Wahoo! It's summer! To celebrate, we had a great week of Summer Theme Preschool. I tried to plan activities that didn't focus exclusively on the beach. One of my little girls had a bit-of-a-meltdown-if-you-know-what-I-mean when she learned earlier in the year that we would not be vacationing at the beach this year. She was heartbroken.
She's okay with it now, and is excited about the vacation that we ARE having, but I felt like focusing on the beach this week might be a little hard for her. So instead I looked for other summer-y things to focus on-- baseball, camping, and ice cream!
If you regularly do preschool using weekly themes, be sure to check out Over 30 COMPLETE Weekly Preschool Theme Units that we've completed as well as my entire list of 52 Weekly Preschool Themes. You may also want to check out of Daily Home Preschool Schedule and this handy FREE Printable Preschool Planning Page.
This post may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you use these links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Click here for my full privacy and disclosure policies.
Chalk Paint
Chalk paint is a fun, easy activity that kids of all ages will enjoy. Even the littlest of kids can help you make it, and it is frugal family fun. I've made a tutorial on how to make your own right here.
We made chalk paint this week, using some of a big box of chalk that I got on clearance at the end of last summer season. Both of my girls aren't crazy about actually drawing with chalk-- it feels yucky on their hands-- but they LOVE chalk paint and have been asking for a while if we could make some. So we did!
It's easy to throw in some learning with this activity, too. Just draw some letters, numbers, or shapes and have your child identify them, jump on them, run to them, etc.. Or ask your little one to paint their name or use a certain color. Whatever you are working on with your child, you can easily do it with chalk paint.
Handprint Sunshines
These handprint sunshines are a great summer craft. Just paint your child's hand with yellow paint (or have them dip it), then make prints around in a circle. We drew little happy faces on ours when they dried!
Sand Dollar Sugar Cookies
Just make sugar cookies like you regularly would, but take them out about 2 minutes before they're done and make little impressions with the blade of a butter knife. Then put them back in the oven to finish.
I would use slice and bake cookies for this project. I made my dough from scratch (because that is how we usually roll around here), but honestly, that made this project more trouble than it was worth. Our dough was soft and sticky, and my little helpers were frustrated that the dough had to keep going back into the fridge to stiffen up, and even then they could never successfully peel the cookies or transfer them to the pan on their own. Go for easy on this one, friends-- just buy a tube of dough!
Picture Books
The Ladybug Girl series by David Soman and Jacky Davis is probably our favorite picture book series. The books are about Lulu (Ladybug Girl) and her adventures. Each book presents a simple lesson for children in a very relatable way. This week we read Ladybug Girl and Bingo which is about Lulu's family's camping trip. Lulu learns about responsibility after she accidentally lets go of her dog Bingo's leash.
Other summery books that we read this week were:
Frog and Toad All Year by Arnold Lobel
Bats at the Ball Game by Brian Lies
The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson
How Rocket Learned to Readby Tad Hills
Math
Lena filled out this cute little graph to record everyone's favorite ice cream flavor. I gave it to her and explained it to her on Monday, and then she has asked nearly everyone we have seen all week. She called both of her sets of grandparents and asked them, then dilligently filled out her little chart. Turns out that chocolate is pretty popular!
Science
Make s'mores in your very own solar oven.
I used instructions from this post from Craftiments, and had the girls help me build our own little oven. We picked a nice sunny afternoon, gathered our s'mores supplies, and cooked away. I talked about how the sun gives off heat, and the oven traps the heat and makes it hot enough inside to melt the chocolate and marshmallow.
I'll admit that this project scared me a little bit before we sat down to do it. At first glance, it seemed like it might be too complicated or difficult for my little ones to benefit from. Boy, was I wrong! The instructions are very simple, and my girls were able to actively help with the construction of the oven. And, of course, they loved getting to eat s'mores. Maggie's favorite part was wearing the box on her head as we checked the instructions.
Music
Play some summer music for your kids this week! I love the streaming internet radio service, Pandora. You can just type in any kind of music you'd like to hear, or any particular artist or song, and it does the rest.
This week we listened to the Summer Oldies station while we did some of our summer preschool activities. We heard '"Under the Boardwalk" and lots of music from the Beach Boys. It was very summery!
Fine Motor
This week we used great printables from 3Dinosaurs. There are tons of great summer printables out there. I chose these because they didn't focus too heavily on a 'beach' theme.
Maggie wanted to get in on the action, so I let her do some simple matching and tracing pages. I think she did a great job! She loves doing 'school' just like Lena.
Gross Motor
A brand new beach ball hit the spot this week. You can pick one up for $1 just about anywhere! The girls have had fun tossing it and rolling it all week. Nothing fancy about this, just some good old fashioned gross motor skill practice. I accidentally bought one that was giant (about 2 feet across) so that added an extra challenge!
Field Trip
Find a playground, splashpad, or pool for some classic summer fun.
We somehow managed to end up visiting our favorite playground and splashpad 3 times this week! Our family went early in the week, then we had 2 separate birthday parties there later in the week. It is evidently the place to be.
Also check out your local sporting events for a summer theme week. I had hoped that we could make it to a baseball game for our local minor league team this week, but we ended up being too busy with other things. We'll try for a game later in the season.
For more great ideas for a summer theme preschool week, visit the Cutting Tiny Bites Pinterest board below.
You May Also Be Interested In:
Squirt! Drip! Pour! Process Art Painting
10 Summer Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers from Mom Inspired Life
Free Summer Theme Printable Pack from Best Toys 4 Toddlers
Summer Activities For Siblings from Crafty Kids At Home
From Other Great Bloggers:
10 Sensory Bins For Summer from Stir The Wonder10 Summer Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers from Mom Inspired Life
Free Summer Theme Printable Pack from Best Toys 4 Toddlers
Summer Activities For Siblings from Crafty Kids At Home
