July Themes for Preschool

Preschool is a time of intensive learning and hopefully lots of fun, for children in this age group. Preschoolers are highly interested in the world around them, and will be eager to jump right in to learn more. July can be a wonderful time to work with preschoolers, as the weather is usually nice and many activities can be done outside. If you are looking for themes for preschool, in July there really is no limit to what you can do. Here are some July themes for preschool to help you get started-

• Water-Most preschoolers love the water, everything that lives in it, and everything that can ride on it. You can design a small theme unit around water, or stretch this theme throughout the entire summer. Best of all water is free, easy to access and can make for lots of fun activities for preschoolers.

 

Books to Read:

Ben’s Dream

By C. Van Allsburg

Drip, Drop

By D. Carrick

 

Bubble Painting Art-Preschooler love this new take on finger-painting!

You will need:

Small Cup

Straw

Bubbles

Paint

Finger Paint Paper

Start by filling the small cup about ¼ of the way with bubbles. Add a couple drops of paint and mix this will the straw. Place the cup of bubble paint on top of the finger paint paper and blow through the straw. This will make bubbles and they will over flow on top of the paper making a wonderful painting.

 

Squirt Bottle Painting-Kids love the idea of being able to control the paint with a squirt bottle. Make sure that you have smocks or old shirts on hand, since this can be messy.

You will need:

Squirt Bottle

Water

Paint

Large Paper

Chain link fence

Clothes pins

Start by filling a squirt bottle with a 1 part paint 2 parts water mixture. Hang the large paper on a chain link fence with clothes pins. Have the children squirt out a painting with the paint squirt bottles. It works best to have several different colors mixed up.

 

Misc. activities-Keep in mind that the best way to showcase a theme of water is to let the kids get directly involved, with the water.  Don’t be afraid to set up water tables, pass out squirt guns, or provide supplies for “water painting”. Then step back and let the preschoolers exercise their creativity and have fun dealing with all sorts of water.

• Teddy Bear Picnic-While it’s certainly fun to bring in the teddy bears for a picnic, there is no reason to let this be the only part of your fun theme. There are many ways to use this theme to introduce your preschooler, to nutrition, alphabet and even colors. And then when the unit is done, you can all celebrate with a Teddy Bear Picnic!

 

Books to Read:

Teddy’s Bears Picnic

By Jimmy Kennedy

The Teddy’s Bears Picnic

By Jerry Garcia

 

Nutrition activity-This can be done using either plastic food, or real items. Have the children assemble a list of picnic items, in a picnic basket. Then an adult should remove each item and explain what the basic nutrition of that time is. There can be plenty of discussion as to what should be eaten on the Teddy’s Bear picnic, for the most nutritional value.

 

Highlight a color-Your picnic theme can be used to teach about colors. Here are some suggestions to help you do that. For example if you are highlighting green:

Wear something green

Sit on green grass, carpet, towel, bed sheet or green old tablecloth.

Put together snacks for the picnic that are green:  green grapes, celery sticks, pickles, green apples, green beans, peas, and broccoli

Ask each child what is his/her favorite green food and why.

Ask each child what other things he/she likes that are green.