Preschool Forest Animals Theme

Below you can find tons of fun and engaging Woodland Forest Activities! Pick and choose the activities for your lesson or download a free copy of our Woodland Forest Preschool Lesson Plan to save you time!

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Planning your Woodland Forest Animals Theme

Club Members can download our forest animal resources and Theme Planning Guide for free!
Not a member? Learn More Here

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Download our Free Woodland Animals Preschool Sample Lesson Plan

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Pine  Branch Process Art*

Sheena W. of Building Blocks Family Childcare created an invitation to paint with pine branches for a fun process art experience.

*Pine Cone Process Art

Place your paper in a shallow box. Dip your pine cones into  paint, and place them inside the box. Roll the pine cones around like marbles, until your desired effect is achieved. See all the details on my blog

Try this!

Baby Snowy Owl Pine Cone

Tear cotton balls into pieces. Push cotton fluff into the pine cone, until it looks like a fluffy nestling.
Add googly eyes, and a paper beak.

*Sleeping Bear Craft

This sleeping bear craft is an adorable craft to do with your preschooler! See the details on my blog

Try this!

Forest Xylophone Instruments

Gather empty jars and fill them with different items found in nature (grass, rocks, dirt, water, acorns, etc.) and two sticks to play the xylophone.  Place items in their own jars and lay them on their side in the grass.  Use the sticks to play the xylophone and see how each jar makes a different sound with the different items in them.

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Provide play silks, clips, and a variety of stuffed forest animals for children to create animal homes. 

*Build a Bear Den

Create a Bear Den in your dramatic play space this week. You can add a Faux Christmas Tree and Woodland Creature Costumes to the space as well.

This adorable bear cave was created by Community Member Veronica G. of Ronnie's Dayhome

Photo Credit: Veronica G of Ronnie's Dayhome

Act out Goldilocks and the Three Bears

After reading this story, set out a variety of props. You can include different sized spoons, bowls, chairs, and blankets.  Discuss the different scenes in the story and sequence of events, discuss the the characters (how would the different characters talk, walk). Practice repeating the lines of the characters using different voices. Encourage the students to use the provided props to practice acting out the story.

Campground Dramatic Play

The best way to explore the forest is by camping! Set up a pretend campground for children to really get into this theme!

Buy this activity pack!

More Ideas from Around the Web:

​​​Instructions for creating a Bear Den from Education.Com

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Forest Small World Play and Building Ideas *

*Add a variety of Forest Animals to your construction space this week. Add nature blocks, pine cones, Pine Trees, Rocks, Branches and other items you may find in the Forest.

Member Adria J. created this small world play setup as part of a Forest Theme.
I like how she used a variety of materials, there are so many wonderful
textures that add richness to this wonderful play experience.
She cut oatmeal containers and covered them in craft moss to create the animal homes. 

Photo Credit: Adria J

Forest Small World Play

​Alina of Growing Up Montessori & Waldorf Inspired Hybrid  provided the children
in her care natural elements from the forest, and forest animals for
them to create their own small world play spaces.

Photo Credit: Alina of Growing Up Montessori

This fabulous small world play invitation was create by Community
Member Alina D. of Growing Up Montessori & Waldorf Inspired Hybrid

Photo Credit: Alina of Growing up Montessori

Build a Bear Den or a Cave

Member Jenna L. provided materials for creating animal habitats and places to hibernate! I love the creative use of both classroom materials and outdoor collections that were used!

Photo Credit: Jenna L.

Invitation to create your own
woodland forest habitat

Community member Lisa M. created this Forest Small World Play Area invitation.
She used a cardboard box and provided the children many natural elements.

Photo Credit: Lisa M.

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*Build a Cave with Blocks

Invite your preschoolers to design and construct caves in the block area for play animals.

Learn Forest Animal Vocabulary

Preschoolers will love the cute forest characters from this activity! Support print awareness, improve attention to detail, and vocabulary development. 
​You can find this activity inside our Forest Activity Pack

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*Forest Animal Tracing Cards

Forest Animal Tracing Cards from the Pre-K Printable Fun Forest Activity Pack

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Whoo Is Calling?

Have your participants sit in a circle with their backs facing inside the group.
Choose one child to be the owl, the owl will make owl sounds while the rest of the children try and guess who the owl is based on sound. Check out a related activity inside our Nocturnal Animals Science set.

