Preschool Family and Home Theme Activities
Below you can find preschool activities about family, friends, and your home!
Use the ideas on this page to plan your lessons!
Use the ideas on this page to plan your lessons!
Click on a button below to view a section-use the yellow arrow to return to the top!
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*Create Houses out of BoxesThe preschoolers from Building Blocks Family Child Care used boxes and crayons & markers to transform boxes into houses.
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Paint a HouseSheena W. created this invitation to paint a house! She set out paints along with a large cardboard house for children to paint freely.
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Home Art using Water ResistCommunity Member Sheena W. set up an invitation to create using crayon resist process. One child decided to create their home in the rain! This would be a fun process to explore after reading The Napping House by Audrey Wood and then inviting children to create their home in the rain.
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Family Collage
Set out a variety of magazines that have people of all ages in them. Encourage children to find people in the magazines, cut them out, and paste to paper to make a collage.
Design a Home
Introduce architecture by challenging children to design a home.
They can do this through drawings, computer programs, using shape cutouts, or by cutting images from a magazine.
When they are finished invite them to share their creation, ask them to share some of the things that make their home special to them.
They can do this through drawings, computer programs, using shape cutouts, or by cutting images from a magazine.
When they are finished invite them to share their creation, ask them to share some of the things that make their home special to them.
Create BlueprintsCommunity Member Sheena W. shared this photo. Invite your preschoolers to explore the effects of using chalk on construction paper with an invitation to create blueprints. Provide white chalk, blue paper, and rulers. Children may wish to further explore using other colors of chalk and paper.
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Family Book
Have each child bring a collection of pictures of their home, family, pets or friends that are important to them. Give them a piece of paper to illustrate the front page of their book and laminate the book to keep in the classroom. The kids will love looking at each others books.
More Creative Ideas
Paper Bag Houses from Fun in Pre-K
Friendship Color Mixing from The Simplicity of Learning
Friendship Bracelet from Teach Preschool
Friendship Wreath from Preschool Playbook
Popsicle Stick Family from Meaningful Mama
Friendship Color Mixing from The Simplicity of Learning
Friendship Bracelet from Teach Preschool
Friendship Wreath from Preschool Playbook
Popsicle Stick Family from Meaningful Mama
*Support Relationships through PlayAdd a baby care center to your housekeeping space along with a variety of dress-up clothes. Setting up invitations for dramatic play encourages role playing, problem-solving and communication skills to help children develop the skills needed to form lasting friendships. Read the Create a Space for Dramatic Play blog for ideas for this space.
Add in family pictures to the dramatic play area. You can include items for a family themed play like button up shirts, jewelry, briefcases, purses.
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Photo courtesy of Cheryl V of the Learning Tree
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More Ideas
Check out these great ideas on how to set up a Baby Caring Station from Laughing Kids Learn and Teach Preschool.
Add Playhouses, and Pretend Families to your Construction space this week.
Create some DIY blocks featuring the children, their Families, and Homes.
Create some DIY blocks featuring the children, their Families, and Homes.
syrenentoreboda
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Teach Preschool
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LMNO Preschool
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DIY Friendship Blocks from Teach Preschool
My House Blocks from syrenentoreboda
All about Me Puzzles from LMNO Preschool
My House Blocks from syrenentoreboda
All about Me Puzzles from LMNO Preschool
Building with Foam Blocks
Foam blocks are inexpensive, versatile and so much fun.
Pair your foam blocks with shaving cream and invite your preschoolers to build homes with them. You can use small foam blocks at the table or use larger foam blocks.
Pair your foam blocks with shaving cream and invite your preschoolers to build homes with them. You can use small foam blocks at the table or use larger foam blocks.
Build HomesAdd a variety of block people, wooden blocks, and accessories for children to build homes with. Also consider including dollhouses or playhouses for small world play.
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Family Block Play
Invite students to bring in pictures of their homes to add into the block area and students can have fun building each other's homes.
Play Games with Word Wall CardsUse the word wall cards from the PKPF Family Friends and Home activity Pack in your games this week to promote literacy.
Here are a few ideas:
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All About My Family & Friends Book
Set up an invitation for your preschoolers to create a book all about their family and/or friends.
Assemble books by folding 3-5 sheets of white paper in half and then stapling along the folded edge. For the front cover consider printing squares with titles such as "My Family" so children can glue the title on themselves. Next, encourage children to create pictures of their family or friends. On each page ask the child to say something about the person they drew, write down what they said on the page.
Assemble books by folding 3-5 sheets of white paper in half and then stapling along the folded edge. For the front cover consider printing squares with titles such as "My Family" so children can glue the title on themselves. Next, encourage children to create pictures of their family or friends. On each page ask the child to say something about the person they drew, write down what they said on the page.
Count namesMake a grid for each child, then invite the child to decide which names they want to count up. If needed assist in writing the names on the paper, one letter in each square. Next, work together to count up the number of letters each person has in their name. Write the numeral at the end of the line.
