Make a fruit salad. Preschoolers are generally very literal thinkers, and associating particular fruits with the fruits of the spirit will help them learn the traits. Purchase fruit to correlate with each fruit of the spirit; for example, strawberries are often associated with love, apples with self-control and grapes with kindness. As you add each fruit to the salad, explain its meaning and ask the children to provide examples of how they can use the concept in their own lives.
Preschoolers love to color, so have them create their own coloring and story books about the fruits of the spirit. Print out blank pages with pictures of various fruits, and have the children color the pictures before stapling them together in book form. Write out the fruits of the spirit on separate sheets of paper, and have children glue the words to each page with the corresponding fruit. This activity will help reinforce the connection between the physical fruits and the conceptual fruit of the spirit. As an alternative to creating a book, preschoolers could color and cut out the fruits, and add them to a paper tree or basket.
While associating the fruits of the spirit with actual fruit can provide a tangible lesson in the Biblical concept, you can teach the actual fruits of the spirit to preschoolers through other activities. Explain each fruit to the children, and provide examples of how to display that fruit. To reinforce the lesson, create a photo book or collage. Have children look through magazines and cut or tear out pictures that demonstrate the fruits of the spirit; for example, a picture of two people hugging could demonstrate love. Children can then add the pictures to their own scrapbook bound together with staples or yarn, or create a class collage of all of the pictures collected by the students.
Children can learn a lot about patience, gentleness, faith and joy by planting seeds. Provide small containers, potting soil and seeds, and help the children plant their seeds. Planting seeds and caring for them can help children visualize the concept of reaping what they sow, and how plants need love and care in order to grow.