I’ve shared here on the blog before that every now and then, my kiddos really surprise me with the themes they get most excited about. I’m a girl mom (so far) and it was a shock to me how much my girls ended up LOVING all things bugs. Truly, I was shocked. They certainly didn’t get this love of bugs from me! But let me tell you – a bug theme does not disappoint! This bug Preschool theme is packed with Math, Literacy and Fine Motors practice PLUS adorable little dinosaur friends!
Whether you’re teaching in the classroom or at home, you’ll love how easy it is to bring this festive theme to life without the overwhelm of planning it all yourself. Below you’ll find tons of activities and tips!
Table of Contents – CLICK to jump ahead!
Bug Theme Sensory Bin
One of the easiest ways to add excitement and hands-on learning to your preschool week is with a themed sensory bin. So many of the activities in our Bug Preschool pack incorporate a sensory bin, so it’s best to knock out the preparation early on! Our bug theme sensory bin is always a hit—it’s simple to put together and offers tons of playful learning opportunities! Here’s how I like to set ours up!
FIRST, gather your materials. I like to use a plastic storage bin with a lid so I can cover and store the bin once it’s prepared. Choose your filler, like the dry black beans we use in ours. Once you’ve chosen your filler, fill your storage bin as much as you feel comfortable with (knowing each individual child can handle working with different amounts of materials).
NEXT, grab some extra bug themed items like plastic bugs, plants, digging tools, colorful pompoms, printables from our bug preschool pack, etc. These items make the perfect backdrop for the printable items in our bug preschool activities! Scatter them throughout your sensory bin filler and watch the theme really come to life!
FINALLY, choose a space that you feel comfortable using the sensory bin with your child. I tuck ours away in our homeschool room with the rest of our Preschool manipulatives, and keep our sensory bin blanket nearby for when it’s time to get to work. The rule with our bins – everything stays on the blanket! This makes clean up SO much easier.
READY, SET, PLAY!!! When your sensory bin is not being used for the printable activities in our Bug Preschool theme, allow children to explore freely! Watch them scoop, pour, dig, and more! I love taking our bin our when I need a little extra quiet time for homeschooling an older child, or honestly if I just need an extra minute to sip my hot coffee!
Bug Preschool Theme Overview
This Bug Preschool theme is sure to give your little learners TONS of fun practice! Children will have 15 center-style activities to choose from – 5 Math, 5 Literacy and 5 Fine Motor centers. In addition, I’ve included book recommendations for 5 bug theme picture books and links to their read aloud videos on YouTube!
To use these printables, you can follow the PRE-MADE lesson plans for a week full of fun! Each of the 5 pre-planned days your students will have 1 read aloud, 1 Math activity, 1 Literacy activity, and 1 Fine Motor activity to work on. This is a great pace for little learners! But if you’d like to spread the activities out or rearrange them according your own child’s needs, simply print our provided Build-Your-Own Plans page and make your own plans!
PS See how we use this theme in our Preschool scope and sequence by grabbing our FREE Preschool Curriculum Map below!
Math Activities
This set of printables has 5 fun Bug Preschool theme activities for practicing early Math skills. Children will practice number formation, number identification, counting, colors, and shapes. Our Preschool activities always include the use of small manipulatives for added fine motor skills practice!
One of my favorite bug preschool theme Math activities is the activity shown above! Each of the themes in our Preschool Curriculum starts off the Math portion of activities with a set of number formation cards. I chose to keep these activities the same through all of the themes because they are SO valuable! We like to use our cards as flashcards, use manipulatives to cover and count the fireflies, trace the numbers, and more!
BONUS TIP: If your little ones are ready for more of a challenge, guide them in placing the cards in order from least to greatest, then again from greatest to least!
Literacy Activities
In addition to the Math centers, this set includes 5 early Bug Preschool Literacy activities! Children will practice skills like letter identification, letter formation, beginning sounds, and handwriting practice with bug theme vocabulary words!
Included in the Literacy printables from our bug preschool theme is the activity shown above. Puzzles are a great way to take an already fun activity like matching and make it even more exciting! To use this set, children match upper and lowercase letters to complete the bug puzzles.
BONUS TIP: Extend this activity by discussing the sound each letter makes, and come up with words that begin with the sounds!
Fine Motor Activities
When working with little learners, strengthening fine motor skills is a must! Our 5 bug preschool theme fine motor activities will have your children working hard and having TONS of fun! They will practice scissor skills, mold using play dough, trace using manipulatives, and so much more!
An activity you’ll find included in this theme is our bug play dough mat! My little ones have LOVED using play dough mats because they help get them out of a creative rut with their play dough. To use these, I always make sure to either laminate the pages or slide them into a sheet protector. This gives them some protection so you can use them over and over again!
And… I lesson planned FOR YOU!
This set of activities (and all of the other 45+ sets in our FULL Preschool Curriculum) include a full week of print and go visual lesson plans! It shows you exactly which books and printables to use each day for a 5-day school week, making lesson planning an absolute breeze!
Want to build your own? Or maybe your kiddos are ready for some of the activities but not all of them? That’s great! Use the included Build Your Own lesson plans page! These thematic centers were designed with growing learners ages 2.5 to 5 years old in mind, so this lesson planning page allows you to choose which activities your child is ready for right now!
More May fun!
Ready to learn with your toddlers or Preschoolers ALL MONTH LONG?! You can save TONS when you grab this set of centers in our May Preschool Curriculum! The bundle includes 4 engaging May themes (like pets, zoo animals, and more!), complete with a week of lesson plans for each! You’ll also get 25 NO PREP critter themed fine motor skills worksheets and crafts, and 38 NO PREP Math and Literacy worksheets for extended practice!
PS This “monthly” curriculum is one of my favorites because the themes can really be used any time of the school year!!
Let’s hang out!
I hope this post helped you get a better look at our Bug Theme Preschool activities! Got questions? Let me know! I’d love to chat and get to know you better! You can find us below in some of our favorite places to hang out. Can’t wait to chat with you about your Preschooler’s learning journey!
SAVE THIS POST FOR LATER!
Was this post about our Bug Preschool theme helpful? Make sure you can come back to this post as much as you need by saving it for later on Pinterest! Click the image below to save this pin to your Preschool Activities board! Then, CLICK HERE to read about more of our favorite themed activities!
0