Themed picture book activities for preschoolers – a year’s worth of activities. Use the resources in this post to create your own home preschool curriculum!
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Themed Picture Book Activities for Preschoolers
What You'll Find on This Page
Do you have a preschooler at home this fall? This post can help a lot with keeping them busy! I’ve collected all of my book themed activities for preschoolers in one place, and I’m sorting them out by topic for you, too. This way you can turn it into a homeschool preschool curriculum. Enjoy!
Animal Book Activities for Preschoolers
- A caterpillar to butterfly craft for Eric Carle’s classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
- Bear themed learning activities for Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear by Martin Waddell.
- Eraser-stamped bunnies and other bunny themed learning activities for Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems and Home for a Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown.
- Complete an animal observation log after reading Harry the Dirty Dog.
- A duck matching game printable from In the Small Small Pond by Denise Fleming.
- Adorable owl activities for Owl Babies by Martin Waddell.
- Penguin learning activities for kids to enjoy alongside Penguin and the Pinecone by Salina Yoon. Penguin Problems by Jory John
Social Emotional Intelligence Book Activities for Preschoolers
- A sensory emotional intelligence activity, as well as more emotions based learning activities to go along with Mercer Mayer’s I Was So Mad.
- Kindness themed activities for The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney and The Invisible Boy by Patrice Barton
Everyday Life Book Activities for Preschoolers
- Baking activities for kids to enjoy alongside If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff and Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann.
- Weather themed activities for Little Cloud by Eric Carle and Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld
- Shape activities for preschoolers to accompany Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh and Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert.
- Get kids thinking about how they can be community helpers, plus more community helper activities to enjoy after reading Trashy Town by Dan Yaccarino.
- Night-themed learning activities for the books Time for Bed by Mem Fox and Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes.
- Learn about our storytelling routine to help kids get ready for bed, along with other bedtime themed learning activities to go along with Anna Dewdney’s Llama Llama Red Pajama.
Transportation Book Activities for Preschoolers
- Airplane themed learning activities for The Noisy Airplane Ride by Mike Downs and The Little Airplane by Lois Lenski.
- Boat themed learning activities for Toy Boat by Randall de Sève and Boats by Byron Barton
- Construction themed learning activities to enjoy alongside Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker, Alphabet Under Construction by Denise Fleming and B Is for Bulldozer: A Construction ABC by June Sobel.
- A geometric shapes train template and other train themed learning activities to go along with Freight Train by Donald Crews.
- Space activities for kids for How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers.
Fairy Tales and Fantasy Book Activities for Preschoolers
- Design Shoes after reading The Elves and the Shoemaker, plus find more classic tales activities for kids.
- Dinosaur-themed learning activities to enjoy alongside Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems and When Dinosaurs Came with Everything by Elise Broach.
- Forest themed learning activities for Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo. Extend learning with Jennifer Ward’s non-fantasy forest themed book, The Busy Tree.
- My kids love the printable Go Quest! (like Go Fish!) game we made to play alongside Dragons Love Tacos, written by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri.
Autumn Preschool Book Activities
I’ve divided autumn books into seasonal books and Halloween. We have SO many autumn book activities, and some parents don’t celebrate Halloween. So this format made more sense to me.
Fall Seasonal Books
- Apple theme learning activities, created to go along with the book Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins.
- Farm-themed learning activities to go with Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle and Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown.
- Autumn leaves themed learning activities to accompany Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert.
- Leaf-themed learning activities to go along with Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. Leaves ! Leaves! Leaves! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace.
- Acorn and squirrel themed learning activities to accompany Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt.
Halloween Themed Books
- Monster learning activities to complement Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.
- Spider themed book activities to go along with The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle and David Kirk’s Miss Spider’s Tea Party.
- Delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and more pumpkin themed learning activities to enjoy alongside Five Little Pumpkins by Dan Yaccarino.
- Pumpkin themed learning activities for preschoolers to enjoy alongside James Dean’s Pete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins.
