Preschool is a very defining time for a child. The foundations of important concepts and ideas are laid in preschool. In the content area of English, for example, the foundations of reading and writing are learned. If you are a preschool educator, consider using some of these activities to introduce children to English education.

Letter Sounds
One of the most important English concepts that children begin to learn in preschool is letter-sound recognition--that is, understanding the sounds that letters make. Foster a comprehension of this concept using this activity. On a piece of paper, print the letter that you are studying in upper- and lower-case formation. Provide glue and paint brushes for children. Have them dip their paint brushes in glue and help them trace the formation of the letters. This will provide letter-writing practice. Once they have traced the letters with glue, provide a concrete object that begins with the letters they have traced. For example, if the letter is G, provide green glitter. Review the sound the letters make and help them cover the letter G in green glitter.

Rainbow Writing
Put children's enjoyment of using crayons and markers to use for teaching beginning writing skills. On paper, print an upper- and lower-case letter. Provide crayons and markers. Have the children trace the letters in a variety of colors. They will enjoy writing in a rainbow of colors and learning how to properly print letters.

Match the Letter
In this activity, children match pictures of words to the letters they begin with. On a large piece of poster board, print the letters of the alphabet. From clip art, print a variety of images that begin with the letter you are studying. Hold up the images and ask children what letter the image begins with. For example, if you hold up a picture of a balloon, children should tell you that it begins with a B. Once the correct letter has been decided, ask a volunteer to tape the image under the correct letter on the poster board. Display the poster board so that it can be used as a reference.

Sight Word Muncher
Children will have fun learning how to read sight words while feeding them to a word muncher. Buy a small trash can with a lid that can be pushed in, like a mouth. Turn the trash can into a monster by gluing googly eyes on it, as well as a mouth. On pieces of paper, print out the same sight word five times. For example, print the words "and," "the," "but" and "or" five times on different pieces of paper. Place the words on the floor in front of the word muncher. Tell children that the word muncher is hungry for the word "and." Children can "feed" the word muncher only the pieces of paper that say "and."