The Big List of Preschool Themes and Lesson Plans

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The preschool years are the best years to introduce our world to your child. Children are naturally curious about everything at this age and there is so much to learn! I enjoy creating preschool themes and lesson plans for my kids when I’m homeschooling preschool. In my free eCourse on Planning Your Own Homeschool Preschool Curriculum, I recommend choosing monthly themes and breaking them down into weekly themes. Of course, you can just choose weekly themes! Here I have listed over 20 exciting preschool themes and given you some activity ideas to go along with them.

20 Fascinating preschool themes to help you plan an amazing preschool experience.

Exciting Preschool Themes and Activities 

If you’re looking for preschool themes and activities for your at home preschool, look no further! We have a lot of ideas! Let’s get started with some planning help! Want to turn your monthly preschool themes into weekly units? I enjoyed doing this when I first started teaching my kids.

Farm, Food, and Garden Preschool Themes

Apple Theme – An apple theme is perfect for September. My post on this theme has several ideas on how you can bring it to life for your preschooler. You may also want to check out my Ten Apples Up On Top activity guide. This is a ready-made guide with five craft ideas with instructions, plus 20 pages of interactive printables to help your preschooler or kindergartner explore this beloved Dr. Seuss book.

Gardening – When springtime comes around, you will want to plan a gardening theme for your preschooler. I have an entire gardening themed post with book recommendations, activities, and links to printables. Your preschooler will love growing at least a small plant along with you.

Farm – Teach your child about different farm animals, and even what foods grow on farms. Bonus if you can take a farm field trip!

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    Animal Preschool Themes

    Owls – Plan an entire week long study about owls! They are such fascinating creatures and many kids would love to know more about them. For ideas on how to plan an owl theme, check out this post on an owl unit study.

    Birds – An entire theme on backyard birds could be really exciting for a little preschooler. Set up a bird feeder in your backyard and actually watch the birds you are teaching your child about. One of our favorite studies was the N is for Nest unit.

    Bees – While we teach our children not to mess with bees, we should also teach them how important they are for our environment. I used this fun honeybee unit study with all of my kids including my preschooler! You could also roll beeswax candles with your kids!

    Butterflies – One of the best experiments we ever did was order caterpillars and watch them become butterflies. These butterfly life cycle activities are so much fun for little ones. You’ll also want to check out our butterfly life cycle printables to add to your study! These butterfly snack bags are just darling, too!

    Penguins – Penguins are a great study in the winter. We did a penguin unit with MFW and it would work well with a preschooler, too. Popsicle stick penguins are really fun to make, also!

    Dinosaurs – My little boys love dinosaurs! We have these adorable dinosaur figures and we have learned some of their names. It’s also fun to go on a dinosaur dig in the sandbox.

    Transportation Preschool Themes

    Trains – Most preschoolers love trains. I did an entire unit study with my preschoolers with a train theme and it was a huge hit! You should also check out our train themed shape q-tip painting sheets.

    Airplanes – Preschoolers enjoy learning about airplanes. Plan a month to work on transportation and study airplanes one week.

    People and Place Preschool Themes

    Community Helpers – It’s important for your preschooler to know about the police, firemen, and those who drive an ambulance. Teach them who they are and what they do. You will also want to cover basic safety rules, too.

    Five Senses – Check out our five senses printables and activities!

    Seasonal and Holiday Preschool Themes

    Thanksgiving – Thanksgiving week is so fun for preschoolers. Here’s a list of several unit study and Thanksgiving activity ideas you can do with your tot.

    Pumpkins – In October, we study pumpkins. I did an entire unit study with my preschooler on pumpkins, and we even created a pumpkin lapbook.

    winter preschool activities

    Winter – This winter activities calendar is full of ideas to help you plan a winter preschool theme. You’ll also want to check out our comprehensive post on Winter Themed Activities and Lesson Plans for preschool! We also have winter themed preschool math worksheets and a winter preschool booklist.

    Christmas – You can’t forget about Christmas! Try these Christmas preschool lesson plans this year!

    Valentine’s Day- We always do these Valentine’s Day color by number pages. You may want to try this Valentine’s Day tic-tac-toe craft activity, too! I also have a whole post on a Valentine’s Day preschool lesson plan and a free Valentine’s Day printable pack.

    Easter – We love celebrating Easter! Use these Easter color by number pages for your preschoolers! You can also try these Easter self-correcting addition puzzles and make Easter Bunny cinnamon rolls!

    St. Patrick’s Day – Check out our full post of St. Patrick’s Day Themed Activities and Lesson plans for preschool

    More Preschool Themes

    Moon & Space – While outer space is fascinating for me as an adult, it’s even more fascinating for kids. We did a fun moon crater craft a couple of years ago. We also did an M is for Moon unit for kindergarten that would work well for preschool, too.

    Sun – Our S is for Sun unit was so much fun and would be great for preschoolers, too.

    Dr. Seuss – This theme is so much fun to do with a preschooler. We loved making this Cat in the Hat craft. There are also several other Dr. Seuss activities you can do!

    Ocean – If your child is fascinated by the ocean, plan an ocean theme! Study whales and fish, and other ocean animals. If you have a collection of seashells, bring them out for your child to observe.

    Weather – Your preschooler needs to know about the weather! Introduce the different weather types plus the seasons. You can even make a cool cloud in a jar experiment. These weather stem activities are perfect to add to your weather preschool theme, too.

    Nursery Rhymes – Teach your child all of the classic nursery rhymes! The Real Mother Goose is my favorite book to use for this theme! 

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