, magnifying glasses, rock collections, an aquarium and other assorted science and nature-friendly projects together on a large table near the back of the room. Teach children to water the plants every day when they come to school, and measure how fast and how high it grows. Give different students the responsibility of feeding the fish every day. This is a great way to open up a child's eyes to the world around them.
Cut out 26 small squares of cardboard, approximately post-card sized, and use a red magic marker to write each letter of the English alphabet on them. Cut out 10 more pieces and write the numerals 0 to 9 on these. Hang the cardboard letters and numbers up, using tacks or tape, so they can easily be seen from any part of the room. During school, the children can take turns learning to spell small words or do addition and subtraction, while you point to corresponding cards. Reserve a shelf for standard flash cards, picture cards and other easily accessible items that allow children to spell and do math problems on their own.
Set up several painting easels in another section of the room, and stock nearby shelves with several colors of tempera paint, watercolors, construction paper, paintbrushes, finger paints, crayons, markers, colored pencils, glue and scissors. A well-stocked art center for your preschoolers is essential for teaching about art and showing them how to unleash inner creativity. One of the first projects you can have the children do is create a large sign that reads "ART CENTER," with everyone drawing or painting on different parts of the sign, so that their talent is on display for everyone to see.