Extension: Look for similarities in the names: How many names have an e in them? Which names contain the same number of letters? How do the names on one child's paper compare to those on another? |
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*Family Tree Read Aloud Activity
Free! Click on the image to Download!
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Read the book Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeney to your group. Then invite children to create their own simple family tree!
You could simply provide plain white paper and crayons, or provide tree cutouts. Encourage children to draw the members of their family on the paper. When they are done, invite them to share their picture with the group. Be sure to write a little note of their description on a sticky note and attach to the drawing. |
Family Word Building
Create a sensory bin with letters and provide family word cards. Invite the kids to find letters to build the family words.
Family Recipe Book
For a family engagement activity send home a recipe card to each family, have them send in their favorite family recipe and build a classroom recipe book.
A Splendid Friend, Indeed by Suzanne Bloom
One Family by George Shannon
The Family Book by Todd Parr
I Love You Because You're You by Liza Baker
Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeney
One Family by George Shannon
The Family Book by Todd Parr
I Love You Because You're You by Liza Baker
Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeney
*Family Photo PatterningReview the family photo card, then recreate the photo on the mat.
These family cards can also be used for other patterning games. Start a pattern by placing a mom card, child card, then another mom card and ask your child to continue the pattern. Keep playing and introducing new patterns. Invite your child to start a pattern for you to finish as well. These cards can be found in the Family Friends and Home pack |
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Family Size Ordering
Use pictures of families cut from magazines or print stock photos. Count up the number of members in each family and place in order from smallest to largest.
*These photos can also be used for the activity listed in the Social Studies section below.
*These photos can also be used for the activity listed in the Social Studies section below.
Family Count & Clip CardsPractice counting and cardinality with this activity. Count up the members in the family and then clip the matching number at the bottom with a clothespin. This activity can be found in the PKPF Family Friends and Home Activity Pack.
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Family Counting
As a class you can graph how many people are in each student’s family, using words like more, less, big, and small! The children will have fun comparing the amount of people that everyone has in their family.
Who Lives in Your House?
Create a chart to keep track of who lives in each students house, use colored squares to represent the different people i.e mom, dad, brother, sister, grandma, grandpa etc. Each student will get to share and create a big chart for a student visual.
Name Counting
On a blank piece of paper write out the names of the child's family members. Invite them to count up the number of letters in each person's name. Further you can challenge them to count the number of specific letters there are all-together.
More Math Fun
*Window Shape Clip CardsWorking with clothespins is excellent for fine motor and hand-eye coordination development.
Pair clothespins with clip cards for fun and engaging learning activities. These window shape clip cards are a fun way to practice shape recognition and matching. These clip cards are included in the Friends Family and Home Activity Pack |
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Class Puzzles
Create puzzles using photos of children in the class or the class pet. Print on cardstock or laminate and then cut into puzzle pieces. Full page prints are great for this activity.
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Work on Fine motor skills with a fun trace and color page from the Trace & Color Activity Pack. Kids can customize the colors with their favorite colors or ones that match their own home.
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Fine Motor Family Words
Using printable family word cards, invite students to use letter beads to string on pipe cleaners to spell out the words.
*Family Dress-Up Relay Race
Set up a relay race where children dress up as a mom or dad one piece of clothing at a time.
More Physical Development Ideas
Family & Home Dough Set from Life Over C's
*Washing BabiesSheena W. from Building Blocks added a baby washing station to her space.
Exploring soap and water is always a great experience for preschoolers. Adding in the babies is a great way for preschooler to practice taking care of others. |
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Zoo Baby Animals
Watch zoo cams of baby animals with their family. Here is one of a baby panda from the San Diego Zoo. While watching make comparisons between humans and animals, and how different animals interact with their young.
*Since animals can be predictable it may be best to preview videos before showing to young children. This is also a good opportunity to develop thought provoking questions while watching together.
*Since animals can be predictable it may be best to preview videos before showing to young children. This is also a good opportunity to develop thought provoking questions while watching together.
Design and Build a Home
Challenge preschoolers to build a home using only craft sticks and play dough. As they build talk about stability and protection from the elements. What could you add to keep out the rain? How about making it strong to protect against high wind?
Home-building Tools
Create an invitation to discover tools and materials used for building homes.
Many tools and materials for home building are not safe for young children, be sure to provide appropriate supervision or otherwise make the materials safe for exploration.
Some ideas: hammers, drills, bricks, nails, roof shingles, doorknobs, wrench.
Many tools and materials for home building are not safe for young children, be sure to provide appropriate supervision or otherwise make the materials safe for exploration.
Some ideas: hammers, drills, bricks, nails, roof shingles, doorknobs, wrench.
Play dough Family
Invite preschoolers to create their family from play dough, you can add loose parts such as yarn, googly eyes, pipe cleaners.
More Science & Discovery Ideas
My Family Sensory Bin from Munchkins and Moms
We are the same, We are Different
Learning to recognize how people are similar and different from one another is important for promoting inclusion and acceptance.
