Preschool Hibernation Activities for Literacy
Hibernation is a preschool theme that can teach preschoolers about the different ways animals adapt to cold weather. That’s a fascinating concept for preschoolers! Use these literacy printables with your preschool hibernation activities this fall. You’re preschoolers will adore a hibernation theme!
Literacy Activities for a Hibernation Preschool Theme
How do you offer your preschoolers a print rich environment? There are so many fun hibernation literacy activities for preschoolers! From snuggling down in a bear cave for the winter months to hiding caches of nuts in a tree, these printable teach preschoolers all about animals that hibernate.
A hibernation preschool theme is a great way to transition preschoolers from more iconic fall themes into winter. It’s the perfect segue.
Fall isn’t just a time for frogs to start burrowing into the mud or for snakes to make a nest deep in the leaves, it’s also the time where teachers are figuring out what kinds of literacy skills their class already has when entering the new school year. There are four components in early childhood literacy.
Early childhood experts are consistently emphasizing their importance in preschool, so when planning your fall theme preschool lesson plans, it’s critical to include each component.
These printable activities can be used in small group work, circle time, or as independent preschool centers for your preschool hibernation theme activities.
Related Reading
These hibernation literacy activities are printable, so you can add to your fall preschool centers, and best of all, the six printables also cover the components of early literacy in a fun, engaging, and age appropriate way.
6 Preschool Hibernation Themed Activities to Print Now
With all the planning we put into making our fall preschool themes magical, we don’t need to spend extra time worrying about our math and literacy centers. These are sure to become your favorite fall activities because they make learning fun!
Bear and Cave Alphabet Letter Matching (Alphabet Knowledge)
This is a basic hibernation matching game where preschoolers math upper case letters with the corresponding lower case letters. The cards can also be used to play gross motor games and a classic memory game.
Hibernation Animals Word Tracing Words (Letter Formation)
These word tracing cards will teach your preschooler about different animals that hibernate through the winter season. The word cards offer a font that teaching letter formation, so preschoolers know what order to make the strokes when writing.
Hibernating Homes Word Counting Mats (Phonological Awareness)
These sentence cards have red dots under each word so that preschoolers can learn to differentiate words in a sentence, which is an important pre-reading skill. Each card features an animal home and the animals that hibernate in them.
Home and Animal Vocabulary Matching Cards (Print Awareness)
Every preschool learning unit needs a piece about vocabulary, and these vocabulary cards teach print awareness and word recognition, too. Preschoolers identify the word by looking at the picture on the card, and then find that matching word card. This also helps preschoolers with beginning sound recognition, too.
Hibernation Animal Beginning Sound Clip Cards (Phonological Awareness)
In preschool, children master letter recognition skills and sounds, and they also learn how to listen for beginning sounds in words. These hibernation beginning sound clip cards are a fun learning activity that teaches preschoolers how to match beginning sound pictures with their corresponding letter. Each card’s main animal teaches preschoolers about the different animals that hibernate.
Homes and Animals Word Building (Phonemic Awareness)
These word building cards are always a hit no matter the preschool theme. Preschoolers practice building fall words related to hibernation by using the provided letter tiles or by using letter manipulatives. By the end of your hibernation unit, these words will be like sight words to your preschoolers!
They can also be added to a fall sensory bin or used in a salt tray for extra writing practice.
Don’t Forget Children’s Books About Hibernation
What animals do to survive the winter months is fascinating to children. Build on that curiosity and excitement with these carefully curated children’s books about hibernation.
Get Your Hibernation Math Activities Here
Think these hibernation activities for preschoolers are a must-have for your math centers this fall? Grab them below!
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.