Free Lesson Plans for Back to School

Ever wonder what to teach during your first week back to school? Many preschool teachers like to do a back-to-school theme. Try these free printable lesson plans for preschool that’s all about back to school!

These also make a great supplement to any comprehensive preschool curriculum.

Back-to-School Lesson Plans for the First Week of Teaching

Sometimes, due to circumstances well beyond our control, the preschool year starts to look a little different. A little uncertain, if you will.

Maybe your preschool has had a recent turnover in teachers and staff. Maybe your state is enforcing new policies for early childhood learning. Maybe you know in your heart of hearts that your child needs to have homeschool preschool, and you’re unsure how to provide that.

But the truth is, no matter your personal or professional situation, preschool looks a little different this fall than it did last year. And all we can do is adapt.

So what will your first week of preschool look like? What kind of back-to-school activities do you have planned?

I’ve written some free printable lesson plans for preschool that can be used both in the classroom and within the home, and this week they feature a “back to school” preschool theme, too.

How?

Enter: my Learn-At-Home Preschool Lesson Plans.

What Are Learn-At-Home Preschool Lesson Plans?

These are free preschool lesson plans that can be used for homeschool preschool or in the preschool classroom. They are a collection of 16 weekly activities centered around a single theme that target all the major learning areas in early childhood education.

If you are a preschool teacher who is teaching remotely, you can digitally send these homeschool preschool lesson plans to your students’ parents through a secure app or email.

If you are a new (or veteran) homeschooling parent, these preschool lesson plans will cover all the basics.

And best of all, they are printable and they are completely free.

THE GROWING COLLECTION OF LEARN-AT-HOME PRESCHOOL

Homeschooling preschool is simplified by the free Learn-At-Home Preschool lesson plans.

New activity sets are rolled out weekly, so be sure to subscribe to stay updated with the latest set of activities and have them automatically emailed to you when they are ready. And be sure to pin the link above. It has all my weekly preschool lesson plans ideas.

Learn At Home Preschool Lesson Plans Collection

Hands-On Activities for Back-to-School Preschool Theme

Back to school is always a fun theme to teach in preschool. Preschoolers are always so excited to go to school, so it’s the perfect theme to start off the year!

I’ve put together some free printable lesson plans for preschool that are centered around the back-to-school theme. They are designed to ease your child into being in a school-like setting, even if it’s at home.

Because these are part of my Learn-At-Home Preschool Lesson Plans, they can be emailed to students’ parents if teaching remotely; they only require basic household materials, making them easy for parents to teach at home!

But rest assured, the back-to-school activities in these preschool lesson plans are great for the first week of school in a classroom setting, too.

***Remember, these homeschool preschool lesson plans are a free download you can grab at the end of this post.***

Back-to-School Theme Literacy Activities

Preschool at Home “Rules”- Encourage emergent writing skills by creating a list together. With your preschooler, make a short list of rules for preschool at home using a large piece of construction paper. Share the pen with your preschooler and encourage them to write a letter, a scribble, or a picture as part of the rule.

Keep these rules simple and positive, like “work hard” and “have fun.”

Playdough Names –Write your preschooler’s name on a piece of paper and put it in sight for their reference. Encourage the child to roll out some playdough on a table or tray. Using a variety of materials, (alphabet cookie cutters, popsicle sticks, unsharpened pencils, or additional writing materials) invite them to practice stamping or writing their name in the playdough. You may also choose to roll the playdough into logs and shape them into the correct letters. Take it another step further and have your preschooler add small manipulatives to the playdough, thus spelling their name again. Check out this post for more details.

Back-to-School Theme Math and Science Activities

Color Block Sort – Help your preschooler learn colors all while building fine motor work skills, too. Using colored blocks, chips, crayons, craft pom poms, etc., invite the child to match the colors to the task cards using jumbo tweezers to pick up the colored items (if available). Modify this activity by using squares cut from colored construction paper.

Sink or Float School Supplies – Using any school supplies you have on hand, invite your preschooler to select a handful of items. After filling a clear plastic bin with water, have your child choose a school supply and make a prediction about whether that item will sink or float. Allow them to drop it into the water. Discuss what happened. Repeat with the rest and discuss the child’s predictions.

