A deck of cards can help preschoolers learn to name and recognize images. To play the game an adult will need to remove the royalty cards, King, Queen and Jack, from two standard decks of cards, keeping each set separate. The preschool child gets one set and you keep the other set for yourself. The adult then spreads her cards out facing the child so he can see all of them right side up. The child turns over one of his cards and then tries to match his over-turned card to one of your cards. Your preschool child will learn to match like objects and to identify the royal images, as well as the suits--hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs.
As preschool-age children become able to recognize shapes and pictures, you can engage them in a card game that will strengthen those skills. For this game you can use multicolored construction paper to make four cards per each sheet of paper by folding the sheets of paper in half width-wise and in half again. Then you'll need to cut out the "cards" you created by folding the paper. Draw or paste matching images on the cards. For example, draw a picture of a cat on four cards with matching colors.
To play, an adult should divide the cards into two decks, holding on to one complete set of images and passing the other set around to the children. The adult tells the children to lay their cards face-up on the table or their desks. The adult then draws a card from their deck and asks the children who has the cards that match that image. The winners are the children who successfully identify the images of all their cards by matching them with yours. (Hint: Every child will probably win).
The game of War is a basic card game in which two people are dealt a half of a full deck of cards. Each person turns over a card. The person who has the highest card keeps both cards. The winner is the person who has the most cards. You can use War to teach preschool children to recognize numbers, shapes and to count.
This version can be played with one or two children. Adults should maintain a teaching dialogue with the child during the game. For example, when a child turns over a "4" card, the adult can say, "That is a 4 of hearts." When the adult lays down his card, he can say, "This card is a 2 of diamonds." Then the adult should explain to the child, "Your 4 is higher than my 2, so you win and get to keep both cards." For further learning, you can add that 4 plus 2 equals 6.