My philosophy for anyone working with preschool children is that the teacher must have a full resource file of fun ways to teach things to preschoolers. When you think of a preschool child, 3-5 year olds, the first things that come to mind are boundless energy, curiosity, and constant motion to name just a few.

The preschool teacher has to enter the classroom, much as the ringmaster and head clown enter the arena for the circus! You need to capture the attention and imagination of your students and then maintain the interest to teach them all about their world and the one that lies ahead of them.

You are providing them the tools that they will need. These include the basics of letters, colors, numbers, spatial relations, gross motor and fine motor skills and the more complex skills of socialization, manners, self respect and respect for others. Luckily there are fun ways to teach things to preschoolers in all of these areas.

Letters, Numbers and Shapes

When I teach letters, numbers or shapes, I like to start with gross motor skills. Make the letter of the day on the floor using masking tape or painter's tape. This should be at least two to three feet high. Then have the children take turns tracing the design with their hand; then ask them to walk on the outline of the letter or design; or even give them small matchbox size cars to move along the shape. This gives them a full body sense of the figure they are learning.

Next I have them use trays or activity tables with child safe foam soap and ask them to trace the letter or shape in the foam. They love doing this and if they mess up it is so easy to smooth out and try again and again.

Treasure Hunts

Treasure hunts are always popular with my preschoolers! You can revise these in so many ways and they never tire of searching for the right letter, shape, color, etc. You can hide letters around the room and have them find the letters that are in their name, or the letter(s) that are being studied that week. Have them pick up an object in the room and state what it is. Next see if they can tell you the sound of the first letter and then find that letter in the room.

Tell them you are thinking of something in a particular color (blue for example) and ask them to find the right color matching card from the ones that you have hidden around the room. They learn to discriminate the colors when they find a color card and decide if this is the correct color you have mentioned.

As you see, these are all types of games where they are actively engaged, thinking, listening, and most important, having fun while learning.

When teaching your three to six year olds your key goal is to be sure that your children enjoyed themselves and had fun during the lesson. Any learning that takes place is an excellent bonus, not the end goal. You want to keep their love of learning and exploration.

The expectations for a preschooler need to be kept in balance with their abilities. Placing expectations that are too high will result in losing the fun ways to teach things to preschool and bring about stress, frustration and loss of their interest in participating. Keep in mind that the PROCESS of learning is the key, not the end result. What an excellent reason to have fun ways to teach things to preschoolers!

Mary Robinson has been teaching preschool for well over a decade. You can get instant access to her preschool activities, crafts, and lesson plans by visiting her website:

Preschool Teaching Plans http://www.mypreschoolplan.com/teaching-preschool/index.html

For a limited time, all visitors to Mary's site will also get a free copy of her special report: "The 7 Biggest Mistakes Preschool Teachers and Parents Make". Go get your free copy today!