To introduce colors to your preschoolers, purchase a large, plush yellow duck to display in the classroom. Tell the children the color of the duck and ask them to repeat it after you. Then give each child paper and yellow crayons, and ask them to draw the duck, along with other things that are yellow, such as bananas, corn on the cob and the sun.
Give your child a group of small rubber duckies to practice counting with him. For instance, hand him three duckies and keep three on your side of the table. Ask him to count the ducks he has and to count the ones you have. Then add one of your ducks to his group and ask him to count his duckies again. Continue to add ducks to his pile to help him understand the concept of addition, then take away one duck at a time as an early lesson in subtraction.
Teach your preschoolers the concept of size by presenting them with big and little ducks to color. Give each child a coloring sheet with a large duck and two or three small ducks. Ask the children which ducks are little and which ducks are big, and help the preschoolers to further understand size by asking them to color the big duck yellow and the small ducks orange. Cut the ducks out once they're colored, and help your children glue them to craft sticks to use in a puppet show.
Introduce or review the letter D with your preschooler, and use the ducks as a visual aid. For instance, take a picture of your daughter's rubber duckie and ask her what is in the picture. When she answers, explain to her that the word "duck" begins with the letter D. Pronounce the word slowly so your little one can see how your mouth moves and repeat after you. Then give her construction paper and crayons. Draw a D in the center of the paper, and help your child come up with other words that start with D, such as dog, so she can draw the images on the paper.