- A broom and cauldron drawing activity for kids, and more fun witch and potion themed activities to engage children in after reading the delightful Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson.
- Explore your sense of hearing and more with these fun activities designed to accompany Stellaluna by Janell Cannon.
Thanksgiving Themed Book Activities
- Gratitude activities for kids to accompany the books Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson, Thanksgiving Is for Giving Thanks by Margaret Sutherland, and The Thankful Book by Todd Parr.
Winter Book Activities for Preschoolers
As with fall, winter got divided into groups: winter weather and animal books, Christmas books, and Valentine’s Day books.
Winter Weather and Animal Book Activities
- Build shapes with bears and explore more bear themed fun after reading Bear Snores On.
- Bring the snow indoors, plus more fun ways to celebrate snow after reading The Snowy Day
- More snow-themed learning activities to enjoy alongside Red Sled by Lita Judge.
Christmas Book Activities
- Ornaments kids can color or sew along with more fun activities to enjoy alongside Laura Numeroff’s Merry Christmas, Mouse!
- A gingerbread house glyph activity and more gingerbread themed learning activities to accompany Jan Brett’s Gingerbread Baby. The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth and Gingerbread Mouse by Katy Bratun are two fun alternatives for this theme.
- A fun reindeer letter matching game to go with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
- Train themed learning activities to enjoy alongside The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg and Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story by Cynthia Rylant.
Valentine’s Day Book Activities
- Stamped valentines and more Valentine’s Day themed learning fun to go along with Guess How Much I Love You.
- Heart-themed learning activities to enjoy alongside The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond and The Kiss Box by Bonnie Verburg
Spring Preschool Book Activities for
This section is divided into spring weather and animal book activities, Mardi Gras book activities, and Easter book activities – all created with preschoolers in mind.
Spring Weather and Nature Book Activities
- Use food coloring to explore coloring mixing and fluid dynamics, along with other rainbow learning fun to accompany the book A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman. The Rainbow Book by Kate Ohrt is a great emotional intelligence themed alternate read for this theme.
- This plants and sunlight experiment is one of my favorite simple science experiments for kids! As always, the post includes links to more plant themed learning activities to go along with Eric Carle’s The Tiny Seed.
- More garden themed learning activities, also created to accompany Eric Carle’s The Tiny Seed. Peter Brown’s The Curious Garden is another wonderful picture book for this theme.
- Earth themed learning activities for Todd Parr’s The Earth Book and What Does It Mean to Be Green by Rana DiOrio.
Spring Animal Book Activities
- An animal stamping literacy activity and other farm learning fun to accompany Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin.
- Use a bunny hop alphabet board game to practice letter names and sounds after reading The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.
- A printable pre-writing activity and more bird themed learning fun to enjoy alongside P.D. Eastman’s Are You My Mother?
- Kids love the pop up feature in this week’s book, Wide-Mouthed Frog. I shared a free printable frog hop number line game, plus more frog themed learning activities for kids.
Mardi Gras Book Activities
- We made our beloved Swedish Pancakes to enjoy alongside Laura Numeroff’s If You Give a Pig a Pancake.
Easter Book Activities
- Crayon shaving decorated Easter eggs and more egg themed learning activities for kids to enjoy alongside The Easter Egg by Jan Brett.
- Easter, eggs, and chick themed activities for Peep and Egg: I’m Not Hatching by Laura Gehl.
Summer Book Activities for Preschoolers
- Develop design and spatial reasoning through this animal fashion show activity along with more zoo themed learning activities to accompany Peggy Rathmann’s Good Night Gorilla.
- Make a simple sea shell sensory bin and enjoy other ocean themed learning activities after reading The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen.
- Make homemade chocolate sea shells and enjoy other ocean themed crafts from this week. Designed to pair with Eric Carle’s A House for a Hermit Crab.
- Friendship activities to go with Should I Share my Ice Cream? by Mo Willems. We LOVE this Elephant and Piggie series, and any of the books would work for the friendship theme!
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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.