Magical Disappearances
For this educational game you need a small blackboard and a bowl of water. Start by dipping your finger in the bowl of water and then use your finger to write a letter of the alphabet on the blackboard. The nursery kids must identify the letter and the sound that goes along with the letter before it disappears. Once the children get better at identifying letters, have them take turns dipping their fingers in the bowl of water and writing a letter in the blackboard while everyone names the letter and sound. Nursery kids love the excitement of seeing the letters disappear.
Lady Bug Counting
You will need dried Lima beans, red paint and a black marker. Color the dried Lima beans with red paint on both sides. When dry, add spots to the dried Lima beans with a black permanent marker. Count and sort the "ladybugs" by the number of spots on each one.
What Does Not Belong
Line up various objects that belong to a group and add one that does not belong. For example, you can have 3 items that are square shaped and one that is circle shaped. Ask the children which object does not belong and why. You can do this with all types of items such as colors, articles of clothing, animals; it all depends on the theme you go with for the game.
Counting Clouds
You will need blue construction paper, glue and plenty of cotton balls. Help the nursery kids glue cotton balls to the blue construction paper; the construction paper represents the sky and the cotton balls represent clouds. When they are finished gluing the cotton balls, have them count how many clouds are in the sky.