Here are some tips and activities that I have used successfully with the children in my program:
Display books that tie in with the season or a theme and include fiction and non-fiction. Rotate your selection weekly. Read to the children every day individually and in groups. Sing songs, do finger plays and recite poems. When weather permits bring books with you when you go outside. We enjoy reading under the trees and in our jungle gym loft.
Publish a quarterly newspaper. Include photocopies of the children's artwork and copies of their written or dictated stories. I always contribute something too. I write a story or poem and each of the children are in it.
Use puppets to tell stories or read books. Write a puppet show with the children and put it on for the parents.
Extend stories the children are familiar with by acting them out or make flannel board pieces to go with the story. I watch children as young as 24 months read Brown Bear, Brown Bear using the flannel board pieces. A few bowls, spoons, carpet squares and a spider puppet are all the props needed when I recite "All of the Muffets sat on their tuffets..." Change the story . . . ask open-ended questions such as "If you sat on a bee, what would you do?" or "If you were driving the bus, where would you go?" Write down the children's answers.
Choose a book that the children have not heard and allow them to read the story. Look at the cover and decide together what the title should be. Then as you turn the pages let them read (make up) the story.
Go fishing for letters. Put your magnetic letters in a bucket (no water needed) and use a dowel with a string attached for the pole. Tie a magnet to the string and you are ready for fishing. Encourage the children to identify the letters they catch. Younger children can try to identify the color.
Write individual or group stories. Using the easel or a large piece of paper, start a story. "Once upon a time there was a turtle who went to the library. . ." Ask the children "What happened next?" Write it down and keep going . . . "Then what happened?" Encourage everyone to participate. When it's finished the children will enjoy having it read back to them.
Set up a Post Office. Cartons that are divided into six sections work well. I tape the cartons together (two or three high) and then write the children's names with a photo of them attached in each section. Include a table with paper, pens, pencils, envelopes, stamps, and washable ink pads and you're all set. Blank price stickers make great stamps and come 1000 to a box. Add your junk mail and a few small cartons for realistic extras.
When you are cooking with the children use a recipe with words and pictures so the younger children can follow along. Older children can cook independently this way.
Have fun with words. Children enjoy word games such as . . . silly rhymes like "macaroni and sneeze;" giving objects the wrong names "Oh, you have red marbles (grapes) and green trees (broccoli) for lunch;" and riddles to solve . . . "I'm thinking of an animal that lives on a farm that has a curly tail and likes mud..."
Make experience charts. For instance, when we do our sink or float experiment, we make a chart with each item to be put in the water (e.g., ball, cork, lego, toy car, ect.) and columns for our predictions and the results.
If you go on field trips, contact your local library and see if you can set up a group story time once a month. If you are a small group and the librarian is reluctant to accommodate you, team up with another group. Invite the librarian to visit you.
While you are doing activities, during transition times, and at meal times, talk about and describe what is happening. Discuss the events of the day. Ask about the children's evenings, mornings and weekends. Listen carefully to their responses. This will help each child's vocabulary grow.
Get the parents involved. Ask them to encourage their child to bring books from home to share. If possible reciprocate . .. allow children to borrow books from you. A clipboard sign-out sheet is a must to keep track of your books.