Preschool age children will be beginning to develop basic literary skills. They will know the names of most objects they come in contact with on a daily basis and may be able to write simple sentences describing them. Give your child a selection of bricks with letters written on them, and show them objects that they know the names of, such as a shoe, an apple or a book. Ask them to spell the name of the item using the blocks in front of them. The colored bricks will make your child more interested in spelling the words than if she were simply writing them on paper.
Once your child has become confident with spelling the words with bricks, the game can be extended to help build your child's communication skills. Take some of the bricks away from your child's pile and arrange them in a pile in front of you so that your child can see the letters. Tell him that this is your pile. Show your child an object and ask him to spell the word using his letters. If he does not have the correct letters to spell the word he will need to ask you for some letters. This will help him build the problem solving, communication and literacy skills he needs to start school.
Children enjoy using their imagination and pretending, and they are better at it than many adults. Start playing a game with your child in which the two of you have to use the bricks to build towers to certain heights, to the level of a chair or table, for example. When she has built her tower, help her count how many bricks are in the tower. Begin building another tower and ask her midway through how many more bricks she thinks will be required to reach the set height. When the tower is completed, ask her how many more bricks she thinks you will need to reach another height. Asking your child these questions during playtime will help engage her with math problems and develop her mathematical skills.
Help your child build a model town with his bricks. Before you build it, ask him to decide what is important for a town to have and where each component of the town should be and why. Then set about building each part of the town with your child, but try to let him make any decisions such as how many floors each building should have or how many doors or windows to make. This game helps your child develop logic and rational thinking, important skills for when your child goes to school. Discussing the planning of the city will also help with the development of his communication skills.