While your child will not emerge from preschool fully literate, this is the time when he starts to learn about the alphabet. According to an article in "Parenting" magazine, literary skill building generally starts for children at age 3 in preschool. The teacher will start reciting the alphabet for the children and encourage them to write out the individual letters. She will also associate the letters with common words such as saying "A" is for "apple."
Simple counting skills and science lessons start in preschool. Children at age 3 will start learning to count small numbers with the guidance of their teacher. Scientific education can start at any time, but the teacher will keep it simple. For example, the teacher may provide children with magnifying glasses so they can go examine grass and bugs in the play yard. The teacher may also point out different types of animals in storybooks, or let the children make their own play creations.
Children of all ages in preschool get a rudimentary education in history. This can be something like an edited version of the first Thanksgiving or the gist of the story behind Independence Day. Most of the lessons revolve around domestic history for the sake of simplicity. The information the children receive in preschool builds a foundation for when they enter primary school, but most of the facts they learn have high levels of editing to make the lesson child-friendly.
Social and motor skills are arguably one of the most important parts of preschool. The education is an ongoing process for all the children. The toys provided in the preschool should stimulate the motor skills of the children and test their physical limits. For example, the jungle gym challenges children to climb, grip and twist around, showing the children their physical limits. While playing with the toys, they should interact together and learn important social skills such as sharing, working together and resolving disputes.