Feed the Bear Name Recognition

This activity is such a fun way to work on name recognition and letter identification. Customize the bear and blueberries then feed the bear the letters. Find this Feed the Bear Name Activity and Worksheets set in our shop

Buy this activity pack!

*5 Little Owls Chant

This fun little fingerplay is perfect for this theme! Hold up 5 fingers to represent owls as you chant...
5 Little Owls Sitting in a tree. One flew away, how many do you see? Continue counting down and reducing fingers until you get to the last one 1 little owl sitting in a tree, he flew away now there are no more to see!

More Ideas from Around the Web:

​​​DIY Printable Forest Animal Felt Set from 1234 More Storytimes

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Whoo's There? A Bedtime Shadow Book
​by Heather Zschock

Moonlight Animals
​ by Elizabeth Golding

Forest Bright Forest Night
​by Jennifer Ward

.Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?
​by Bill Martin Jr/Eric Carle

Night-Night Forest Friends*
​by Annie Bach

Owl Babies
​by Martin Waddel

We're Going on a Bear Hunt
​by Michael Rosen

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Learn Positional Phrases

Work on positional phrases with this fun bear activity, included in our Forest Activity Pack

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Sleeping Bear Counting 1-20

Practice identifying numbers and counting from 1-20 using this fun mat. Learning to use ten frames in numbers above 10 provides a great base for children when they learn about regrouping numbers later on. 
You can find this activity in the Forest Activity Pack. 
​Add bear crackers as counters for a fun twist to this activity. 

Buy this activity pack!

​Deer in the Forest Count to Ten Rolling Game*

This hands-on counting game is great to play solo or as a small group!
This power activity supports children in learning math skills, learning about habitats, and learning to take turns. 
While playing engage in discussion about the habitat that deer live in. Are there deer in your community?
​ Included in the Woodland Forest Activity Pack

Buy this activity pack!

Bear Nose Shape Clip Cards*

Preschoolers will have fun practicing shape recognition and working on fine motor skills with these engaging shape clip cards from my Forest Activity Pack

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​More Ideas:

Using your forest animal play figurines, sort and graph the animals by type (hooves/paws or daytime/nocturnal), or sort by size. 

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Going on a Bear Hunt Gross Motor Activity*

Act out Going on a Bear Hunt! Set up an obstacle course with items to represent each part of the story. 

Woodland Forest Animal Movement Activity

Challenge children to move and walk like forest animals. Put on your favorite music, call out an animal name. Children act like that animal until the music stops, then you call out a new animal. 

Invite Children to create animals using dough and accessories

Encourage children to manipulate play dough or clay into a variety of forms by adding fun accessories.
Check out this tutorial Forest Animal Play Dough Invitation from Mama Poppa Bubba

Fine Motor: Tracks in the Snow*

Darlene S. created an animal track invitation by using white model magic to make forest animal footprints (you can also use this white play dough recipe) This is a great activity to spark a discussion about animal tracks, and a great fine motor workout. 

Photo Credit: Darlene S.

Forest Color, Cut, & Paste a Scene

This page from the Color, Cut, & Paste a Scene pack is a great addition to this theme! Children can have fun coloring while also working on fine motor skills and practicing scissor skills.

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Sawdust Play Dough

Make this fun play dough with your preschoolers to work on discovery, measurement, and sensory!
Visit my blog for the full recipe

Try this!

Walking in the Forest Movement Song

Practice walking, stomping, jumping, and skipping through the forest with this fun song.  See what animals the children come across as they go through the forest together.  Listen to it on YouTube here!

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Nocturnal and Diurnal Animal Sorting
Story Time Activity

Here is a great hands-on activity that combines Science, Math, and Literacy. 
Pair this free Diurnal & Nocturnal Sorting Activity from Pre-K Printable Fun with the book Forest Bright, Forest Night by Jennifer Ward. 
​
Visit the Story Time Activity: Diurnal & Nocturnal Animal Sorting blog post to learn more about this activity and get your freebie. 

Get this free activity!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt Sensory Activity

​Community Member Kathy M. of Just Like Home Childcare & Playschool, Inc. drew some inspiration from the book "We're going on a bear hunt" to create this adorable sensory and literacy (Story Re-telling) experience.

STEM Challenge Build a Bear Den

Work on planning and building skills with this fun invitation to play! Download your own copy of this
free Build a Bear Den Stem Activity!

