Colors:

• Notice colors in nature and as you are driving around town. How many cars are blue?  How many red stop signs do you stop at?
• Play a guessing game.  “I see something that is red.”  Have your child guess what it is.  Then take turns letting your child name something.
• Have a color day.  Maybe eat all green foods for lunch.  Have everyone in your family wear a red shirt one day.  Things like that!
• Practice writing color names by having your child take a poll of your family’s favorite colors.

Shapes:

• Play “I Spy.”  Begin with easy clues and work up to more difficult ones.  For example, “I spy something round.”  “It’s a circle.”  “It tells us what time it is.” 
• Eat shape snacks.  Make a sandwich and cut it into different shapes with cookie cutters.  Or try to nibble part of it into a circle, or a triangle.
• Cookie Sheet Shape Games.  See handout for shapes. 
• Shape Munchies.  Using your child’s favorite kinds of cereal (Lucky Charms work great!!) have them sort by color, shape, size, etc. 
• Shape Monster Game. 

Counting:

• Count the steps needed to walk from the sidewalk to the front door (or any two places).  Try to walk the same distance with fewer and with more steps.
• Have fun outside and moving.  Take turns hopping, skipping, jumping, or side stepping a certain number of times. 
• Count the number of cars on a passing train, cars stopped at a traffic light, ball bounces, jump rope counts, and so on. 
• Practice counting things! You can have them count candy, such as M&M's, or clothes, or the dots on dice.  
• If you have games like Chutes and Ladders or Monopoly, etc., it will give them lots of practice counting the dice and the squares they move past on the game board.
• Start a family penny jar.  Count them from time to time. 
• Have your child help set the table - He/she will need to count the family members and the place settings while doing so.
• Set your child down at the kitchen table with a small muffin tin filled with muffin liners.  Write a number on the bottom of each liner from 1-6 (or 1-12 if using a 12 count muffin tin).  Give your child a small pile of items (pennies, nuts, pieces of cereal, buttons, etc).  Have your child place items in each cup that corresponds with the number written on each liner. 

Patterns:

• Use the calendar to mark off the days making a pattern.  You can use different color markers to cross off the day, or stickers even.
• Listen to a pattern and then repeat it.  Take turns making patterns with your child.  For example, Clap, clap, snap. 
• Look for patterns on clothing, wall paper, tiles on the floor, etc.
• Pattern Munchies.  Using your child’s favorite kinds of cereal (Lucky Charms work great!!) have them make a pattern using the different shapes or colors.    
• A Pattern Necklace.  Use colored noodles, beads, or Fruit Loop cereal to make a patterned necklace or bracelet. 

Sorting:

• Help with the laundry.  Your child could help you sort out all of the socks or shirts.  Or sort by color.
• Help put the dishes away.   Sort the silverware.  Make piles of spoons, forks, etc.
• Sorting toys!  Have your child explain how they sorted.  Did they make a pile of vehicles?  Or maybe they sorted by things with wheels, and things without. 

Number Recognition:

• Play Go Fish! Or any kind of card game.  This is a great game for practicing number recognition.
• Phone Number Bingo.  Your child can learn their phone number AND number recognition at the same time.  Take turns being the number caller.
• Family Number Lotto.  See handout.
• There are a lot of number games to play while driving.  Here are some examples:
  • Have your child find the speed limit sign, and make sure you are going the correct speed when they read it to you!  : )
  • Play the license plate game with numbers.  Have them look for a 1 on a license plate. Then have them find a 2, then a 3 and so on.
• Have a Number Hunt! 
  "How many places in the house can you find numbers?"
  On clocks, calendars, the phone, remote controls, timers, rulers, etc.

Letter Recognition:

• Make your own letter photo books, a "B Objects"
• Let your child finger paint different letters.
• Give your child a box lid filled with a layer of salt, to write letters in.
• Have your child make letters with play dough.
• Make letter pretzels.
• Buy some letter stamps for your child to use.
• Look for favorite letters in the newspaper.
• Buy large cardboard letters to make puzzles out of at craft stores.
• Draw a letter on a piece of paper, say it's sound. Have your child think of a word that starts with that sound. Write that word for your child to see.
• Have your child look for the letters in her name on road signs.
• Cut letters out of pieces of sandpaper, for your child to trace with their finger and to also use for making letter rubbings.

General Math Skills:

• Give your child a set of measuring cups.  Have them line them up on the table by order of their size, biggest to smallest.  Next ask him/her to place something in the smallest cup (such as a raisin).  Continue as long as interest lasts.  You could continue with, asking him/her to place 3 raisins in the middle size cup, and 5 raisins in the largest size cup, etc.