Four-year-olds love to sing and rhyme. You can teach them the basics of words that rhyme by playing the rhyming game. You can start by saying, "I'm thinking of a word that rhymes with cat." For children who are more familiar with words and the alphabet, you can even say, "The word I'm thinking of starts with the letter H." This not only gives them a clue, but helps them familiarize them with word composition.
Any colorful candy will do, but M&M's work best. Begin by dumping the candy out on the table. You can then have your 4-year-old separate them into groups by color. Then have her make a straight line out of each group, and proceed to count the number of candy pieces in that line. This strengthens her counting skills. Once done, she can tell you which group had the most pieces of candy. Of course her reward is eating the candy.
Before your next trip to town, pick a letter or two from the alphabet you want your child to begin recognizing. On your way to town, have your child pick out that letter or letters on road signs, store signs and restaurant signs. Tell him he is spying on his ABCs to make it even more fun for him.
Put a twist on this childhood favorite by making your own memory cards. Buy a deck of small index cards and write simple words on them. These can include the words "the," "am" and "we." Make a double set of cards for each word and have them flip and find the two words that are identical. When they find the match, go over the word with them. Use the same words for one week before moving onto a new set of words.