Show enthusiasm as you read. Pick books that delight you, the children will know.
Read to the children every day.
As the children nap, sit in the room and read to them. You may be surprised at the length of books they will listen to when they are relaxed.
Talk about the pictures as you read.
Allow time for the children to ask questions, and conversation.
If a child doesn't like to sit for books, read to him while he plays quietly.
Encourage the children to make the animal sounds in books involving animals or act out the action words while you read.
Read different versions of the same story.
Illustrate poems with movement.
Act out stories and nursery rhymes
Read a story to the children. Make a tic tac toe diagram on a piece of paper. Ask the children a question about the story. If they know the answer, they make an X, if not you place an O. See who wins!
Keep a box of pictures. Have children take turns pulling one out and telling a story about it.
Have a special blanket or rug to sit on to take a magical trip to story land when you tell stories.
Have children make puppets to go along with their favorite stories.
Pick a theme and read as many books as you can find on that theme. Support the books with objects relating to it to play with and reenact the stories afterwards.
Children pick out an animal cracker and tell a story about their animal.
Select a stuffed animal and tell about his adventures.
Name your tongues. Make up a story and have your tongue act out the part.
Have each child bring in a piece of material from an old piece of clothing. Lay the pieces down together in quilt form. Each child shares the history of the piece of material how it was a part of his or her life.
Talk about different body parts. Name them. Talk about how each part is used and how we take care of it. Cut pictures out of magazines of body parts and make mini books with the information.
Read stories or poems to the children, leaving out words or phrases. The children can guess what the missing words might be.
Have children take turns repeating numbers after you. They should be able to repeat as many numbers as their age. As the child becomes good at this, increase the amount of time between numbers as you say them.
Show children pictures of conflict. Talk about peaceful solutions. Use puppets to act out the situation.
Everyone sits in a circle. One person starts with "I'm going to Grandma's and I will take my________. The next child repeats it and names one more thing he would bring to Grandmas. The third child repeats the first two and adds one of his own. Continue around the circle and see how many items you can remember. If a child has trouble remembering, his friends can help him out.
Give a child an object. Have him examine it and tell one thing about it. He passes it on to the next child who tells one more thing and so on until you have exhausted all ideas of things to tell.
Have the children imagine they are a tree that is about to be chopped down. What would they become - table, boat, chairs, Christmas tree.
For three minutes talk to each other in whisper voices. Try slow voices, loud voices, shaky voices, silly voices etc.
Ask children to think about what they would wish for their families or friends to make their lives happier. Draw pictures of your visions.
Take turns asking questions. The only rule of this game is that your can't use the words "yes" or "no" when you answer. Require complete sentences.
Use a magic wand to turn on the stars. Chant together: "Star light, star bright, First star I've seen tonight I wish I may, I wish I might Have the wish I wish tonight. Ask the children what they would wish for if they could wish on a star
Give the children a verbal list of three or four items to find. Tell them only once so they need to listen very carefully. Continue to add more items to the list - how many can they remember?
*Submitted by Sherry