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Build a Forest on the Light Table

Community Member Cheryl V. of Cherie's Learning Tree provided the children with  these fabulous materials to create a light table display.  I just love how the water shines through the pond.

Photo Credit: Cherie's Learning Tree

Explore Animal Shadows

Cheryl V. of Cherie's Learning Tree provided the children with a
projector to explore shadows of the animals at night!

Photo Credit: Cherie's Learning Tree

Invite the children to build with loose parts

Alina D. of Growing Up Montessori & Waldorf Inspired Hybrid provided the materials for the children in her care to create this beautiful forest light table invitation.

Photo Credit Alina of Growing up Montessori

Create a Forest Sensory Bin

​This forest themed sensory bin was created by Community Member Cheryl V. of
Cherie's Learning Tree

Photo Credit: Cheryl V. of Cherie's Learning Tree

*Explore Forest Animal Tracks

Compare and contrast animal tracks with this matching game! This game supports preschoolers as they explore what type of feet different animals have. Encourage your preschooler to describe the differences in the different animal tracks. 
​This activity can be found in the PKPF Forest Activity Pack

Buy this activity pack!

More Ideas from Around the Web:

Sound Effects activity for "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" from Reading Confetti

A Forest in the Sandbox from Exploring the Outdoor Classroom

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Follow Tracks

Take a walk around your community and follow some tracks. 
Take a look at tracks on different terrain. See if you can follow the tracks and look for clues about what kind of creature left them. If they are human tracks try and guess the age of the person based on the size of the footprint. 
Taking the time to stop and study the environment around you is a great skill for young children to learn and supports engagement in the community we live in. 

What Animal Do You Feel Like Today?*

Start or end (or both!) each day through this theme with this question. 
Ask your preschooler to choose a forest animal that reflects how they are feeling that morning. Allow time for them to explain why they chose that animal. Asking them how they are feeling in this way encourages imaginative thinking and supports engagement. Asking again at the end of the day encourages reflection. 

Sharing Bear Routine*

Introduce a sharing bear into your program. At the end of the day, have your students sit in a circle and pass the bear around. The person holding the bear can share something special about their day.

What homes do animals live in?

Research and discuss different homes animals live in, including where they sleep in the winter!

Wildlife Community Helpers

Learn about community helpers that help wildlife in your area! The US Forest Service website is a great resource to get you started.

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​Loose Parts

A Forest Theme is a wonderful time to introduce Loose Parts to young children! The forest is full of open-ended learning materials. 
Find some tips and tricks for using Loose Parts along with your favorite Pre-K Printable Fun printables on my blog post Create an Invitation to Play with Printables and Loose Parts.

Celebrate your Theme

Changing up your environment to reflect your theme supports engagement with young children. 
During this theme change up your Focus Wall if you have one. My Fall Pocket Chart Calendar Cards include Number Cards with racoons on them that are perfect for your calendar display and activities during this theme.  Display photos of forest animals throughout your space, add pine cones and branches to your science space for children to explore. 
​Consider a theme long project that children can come back to through the week. 

My Favorite Animal Friend

Many preschoolers have a stuffed animal they love and often it's an animal of some kind. 
​Invite your preschoolers to bring in their favorite stuffed friend to share with the class. 
Allow enough time for each child to share about their stuffed animal (if you have a large class size consider splitting this up through the week), after children have shared about their friend ask them where that animal would live in the world. Would they live in a forest? why or why not?

Sleeping Bear Rhyme

This Sleeping Bear Rhyme is a fun rhyme for this theme!
Check out this rhyme and the rest from this Winter Circle Time Rhymes pack here.

Buy this activity pack!

Go on a bear hunt

Take your child on a nature walk this week. Gather pine cones, or pine branches to
create your own pine art masterpiece.

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Woodland Forest Preschool Activity Pack

$7.00

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Campground Dramatic Play Pack

$5.00

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Animal Winter Homes

$3.00

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Animals Sorting and Classifying Mats

$4.00

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Goldilocks and the Three Bears Puppet Theater

$5.00

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Color Cut And Paste a Scene

$3.00

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Nocturnal vs. Diurnal Animals Sorting Mat

$0.00

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Bear Den STEM Building Activity

$0.00

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Winter Circle Time Rhymes

$3.00

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Fall Calendar Display and Calendar Games

$3.50

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Nocturnal Animals Day and Night Preschool Activities

$7.00

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Nocturnal Animals Preschool Science Set

$4.00

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