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Early Learning Themes
One of the best ways to teach Preschool and Kindergarten is by focusing on a specific theme and allowing the kids to really explore and engage in that theme through a wide assortment of books, videos, and hands on learning activities.
Here is a list of themes that are really great for Preschool and Kindergarten level students. Each link will take you to a page with a list of great resources that help to teach that particular theme. Most of the resources are even free while other resources (like books and videos) could be easily gotten through your local library. So even if you’re working on a tight homeschool budget you can still give your child a real quality education from the very beginning!
Please note that several of the themes lead to the same resource page. This is because multiple words can be used to lead the same basic theme idea, so while I do try to keep them separate and unique as much as possible there are times (like in the case of “Plants” and “Gardening”) that the list or resources is the same for both.
As a final note, you’ll notice that these themes are arranged by letter of the alphabet. I did this not only to make it easy to help you find which themes you are looking for but also because I like to do these themed lessons along side our “Letter of the Month” activities. How it works, is that I basically take a letter of the alphabet to focus on each month. We learn about the letter, make letter pictures, and then learn about a few different topics (or themes) that pertain to that specific letter.
Taking a letter a month will pretty much extend this study to be a full 2-
And yet, in spite of the “Letter of the Month” teaching method, I will often take a theme out of order if there is a certain subject that my child is particularly interested in at the time. For example, we didn’t wait for the letter F before learning about Firefighters, we just did the firefighter theme right away when my son was showing a particular interest in that topic. Often times the best time to tackle a topic is when the child is particularly curious about it, and having that kind of flexibility is one of the greatest things about homeschooling!
So, even though the “Letter of the Month” has been a great way for me, as the teacher, to stay organized and have a clear idea of what topic to study next, I also make it a goal to be flexible enough to take the topics (and even the letters of the Alphabet) out of order if there is a particular theme that my child would be even more interested in at the time.
I also want to mention that there aren’t links or resources to go with all (or even most) of the theme ideas. This is because we didn’t use all of the themes ourselves, and you shouldn’t expect that you will either. I mainly compiled this list to have a place to brainstorm and come up with ideas on topics to study next, so don’t feel like you have to do all of them – we certainly didn’t!
For the themes that I HAVE done with my children, there is a clickable link that
will take you to a page where I share some of the resources that I used in teaching
that topic. They include resources like books, videos, arts and crafts, games, and
hands-
I hope this list with all its resources is really useful to you, and I hope you have as much fun with it as we have!
Letter A Themes
animals
ambulance
arctic
ark
astronaut (see space theme)
Letter B Themes
baby
balloons
ball
banana
bath
beach
beaver
bird
birthday
boat
body
bubbles
bug
Letter C Themes
cake
calendar
camel
camera
camping
candy
car
caterpillar (see butterfly theme)
cheese
cheetah
cherry
chocolate
church
city
clock
clouds
colors
community helpers
computer
construction
continents
cookies
cooking
corn
costume
country
cowboy
cow
crab
crayon
creation
crocodile (see alligator theme)
cross
crown
curious george
Letter D Themes
daddy
daisy
dalmatian
dance
dandelion
deer
dentist
desert
detective
dots
dove
dragon
drum
duck
Letter E Themes
eagle
earth
earthquake
egg (see chickens & chicks theme)
envelope
engine (think “little engine that could”)
eye
Letter F Themes
fables
fairy-
family
farm
feelings
firefighters
five senses
flower (see garden theme)
forest
fox
fruit
Letter G Themes
garbage truck
germs
giant
giraffe
glue
goat
gorilla
grandparents
grapes
grasshopper
guitar
Letter H Themes
habitats
hamburger
hammer
hat
hearts
helicopter
hen
hippo
horse
house
humming bird
Letter I Themes
ice
ice cream
iguana
imagination
indian
insect
inventions
island
Letter J Themes
jaguar
jeep
jelly
jellyfish
Jesus
jet
jewelry
juice
jump
jungle
Letter K Themes
kangaroo
key
kindness
king
kite
kitten (see cat theme)
knight
koala
Letter L Themes
ladybug
lamb
leaves
lemon
leopard
library
light
lighthouse
lion
lizard
llama
Letter M Themes
magnets
mailbox
manners
map
mirror
missionary
mommy
money
monkey
monster truck
moon
moose
motorcycle
mountain
mouse
mud
mushroom
music
Letter N Themes
nail
narwhal
neighbor
nest
news
newt
night
nocturnal animals
nose
numbers
nurse
Letter O Themes
ocean
octopus
opposites
orange
ostrich
otter
outer-
owl
Letter P Themes
paint
pancake
panda
peacock
penguin
peter pan
pets
piano
pickle
pie
pig
pigeon
pineapple
pioneer
pirate
pizza
planets (see space theme)
Plants (see garden theme)
platypus
police
pond life
pony
popcorn
porcupine
post office
president
princess
prism
pumpkin
puppy
puzzles
Letter Q Themes
q-
quail
queen
question
quetzal
quicksand
quill
quilt
Letter R Themes
rabbit
raccoon
race car
rain
rainbow
recycle
restaurant
robot
rocket
rocks
rooster
rose
Letter S Themes
safety
sailboat
sandwich
scarecrow
scissors
seal
seasons
seeds
shadow
shapes
shark
sheep
shell
shepherd
ship
shoes
signs
skunk
snail
snake
snow
soap
spider
sports
squirrel
stamp
star (see space theme)
starfish
stoplight / stop sign
strawberry
sun (see space theme)
sunflower
superhero
Letter T Themes
tea party
teacher
teddy bear (see bear theme)
teeth
telephone
tiger
toad
tomato
tools
tornado
tortoise
tower
toys
tractor
train
transportation
tree
truck
tulip
turkey
turtle
Letter U Themes
ukulele
umbrella
underground
unicorn
unicycle
uniform
united states
up
upside-
urchin
urial
utensils
Letter V Themes
vacation
vacuum
vase
vegetables
vehicles
vet
viking
volcano
vowels
vulture
Letter W Themes
wagon
walrus
wash
waterfall
watermelon
weather
whale
wheel
wigs
wild animals
wild west
wind
windmill
wish
wolf
woodpecker
world
worm
Letter X Themes
x-
x-
letter ‘x’ animals (xantus, xenosaurus, xerus, ximenia, xiphias)
xylophone
Letter Y Themes
yacht
yak
yellow
yo-
yogurt
yuck
yummy
Letter Z Themes
zebra
zeppelin
zigzag
zinnia
zipper
zoo
zoom