Finger plays are little rhyming songs in which children use their fingers to act out a song. These songs help keep the children engaged in the activity and increase word recognition. The songs can vary according to age group. One song, "Five Little Fishies," uses rhyming words and the numbers one through five. Children imitate the fish swimming and use their fingers to count the number of fish. This activity is good for children two to four years of age. The words to this song are available online at ESL4Kids.net.
Have students bring in pictures of their families, including extended family members and friends. Create a family tree for each child on medium-sized poster board. Make sure there is enough room for each picture and the correct word to identify that person. For example, one picture would be labeled "grandmother" and another "brother." The pictures can also have the names of the people. This helps reinforce family member vocabulary.
It is important to help young children recognize their own names. One way to do this is to write their names on lined paper and place their names in a variety of places. Label their chairs and move them around to different spots each day. Place the children's names in a circle during circle or story time then have the children find their names to determine where they will sit. For very young children, use a picture of each child to help them with face recognition.
A good center activity for three- and four-year-olds is simple word recognition. One way to do this is with a matching game with words and pictures. Label index cards with simple and common words, such as "boy," "girl," "dog," "cat," "baby," "hat" and "toy." Make sure these words are printed and very clear. Print or cut out pictures of the words. Mix the index cards up and have the children match the word with the correct picture.