For our toddler and preschooler, I love to set up a weekly book theme in our playroom with related games, activities, coloring pages, and anything to help us learn or enjoy the topic.
This past week, we were reading all about bugs. We checked out bug books from the library, brought out our own bug books, played with pretend bugs, played a butterfly matching game, and enjoyed some fun bug coloring pages.
I wanted to show you how easy this was to set up and what I included in our bug learning section.
Weekly Book Theme for Preschoolers: All About Bugs
Making a weekly theme for your kids is a fun way to change things up and learn about different topics. Think about what your kids might like to learn about, check some related books out from the library, print some fun coloring pages, and maybe even find a game or toy that relates to that topic.
Here’s what we had out to learn all about bugs:
1. Bug Books
I start with finding books on the topic. We have a lot of books in our home, so I will find what we already have first.
Then, I will search the library database for related books and place some on hold to pick up. I usually do this at least a week before I set up the lesson to give the library time to pull the books and us time to go pick them up.
Here are the books I included:
- Bugs Galore – a silly story about lots of different bugs with fun illustrations
- Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! – a short and sweet book about bugs, with a preschooler aged fact sheet at the end
- I Love Bugs! – a short book about different bugs, with fun pictures
- The Backyard Bug Book for Kids – includes some great facts about bugs, as well as worksheets at the back for kids to trace and find things
- Usborne Lift and Look Bugs – great for young kids that love lift the flap books
- Some Bugs – a great book with wonderful illustrations describing all the different things bugs do
I place these in a plate rack, so they stand up. It’s easy for the kids to see all the books, and to keep them together. You could also use a simple basket.
2. Bug Exploring Set
We have some bug figurines and some exploring materials, so I put those in a wooden tray (came from a puzzle) to make a bug exploring set.
I included pretend bugs, tweezers, magnifying glass, butterfly net, and some plastic jars to place to bugs in.
We played with these different ways like hiding them and finding them, using the tweezers to place them in the jars, and then the kids made up their own games with them, too.
Activities like this can be pretty open ended.
If you don’t have materials like this on hand, you can purchase a pretend play bug explorer kit like this.
3. Butterfly Matching Game
I found these butterfly pictures and laminated them to make a matching game. You could print out different bugs or even use bug stickers on index cards to make a matching game.
For a more advanced activity, you could turn the cards upside down and make a memory game.
4. Coloring Pages
For most of our themed lessons, I will find some coordinating coloring pages to keep at the kids art table, so they can color whenever they like to.
I love to look on Teachers Pay Teachers, and use the free price filter to find coloring pages. They have a lot on there.
Set up your own weekly book theme!
It doesn’t take a ton of time or effort to set up your own weekly book theme. Think about topics you kids would be interested in and start there. You can also see what games and activities you already have that you can get coordinating books for.
Check your library for related books, your own bookshelves, and search online (places like Teachers Pay Teachers) for additional ideas.
Change it up weekly, biweekly, or monthly after you see your kids losing interest.
The themes that my kids really enjoy, I try to add to a shelf in our playroom, so they can continue playing with it at their leisure.
Have fun with this! Your kids will love learning about new things!
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