I really enjoy doing a short preschool lesson with both my daughters each day. Emma is 5, and Kate is 3, and they take turns picking out our weekly preschool theme- a topic that we will learn about all week long.
Last week we did an elephant preschool unit… and it was so much fun that I decided to share what we did with you so that you can do it, too!
(By the way, if you are looking for more preschool at home resources, be sure to grab my printable planning pack by entering your email below!)
And, at the end of the post, I have another printable for you with all the books, activities, supply list, etc. that you’ll need to do an elephant preschool unit, yourself.
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Alright, here’s what we did each day for an awesome week of elephant preschool:
Monday
Book: National Geographic Readers: Elephants (or any other nonfiction book on elephants)
| Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Elephants (National Geographic Kids… |
$4.64 |
Buy on Amazon |
I like to start the week with an informational book about the topic. This one was great, but you could use any one that you want. My girls were amazed to learn just how huge elephants are, even as babies. They were also tickled by the fact that elephants sleep standing up.
Activity: Elephant head snack
Source: Real Creative Real Organized
Isn’t this the cutest thing ever? This elephant snack was super easy to make, and it turned out great! We added cinnamon sugar before we baked them and used chocolate chips for the eyes since I didn’t have any raisins. Fun and easy.
Tuesday
Book: Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems
| Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
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Should I Share My Ice Cream?-An Elephant… |
$8.13 |
Buy on Amazon |
We love this book! And it tied in perfectly with today’s activity, which was….
Activity: Elephant and Piggie book (and drawing video)
Source: Teachers Pay Teachers (Free download)
Click on the link above to print this book out, and then finish the sentences and make your own illustrations to complete the story.
My girls wanted to draw Elephant and Piggie on their pages, so we watched this video and followed along. Then we added to our pictures in order to complete our book pages. This was such a fun activity!
Here is the page that Emma (5) did:
And I think Kate did a wonderful job for a 3 year old! Here’s her drawing:
Wednesday
Book: Any Elephant and Piggie book by Mo Willems
| Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
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Elephants Cannot Dance!-An Elephant and… |
$8.48 |
Buy on Amazon |
I let each of my girls pick an Elephant and Piggie book to read. There are tons of them, and they loved having a choice.
Activity 1: Adjective worksheet
Source: Teachers Pay Teachers (Free download)
Isn’t this worksheet fun? The kids got to practice cutting, glueing, reading, writing, and coloring, all at once. Whew!
Here’s how they turned out:
Activity 2: Info video
In addition to the adjective worksheet, we also watched this video about elephants.
Thursday
Book: Elmer by David McKee
| Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
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Elmer (Elmer Books) |
$9.60 |
Buy on Amazon |
There are a lot of Elmer books, but this is the first one in the series. Since we were new to Elmer, we started here. It was a great book!
Activity: Elmer sponge painting
You can read the directions for this activity, and print an elephant outline here.
I cut up one sponge into 8 pieces, and picked out 8 different paint colors for this activity. Then I put a little of each color paint on a paper plate.
Emma and Kate painted their elephants first. When they dried, we cut them out and glued them onto construction paper. They really liked this activity, and I thought they did a great job!
Friday
Book: But No Elephants by Jerry Smath
| Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
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But No Elephants (Once upon a Time, 2) | $49.00 | Buy on Amazon |
I remembered reading this book as a kid, and had fun sharing it with my kids. It’s a classic, and we were all giggling by the end.
Activity 1: Art for kids hub
We practiced our elephant drawing skills by following along with this video. Kate lost interest, which is fine, but didn’t Emma’s turn out great?
Activity 2: Elephant stories
One of our favorite activities for any unit is story writing! The girls tell me a story, and I type it for them as they talk. Then I print the story and let them illustrate it.
It’s so simple, but it’s something that we never get tired of.
Emma’s stories are usually pretty logical. Kate’s are always hilarious! The girls looooove when Daddy reads their books as bedtime stories later that night, and I think he enjoys it just as much as they do.
Extras
Book: Don’t Think About Purple Elephants by Susan Whelan and Gwynneth Jones
| Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Don’t Think About Purple Elephants |
$16.14 |
Buy on Amazon |
We tacked on this extra read-aloud one day. It’s a sweet book about what to do when you can’t sleep.
Activities:
I printed out a few pages from this great resource for the girls to work on during their quiet time. They were great!
My kids and I had so much fun doing this elephant preschool unit together. I hope you enjoy it, too! Don’t forget to download your one-page planning sheet below.
Happy preschooling,
-Laura
Grab your printable
All of the links to the books and activities in this unit are available in an easy, one-page printable. Just click the button below to get yours!
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