Are you looking for pond-themed lesson plans for preschool? Then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got you covered with these free preschool lesson plans for pond life theme!
This post features 16 pond activities to add to your weekly lesson plans for preschool. In fact, I’ll do you one better. You can just grab the FREE download from the end of the post.
Free Lesson Plans for Preschool Pond Theme
Pond life is a wonderful preschool theme because it explores pond animals that many of our preschoolers see out in their own yards, parks, and neighborhood. We’re talking frogs, turtles, ducks, swans, beavers, etc. These animals live in most environments in the US as well as around the world, making them especially interesting to preschoolers.
Most preschoolers already have some background knowledge so it’s a perfect theme to “dive” into!
We hope these pond-themed activities spark your creativity and make planning your pond theme a breeze!
FAQ about a Preschool Pond Theme
Learning about pond life is lots of fun! Ponds are small bodies of still fresh water that are surrounded by land. Ponds are not very deep and can host lots of plant and aquatic life!
Preschoolers love discovering all kinds of interesting living things in the pond! Learning about how a pond supports different animals like fish, turtles, and snails which live in the water. Ducks and other birds live above the water. Plus many animals live near and around a pond, such as frogs and beavers.
This theme is a great springtime theme to be used when learning about bugs and insects, life cycles, and even flowers!
Important Info About These Pond-Themed Lesson Plans
These lesson plans for preschoolers are just one theme in a set of over 40 that will become a part of my free Learn At Home Preschool Lesson Plans.
The Learn at Home Preschool Lesson Plans are free lesson plans you can use to teach your preschooler at home.
All the preschool learning activities are quick and easy to set up, designed to save time, requiring hardly any (if any at all) prep and only requires the most basic of household materials. This makes them especially easy for parents to implement…and this makes preschool teachers especially happy, too!
Just glance over the lessons each day, gather the very few materials needed, and you’re ready to go!
But don’t be fooled by the name “at home” preschool lesson plans! These activities work wonderfully in the classroom as well, and if you’re a preschool teacher who is remotely teaching you can send these lesson plans to your student’s parents.
Get the Convenience Bundle!
This bundle of weekly preschool lesson plans is divided into 46+ themes including all the most popular preschool themes and holidays. These lesson plans are already free on the website, but for your convenience, they have been bundled together here. These pdfs will make it a breeze to prepare each week’s learning activities for your preschoolers.
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* Learn At Home Preschool Lesson Plans BundleProduct on sale$20.00
Hands-on Weekly Lesson Plans for Preschool Pond Theme
Enjoy 16 hands-on learning activities for preschoolers all centered around a pond life theme. And best of all, if you are homeschooling preschool, these are all pond activities that can be done at home. No special materials are required!
Literacy – Pond Theme Activities for Preschoolers
Lily Pad Hop – Use green construction paper to cut out 26 lily pads (less if your child doesn’t know all the letters). Simply cut a circle and then cut a notch out of each circle, thus making a. quick lily pad. Use a marker to write a letter on each lily pad. Arrange the lily pads on the floor in a large circle. Finally, ask your preschooler to hop like a frog around the lily pads, naming each letter or sound as he goes.
Muddy Writing – Ponds are definitely muddy! Create a simple mud writing tray by adding a little dirt and water to a baking dish. Then, invite your preschooler to use his finger, or a Q-tip, to make various lines. She can even draw pictures in the mud.
Picture Books to Support Pond Life Activities for Preschoolers
We’d be amiss not to include a pond book list for preschoolers. The following books feature fun stories as well as information about life cycles at the pond and all the animals that live there. It’s books like these that create the backbone of our pond activities for preschool.
Math & Science Preschool Activities for Pond Life Theme
Counting Eggs – Many aquatic birds live near the pond. Find a set of like items that are egg-like in appearance. (Small rocks, floral pebbles, wooden blocks, Easter eggs, etc.) Write the numbers 1-10 on some index cards. Draw a card and count the corresponding number of eggs. Or you can also grab these free number formation cards printable, too.
Sink or Float? – In advance, collect some random, waterproof items from around the house and yard. Fill the bathtub with no more than two inches of water and invite your preschooler to test which items float and which do not. Have her make a simple hypothesis with each item by saying, “I think this will / will not float because___” Then test it to see if the hypothesis is true.
*** Never leave your child unsupervised around water of any depth.***
Playful Learning Activities for Preschool Pond Theme
Edible Ponds – Fill a graham cracker crust with chocolate pudding. Then cover completely with blue sprinkles. Add some fish candies or goldfish crackers to the top, and enjoy.
Underwater Looking Glass – Take an empty, plastic frozen juice can and cut off the bottom to make a tube. Take three sheets of plastic wrap and cover one end, making sure each layer is pulled taut with no wrinkles. Wrap tightly with rubber bands. Now the can can be used as an underwater-looking glass.
Pond Walk – If you live near a pond, take a walk there with your preschooler. Note what you see and invite your preschooler to take a nature journal with them to draw and label new findings.
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* Learn At Home Preschool Lesson Plans BundleProduct on sale$20.00
Indoor Activities to Support a Pond Theme
Pond Dramatic Play – Set out a blanket, blue if you can, on the floor and pretend it is a pond. Set out a laundry basket to be a boat. Sing “Row, Row, Row, Your Boat” as your preschoolers pretend to row across the blanket pond. This is a fun activity to do with siblings, too!
Map Reading – Ponds are an addition to many city parks and playgrounds. Look at the map of the park in this link with your preschooler and follow the directions on the page to complete the map reading activity. Then, invite your preschooler to design their own park on a sheet of paper.
How do Fish Breathe Underwater? – Follow this simple science experiment to find out!
Pond Theme Manipulatives
Just for Fun Pond Life Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Duck, Duck, Goose – No pond theme is complete without a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. Watch full instructions here.
Turtle Craft – Cut a white paper plate in half. This will be the turtle’s shell. Use green construction paper to make legs, a head, and a tail. Tear some green paper into about 1-inch pieces. Glue the pieces to the turtle shell, trying to “fit” the pieces like a puzzle.
Rock Trails – Small rocks are common around ponds. Have your preschooler collect lots of rocks from around the yard and then line them up in rows. Challenge her to make spirals or waving lines, or different shapes with the rocks.
These same rocks can also be used in a sensory bin, too.
Kid-Safe Activities to Do Online
Online Story – Go to Storylineonline.net and listen to the book The Kissing Hand and read by Barbara Bain. Look for a red button under the video called “Activity Guides” to find related activities that pair with the book.
Pond Life Video – Take a look at what life looks like for microscopic organisms in a freshwater pond with this YouTube video. As you watch, as your preschooler to verbally describe what the organism looks like and how it is moving.
Five Green and Speckled Frogs Song– The actions in this favorite preschool song are very kid friendly. And of course, it teaches counting, too!
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* Learn At Home Preschool Lesson Plans BundleProduct on sale$20.00
Get your Free Pond-Themed Lesson Plans for Preschool Here
Want to include these transportation activities in your lesson plans? Ready to grab your free printable lesson plans with all these transportation theme activities for preschoolers?!
No problem. I’ve made a printable for you. Just fill out the form below and it will be sent to your inbox.
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I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
Just so you know, way up here in Minnesota, we play DUCK,DUCK, GREY, DUCK! lol