Preschoolers use their senses to learn about their bodies and their environments, so a sensory center allows children to explore these things. Fill several large plastic buckets with dry sand, wet sand, water or dried rice and add some plastic tools and toys for children to play with. Give each child a chance to play at each container, then ask children to make comparisons about what substance is hardest or heaviest. Provide cups and scales so children can measure the weight of each substance, or encourage them to make the judgment based on feel.
Young children learn to work together and build their imaginations by engaging in pretend play. A pretend play center is easy to set up, since all you need are random props such as old hats, dollar store fairy wands and plastic dishes. Any odds and ends you can find will work since half the fun of a make believe center is about pretending that a wooden block is really a diamond. Use this center to reinforce classroom lessons by encouraging children to act them out. For instance, when you're teaching a safety lesson, suggest that preschoolers act out ways to stay safe.
Building teaches preschoolers about spatial reasoning and trial and error, and asking several children to share the same pile of blocks teaches them to work together. Provide several types of building materials in your center, such as wooden and plastic blocks and empty tissue boxes. Children can use their creativity to design their own buildings, or you can provide pictures of buildings for them to try to recreate. Every time their building tips over, encourage children to start over again.
The alphabet is one of the most important things preschoolers should learn, but creating a literacy center can be challenging since children won't yet be able to read or write. Use this center to expose children to letters in as many ways as possible. Provide paper, markers, letter stencils, letter magnets, magnet boards, letter cookie cutters and play dough. When you're teaching a new letter, ask children playing in this center to create the letter using every material. They may first draw the letter, cut it out of dough, and find it in the collection of magnets.