Simple Preschool Teaching Ideas on a Family Theme
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Family has a great influence on preschoolers. In fact, the family members that have the most influence on preschoolers include: parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles. To help preschoolers understand the role of each family member, it is imperative that a lesson on family is taught in preschool. Some of the ways to create preschool lessons about family starts with planning for a fun and enriching theme on the topic. Try some of these simple ideas.

Morning Group Time

It is vital that you include a topic for each day to discuss during morning group time. To assure that you cover the role of each family member, morning group time is a great time to discuss a family member of the day. For example, the topic on Monday could be about the role of a mother. Invite the children to share stories about their moms and bring pictures of the moms to school to share at circle time. To enhance the group time, write the word “mom” on a dry erase board and encourage the children to spell the word out loud with you. Other things that you can incorporate into group time is singing a song about mom or reciting a rhyme.

Classroom Environment

The classroom environment is also the teacher and it is vital that you plan for each interest area or learning center in the classroom, including reading, dramatic play, art, block area, sensory table, game area, and so on.

Here are some ideas for enhancing the classroom and creating a family like environment:

  • Add adult size clothes so that the children are able to role-play family members.
  • In the reading center, add books about family.
  • For older children, create a word wall that includes family words: mom, dad, brother, sister,etc.
  • Add family games in the manipulative/game area: Twister, monopoly, uno,etc.
  • Plan fun family related art activities such as providing the children with magazines that include pictures of families to create family collages, puppets, paper dolls, family books and creating family photo frames with wood sticks.
  • Invite parents to send photos of their families and post in classroom.

Family Involvement

To wrap up the preschool lessons about family, consider hosting a family pot-luck meet and greet night. Ask each of the children to draw a picture of his or her family and display the photos at the pot-luck meet and greet night. Also, invite each family to bring a dish and invite other family members to attend the family pot-luck. This will be a great way for the kids to meet one another’s family and teach the children that family is so important. Be sure to invite your own family and introduce them to your class!

Resources

https://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Family/

https://stepbystepcc.com/familytheme.html

https://www.preschoolrainbow.org/family-rhymes.htm