Create a graph or simply have a discussion! Talk about what color eyes each friend has, what color hair, what color their shirt is, how long their hair is, how many ears...and so on. Challenge children to lead the conversation by asking them to take turns talking about how they are similar and different than their friends.
Create a graph or simply have a discussion! Talk about what color eyes each friend has, what color hair, what color their shirt is, how long their hair is, how many ears...and so on. Challenge children to lead the conversation by asking them to take turns talking about how they are similar and different than their friends.
Sort Household ItemsPractice sorting and classification skills while exploring the home environment by inviting your preschooler to sort the objects by where they belong in the home. This activity is included in the PKPF Family Friends and Home Activity Pack.
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Count up Family Members
Cut out pictures of families from magazines, or print out stock photos of families.
If using stock photos consider using photos of many types of families to promote inclusion.
During group time read The Family Book by Todd Par, then introduce the photos.
For each photo simply count up how many family members are in each photo. The children may wish to discuss who they think is in the photo, allow room for discussion and clarify when appropriate by providing your thoughts as well.
If using stock photos consider using photos of many types of families to promote inclusion.
During group time read The Family Book by Todd Par, then introduce the photos.
For each photo simply count up how many family members are in each photo. The children may wish to discuss who they think is in the photo, allow room for discussion and clarify when appropriate by providing your thoughts as well.
Family Chart
Have a conversation with the kids about families and make a list of who is in a family, where families can live and attributes of a family.
*Book Chat
Read Alma and How She Got Her Name: Encourage your students to go home and ask their parents how they got their names.
Talk About Feelings
Learning to recognize and properly identify emotions is an important part of development for preschoolers and supports them in their interactions with friends and families.
Set up an invitation for your preschoolers to identify and talk about emotions using the Feelings & Emotions Conversation Card set from PKPF. |
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EDUCATOR RESOURCES : GROUP ACTIVITIES, CIRCLE TIME, & PARENT ENGAGEMENT
*Play Who Has?This is a fun game that promotes communication and language development.
Give each child in the group a card, then the child with the apple starts. They say "I have an apple, who has a butterfly?" then the person with the butterfly goes! This game is included in the PKPF Family Friends and Home activity pack. |
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Grandma & Grandpa's Glasses
Here is a fun fingerplay/rhyme to teach during small group time. Another fun one for this theme is Finger Family and The More We Get Together.
Family Event
Host a family event such as a tea party, bbq, ice cream social, or game night where children can bring their families to meet their friends and educators.
Family Photo DisplaySet up space in your program for family photos. Sheena W. created this family photo album in her reading space. If you cannot find space consider a special display for this week.
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Family Photo Puzzles
Enlarge a family photo to the photo to an 8x10 size. Laminate the photo and then cut to create puzzle pieces. Children can enjoy putting the puzzle together repeatedly
My NEIGHBORHOOD
Take a walk around your neighborhood!
Even if this is a frequent activity, take the time to take a walk in the neighborhood with a new purpose. Focus on the place in which you live. Talk about neighbors you know, animals you see often, street names...all the things that make your neighborhood home.
Even if this is a frequent activity, take the time to take a walk in the neighborhood with a new purpose. Focus on the place in which you live. Talk about neighbors you know, animals you see often, street names...all the things that make your neighborhood home.
My phone Number
Take time this week to work on helping your child learn your phone number.
This is also a good time to make sure your child can access a phone in an emergency. Many homes no longer have a "home phone" if you only have a cell phone in your home be sure your child knows how to dial 9-1-1 in an emergency and/or knows how to unlock the phone to make a call.
This editable I Know My Telephone Number page is a nice learning tool for this activity.
This is also a good time to make sure your child can access a phone in an emergency. Many homes no longer have a "home phone" if you only have a cell phone in your home be sure your child knows how to dial 9-1-1 in an emergency and/or knows how to unlock the phone to make a call.
This editable I Know My Telephone Number page is a nice learning tool for this activity.
Family Memory
For this activity you will need several family photos, 2 copies of each. Printing a sheet of wallet size photos for this activity would work well.
Consider printing on cardstock or laminating (use a laminator, self-laminating sheets, or packing tape) for durability.
Flip all the pictures over and play like memory.
**Be sure to include a few photos with your child in them, they love to see pictures of themselves!
Extension: Consider adding names to the photos, later they can be used as 3-part cards.
Consider printing on cardstock or laminating (use a laminator, self-laminating sheets, or packing tape) for durability.
Flip all the pictures over and play like memory.
**Be sure to include a few photos with your child in them, they love to see pictures of themselves!
Extension: Consider adding names to the photos, later they can be used as 3-part cards.
*Learn your addressHaving your child know their house number and street is important for safety. Teach your preschooler this important information through visuals, chants, and crafts. Practice ordering their house numbers with number blocks, and mail a letter home. Point out street signs, and house numbers as you take a walk around the neighborhood.
Are you Pre-K Printables Club Member? You can download this set of editable address worksheets inside the member area! |
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More Family Engagement Ideas
Family Photo Albums from Early Childhood Scribbles
