Let children combine their writing and art skills to create their own books. Give each child four or five pieces of paper. Choose a topic based on a recent lesson, or assign a more general topic such as feelings or holidays. Whatever topic you choose, explain what you want children to draw on the first page. For instance, if you're making a book about feelings, ask children to draw pictures of themselves when they feel angry. Once their first pages are done, give children assignments for what to draw on the second page and so forth. Let children create covers for their books, then staple all their pages together.
Help children form their own opinions and practice public speaking skills by doing informal book reports. Bring in a few dozen books from the library. Spread the books out and ask each child to pick one. Ask them to look through the books and study the pictures. Once everyone's finished, gather the class up in a circle. Ask each child to show his book to the class. Ask him if he liked the book, what he thinks it's about and if he thinks his classmates would like it. Give each child a chance to present his book to the group.
Let children come up with their own interpretations of what characters look like. Bring in a new story book that you haven't read to the class before. Set children up at tables with paper and art supplies. Read them the entire story without showing them any pictures. Ask them to try to imagine what is happening as you read each page. Once you've finished, start the book over again. Give children two or three minutes after each page to draw an illustration of what they picture is happening in those pages.
Many preschoolers will be much more captivated by an audio recording of a book than they will be when you read it. They'll be even more interested in listening to a recording of themselves reading a favorite book. Bring in a tape recorder and choose a book that's popular with your students. One at a time, have students come up to the tape recorder. Recite the first line of the story to the first child. Turn the tape recorder on and have her repeat it. Turn the recorder off, then call up another child to record the next line.