Pre-K Pets Theme Unit

~ Pre-K & Preschool theme ideas for learning about pets ~

Books

Rhymes

Old Mother Hubbard Nursery Rhyme

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor doggie
A bone.

But when she got there
The cupboard was bare
And so the poor doggie
Had none.

Songs

How Much is That Doggie in the Window: traditional song
Old Mother Hubbard: Rhymin' to the Beat Vol. 2 CD by Jack Hartmann
Rags: Rhymin' to the Beat Vol. 2 CD by Jack Hartmann

Activities

Obedience School

[Large Motor]
Children pretend to be dogs. As a few dog commands are called out (fetch, sit, lie down, roll over, bark, beg, come, etc.), the children act them out.

Pet Movements

[Large Motor]
The children chose which kind of pet they want to be. They moved around and made the sounds of that animal.

Pet Food

[Fine Motor Skills]
Children rolled Model Magic into little balls for pet food and painted the pieces brown. They used the pretend food in the pet store and in their pretend play with the toy dogs and cats. You could also use brown play dough with pet food bowls and a bone-shaped cookie cutter.

Dog House

[Art]
Children made dog houses with cardboard boxes. They worked together with others to make the doghouses, deciding how it would look, where the door would be, and what materials to use to decorate the house.

Pet Store

[Dramatic Play, Literacy, Social Skills]
Children made pet food, dog houses, pet toys, and leashes to sell in their pet store. A cash register with play money, paper, and pencils were added and the children wrote receipts and price tags for the items.

Pet Store Signs

[Literacy]
Children made signs for their pet store.

Story Retelling

[Literacy]
Choose a pet-themed book that you would consider good literature (good characters, plot, beginning, middle, end, etc.) Show the book to the children and tell them to think about what happened in the story, and the people (characters) and places they saw in the story. Think about what each character said. Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to draw something they remember from the story. Remind them that this should not be a picture of their cat or their friends, but only pictures of things from the book. After each child has illustrated the story, have them retell the story in their own words. Either record each child with a voice recorder or write their dictation on the page.

Pets Stamping Game

[Math, Literacy]
Write a letter or numeral on each cat or dog, and make a copy for each child. Children will draw a number or letter card from a stack (or roll a die), find that letter/numeral on their mat, and stamp it out. You can use rubber stamps or bingo daubers. As an alternative, you can have children draw an "X" over the pet if stamps or bingo daubers are not available.

Pet Game
Printable

Pet Graph

[Math]
Our graph title was "What is your favorite pet?" The children chose which pet they would like to have, and placed a sticky note with their name on it on a chart paper graph. We counted how many of each animal, and determined most/least/same.

Dog and Cat Card Game

[Math]
For each set of cards, half of the cards (index cards) were stamped with dogs and half with cats to represent the numbers 0-4. Children worked in pairs, and had an equal amount of cards: one child had cat cards, the other child had dog cards. Players turned over a card simultaneously. The player whose card had the most cats or dogs kept both cards for that round of the game. Players who tied kept only their own card. Children compared more, less, and same amounts.

Dog Counting Game

[Math]
These counting cards were made with index cards, a dog notepad from the teacher store, and a paw print stamp. The children counted the paws and matched them to the numeral on the dog.

Pet Care Prop Box

[Dramatic Play Center]
In the house center, we have toy dogs and cats with pet food bowls, rawhide bones, pet carrier, collars, leash, pet bed, pet toys. We keep these in our house center all year.