Thematic units are topics (such as transportation, farming, and health) that are interesting to preschoolers and toddlers. If you follow the “topics” link above, you will be led to a number of topic ideas. Notice how they are broad topics that can apply to almost all communities. I say almost because it’s a big planet and of course, if you live at the arctic circle a summer theme of scorching hot days at outdoor swimming pools would be about how other places experience summer and wouldn’t be directly relevant to the children in your care. With that said, making themes personally relevant to the children in your care is shown to be a great way to engage them with a topic. I haven’t included popular fantasy themes such as outer space or dinosaurs because of this reason—they can’t have an actual hands-on experience with these themes. But, hey, if you have a group of kids really into one of these ideas, go for it!
How they come to life for you with your children will be unique as you focus in on the details that are relevant to your community and your resources. What is presented here is meant to be a guide and to provoke your own ideas. The ideas I offer are for use in an indoor environment—maybe you can think of extending these themes outside!
Thematic units enhance all aspects of learning, and should be included in learning areas for toddlers and preschoolers (adapt your toddler environment accordingly from the “learning area” link), planned activities, and anywhere else you can include them. The thematic units in this article are appropriate for toddlers and preschoolers. The differences between these age groups will be found in how the unit play ideas are used, and the attention span for certain songs, activities, and games. When preparing thematic units, remember these tips:
Remember that there are many different types of books to include in your reading center. You can provide alphabet books, cardboard books, fairy tales, stories about young children, realistic stories, animal stories, award-winning books, old books, new books, wordless picture books, stories that show men and women in nontraditional roles, poetry, picture books with very few words, and more.
Remember to encourage your toddlers’ and preschoolers’ creativity when they are in the art area. Many preschoolers will begin to draw recognizable shapes and designs. However, don’t expect your preschoolers’ and toddlers’ art to be realistic. Fr example, if one of your toddlers’ points to his red picture and says, “Water!” don’t tell him that water is blue. Say, “What lovely water you’ve drawn! Are there any fish in your water? What are their names?”
Ask your preschoolers and toddlers to tell you about their pictures (toddlers might not have the words), and limit your comments to the colors they choose, lines, circles, and of course, your loving encouragement! Encourage your preschoolers to experiment with colors, to fill the page, and to write their names on their work.
Remember that you can use your imagination when you cannot afford to buy the real thing. For example, a small rug can be a magic carpet, and your recliner chair can be an intergalactic command center. Preschoolers and toddlers will enjoy “imaginary” items as much as or more than the real thing! As they grow, they will love to help you turn everyday items into magical play items that can be used in your learning areas.
Remember that the thematic unit ideas I’m sharing are only suggestions. Include your own ideas to make these thematic units special for you and your children. Focus on the interests of your preschoolers and toddlers. If you set up your room or house with a transportation theme, and your children only want to play with the trucks, that’s fine. At that point, find more materials that focus on trucks. Pretend you’re a truck driver and the engine is broken. Ask your children if someone can help you fix the engine. Take them out in the world to see real trucks, or construct a truck out of an old refrigerator box.
Remember to display a variety of different theme-related images. Hang posters or create collages with images from old magazines. Find mobiles and models to hang from the ceiling or to place around the room. Display any artwork your preschoolers make that has been inspired by a theme.
Remember to bring play to life in your learning areas. Get down on the floor with your children and lead them in different play themes. For example, for the pet theme, pretend to be a veterinarian. Use a play stethoscope to listen to the “heartbeat” of a stuffed animal. Give hugs and kisses to the “sick” pets. For the farm theme, pretend to be a farmer who wants to sell her corn. Provide play corn-on-the-cob to “weigh” on a scale, and say, “Who wants to buy some of my yummy corn?” Show your children how to “pay” for the corn, and pretend to eat the corn with them.
Remember that your toddlers may want nothing to do with anything in your thematic unit or activity. That’s okay! For example, your toddlers may be very interested in opening and closing doors, which has nothing to do with what you prepared for them. Show them all of the doors in your house or building, talk with them about why doors are important, point out doors in books you read, and let them experiment with different doors. Studies have shown that children (and adults) learn more when they have a personal interest in an activity or subject. Be flexible enough to stop what you have planned and move in a new direction.
Remember that your preschoolers will have many ideas of their own that can be integrated into your themes. Be open to their ideas. Encourage them to create a class project based on your theme. Providing a variety of experiences is one of the most important things you can do to promote learning in small children.
Remember to create activities and games based on your classroom themes. Include these thematic unit activities in your preschoolers’ large group time and small group time. You will probably need to create new thematic unit activities in addition to the ones provided below. You can create your own activities incorporating math, science, art, reading, writing, and movement. You may want to adjust the provided thematic unit activities to match your original theme ideas. Or, you can check out books from the library for more ideas.