Back-to-School Theme Playful Learning Activities

Color Changing Playdough – Give your preschooler two balls of different colored playdough. Tell them if they smoosh them together and the playdough changes color, that means they will have an awesome preschool year! This is my all-time favorite playdough activity and we do it every year on the first day of preschool.

Build a Tower – Help your preschooler bring out their inner engineer by building a huge tower! Allow the child to plan out the shape, size, height, and items they will use to make it. Take it up a notch by having your preschooler “draft plans” on paper before building.

Play Uno Card Game – Play a modified version for preschoolers by using only five cards per player. Lay the cards face up for each player. Play as usual to build their color identification and matching skills. Read this post for specific details on how to play Uno with preschoolers.

Back-to-School Theme Social-Emotional Activities

Recognizing our Feelings – A large part of preschool is helping young children learn to cope with BIG feelings. Sing along to “If You’re Happy and You Know It” and mimic the movements with your preschooler. Discuss what might make you feel happy, sad, scared, or any other emotion.

Kindness/Helpfulness Challenge – Set a big goal for your preschooler to do kind things. Make a simple chart to track when your child does something on their own to be helpful or friendly. Simple things like greet a friend, put their shoes away, hold a door for someone else…these simple actions are a great place to start!

Make “faces” together – Help your preschooler recognize body language by making the faces and body movements that correspond with various feelings. For example, make an angry face and cross your arms over your chest. Or jump up and down and giggle to show excitement.

Back-to-School Theme Online Activities

Online Story – Go to YouTube and listen to the book The Pigeon HAS to Go to School by Mo Willems. Discuss how the Pigeon felt throughout this book. Help your preschooler recognize the different emotions he experienced and how to navigate big feelings.

Alphabet Song – Go to YouTube and check out this catchy song that helps your preschooler learn to identify the names of letters and the sounds they make. Then have your preschooler try to find matching items at home that begin with the different letters. Be sure to sing the alphabet song while you do it!

Tooty Ta Brain Break – Time to get those little bodies moving! This fun and interactive song and dance is a preschool favorite! It’s important to offer even preschoolers brain breaks. Let them get the wiggles out before transitioning to something else.

Back-to-School Activities That are Just Plain Fun

Scissor Practice Collage Art – This no-prep activity is ideal for increasing hand strength and developing coordination. Using several pieces of colored construction paper, invite your preschooler to cut out pieces, big or small. Once there are plenty of colored pieces to choose from, grab a glue stick and start gluing! Allow them to choose whether they would like to randomly glue or make a design. Read this post for more details.

School Bus Dramatic Play – Line up chairs and encourage children to pretend to be a bus driver or a passenger. Time to open the door and pick up/drop off students! This is an especially fun activity when you involve the whole family, if done at home. Encourage them to sing “The Wheels on the Bus” as they drive.

Use These Free Printable Preschool Lesson Plans for Homeschool & Classroom

Since these are free preschool lesson plans that are designed to be done at home and taught by the parents, they are also easy to use for distance learning purposes. These lesson plans are designed to be shared in a secure and non-public manner under the direction of a teacher.

As a preschool teacher, you can do any of these activities in the classroom, or you can send them home to your students’ parents if you are distance learning. If you are doing homeschool preschool, these are great lesson plans for you, too.

Get Your FREE Preschool Lesson Plans Below

Want to try these back-to-school themed preschool lesson plans? Have at it! Click the image below and they will be sent to your email.

Looking for a Full Preschool Curriculum?

The Complete Preschool Curriculum has everything you need to teach your preschoolers literacy and math in a fun and engaging way, without all the boring worksheets!

This resource includes 36 weeks of:

• oral language lessons
• phonological awareness lessons
• phonics lessons
• math lessons from all five disciplines of math (number sense, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis)
• 10 weekly alphabet, letter formation, and beginning sounds centers
• 72 math centers to support all five disciplines of math
• editable preschool portfolio
• editable preschool portfolio monthly planning checklist

With detailed lesson plans offering an array of daily teaching options, you can cut your lesson planning down to a fraction of the time while still offering your preschoolers the best possible learning experience.