Preschool
Back to School Activities

What back to school activities can you plan to make the students' first days in school exciting and memorable?

As a parent, you may want to get your child ready to navigate those first few weeks of school - whether they are old pros or going for the first time. There are so many changes each year: new teachers, new friends, even new clothes. Find activities to help prepare them below.

As a teacher, you know you have all those new students to get to know and the first days and weeks set an important tone in your classroom. The Back to School activities for teachers below will help you with this goal.

Back to School Activities - Parents

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The following are suggestions for Back to School activities to get your kids in the school mode again:

• Decorate a personalized backpack
• Set up an area in the house where you can display their artwork
• Start a countdown calendar
• Go shopping for school supplies
• Make a gift for the new teacher
• Read some books about starting school
• Try out some new lunch/snack recipes
• Color Back to School printables
• Watch a Back to School movie (like Curious George: Back to School, Back to School with Franklin, LeapFrog's Let's Go To School, or Nick Jr.'s The First Day of School)

These are just a sampling of ideas. Hopefully you can take this list and use it to spark your imagination!

Back to School Activities - Teachers

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Welcome students back to classroom with these activities:

• Play a name game to get to know each other
• Take a picture of each student to document growth through the year
• Create a time capsule (envelope or folder) where you can store information like photo, height, pictures of favorite things, handprints/footprints, etc. to compare to the end of year
• Have students help create invitations for Open House night
• Pair students up and have them draw a portrait of each other
• Start each Circle Time with a "Question of the Day" for each student to answer
• Play a getting to know you game
• Have a daily graphing question for students to answer by placing their names on the correct side (ex. "Have you ever been to the ocean?")
• Take pictures of students modeling your class rules and hang them around the room for visual reminders
• Give each child a Welcome Bag - a paper lunch bag filled with:
  Cotton Ball - to remind them to use soft, kind words
  Penny - to remind them they are valuable
  Tissue - to dry tears
  Eraser - to remind them that everyone makes mistakes
  LifeSaver - to remind them you will always listen to them
  Hershey's Kiss - to comfort them when they are sad
  Band-Aid - to heal hurt feelings
  Gold Star - to remind them to always try their best
  Explain each item as they take it out and let them bring their bags home with them.

Back to School Lesson Plans

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If you are a teacher, you will need lesson plans to carry you through those first few months of school.

These are some common themes for preschool Back to School lesson plans that teachers tend to use:

Apples
All About Me
Families
Fall
Friends

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