We’re adding a forest theme this fall, because it is the perfect weather to get out on a hike in the forest and learn about nature and animals that are gearing up for the winter. This lesson plan was created for my newly turned 4 year old who is working on mastering all of her letter sounds.
Some books we love for the forest preschool theme are: The Busy Tree – Jennifer Word; Baby Animals in the Forest – Editors of Kingfisher; Little Owl’s Night – Divya Srinivasan; We Walk Through the Forest – Lisa Farland
Religion focus: Learn the prayer before meals
2 Yr Old Options: Play with animal figurines, make animal tracks in play-do, collect nature items, match the forest animal, Owl color & size sort
| Language | Introduce D – sandpaper letter; color the letter & practice writing the letter on the back of the page (you can dot letters for them to trace too) | Introduce O – sandpaper letter; O is for Owl & Owl Maze | Introduce R – sandpaper letter; Do the racoon, rabbit letter craft | Match animal figurines to the correct letter magnet or flashcard (I also have these). You can print cards if you prefer |
| Math | Forest animal 10 frame sheet – do numbers 1-9, use acorns or animal counters to fill in | Roll & graph animals – first one to 9 is the winning animal | Count the number of pieces, then build puzzles | Dot rocks with Sharpie #’s 0-9. Have child count and put them in order |
| Art/Sensory | Fork painted hedgehog craft | Newspaper owl craft | Forest sensory bin – sand, pinecones, animal figures, rocks, acorns, stem of pine needles | Rock painting – you can paint into a forest animal if you want |
| S/G/H | Learn about the forest layers & talk about the animals that live there* | Types of trees in the forest | Learn about animal tracks & then match them | Pinecone experiment |
Forest Layers – This link is to a rainforest, but the basics of the layers are the same. Ignore the animals listed. You can talk about squirrels, foxes, deer, racoons, rabbits, porcupines, owls, birds & bears.