This book is a collection of ideas for having fun with preschool children. It is during these first five years that parents have their main opportunity to know and play with their children. Yet these years are often filled with so much confusion, so much "getting through" the daily routine, that this opportunity just to have a good time together can be lost. When our children start school the problems change, and an interesting, delightful age has slipped by.

We believed that if parents had the time-which they certainly do not-to have a cup of coffee with lots of different parents, they would probably pick up tips that would make life easier and more enjoyable. So this is how we did the research for our book. We talked and sent questionnaires to all our friends, and friends of friends, who, simply by living with little children, have learned many useful "tricks of the trade."

Some of the ideas are old ones that will be new to many of you. Some of the ideas are brand-new. And none of them depend on much money, special equipment or even special talents.

We do not expect, nor even suggest, that you use all of these ideas. But we think it is a book you might open in the evening, after a day that did not seem to go quite right, and discover a suggestion that will give you a needed pickup, a fresh start, for the next day.

Besides this, we have included ideas for special events, such as Halloween costumes you can make, recipes for preschool cooks, ways to entertain a sick child, and many others.

We are not child pyschologists, and are not advising you how to raise your children. Instead, we have filled the book with different ways to enjoy them.

One of us has taught in a nursery school for many years. The other has published a number of children's stories.

But we think our most important "credential" is that we both live with little children, too.