Back to School Preschool Activities, Games, and Printables

Free Back to School Activities, Rhymes, Printables, and Back to School Book Suggestions

Start the school year off right with our fun and exciting back-to-school activities and themes:

Back to School with Pete the Cat! Activities and Games

Preschool Activities: 

Media Root

Back to School with Dinosaurs! Activities
 

Back to School with Dinosaurs!

If you Take a Mouse to School Activities:

If You Take a Mouse to School Activitites and Printables

If You Take a Mouse to School Coloring Page	If You Take a Mouse to School Can you find the mouse?	If You Take a Mouse to School Maze	My first day of school coloring page

If You Take a Mouse to School
If you take a Mouse to school, first he'll ask you for your lunchbox -- and then he'll want to get his paws on everything, from spelling and math to a messy science experiment.

Here is a great language activity to do with the If You Take a Mouse to School book that also teaches children each other's names.

What you do:
Cut several small index cards in half and write each child's name on a card. Place the cards in a lunchbox. Re-read the book to the class. Stop to draw a card and replace the "Mouse" with the child's name. Have children take turns drawing a name out of the lunchbox and reading it with your help and then continuing the story.

If You Take a Mouse to School Harper Collins Book Activities

Back to School Activities

Lucky Charms Welcome to School Bags 

Write out the poem, print it and attach to a snack bag of Lucky Charms cereal.

This special treat is to remind you that I'm glad you are in my class! Search the bag, and inside you should find:

A yellow star to remind you to always shine.
A pot of gold to remind you that you are worth a million.
A colorful rainbow to remind you to always do your best.
A blue moon to remind you that sometimes we will all make mistakes.
A green clover to give you luck as you start ____ grade.
A purple horseshoe to remind you that U matter!
A red balloon to remind you to soar above the clouds and try new things.
And most importantly, a pink heart to remind you that as your teacher, I care about you!
Original Author Unknown

Welcome Back-to-School Bags

Put together one bag for each child of items that symbolize that the classroom is a safe, welcoming place where everyone works together and takes care of each other. Place the following items in each bag: one cotton ball, one individually wrapped chocolate kiss, one tissue, one sticker, one gold thread, one penny, one bandage, one eraser, and one individually wrapped lifesaver candy. Then, tell children what each item means:

• The cotton ball is to remind you that this room is full of kind words and warm feelings
• The chocolate kiss is to comfort you when you are feeling sad.
• The tissue is to remind you to help dry someone's tears.
• The sticker is to remind you that we all stick together and help each other.
• The star is to remind you to shine and always try your best.
• The gold thread is to remind you that friendship ties our hearts together.
• The penny is to remind you that you are valuable and special.
• The bandage is to heal hurt feelings in your friends and in yourself.
• The eraser is to remind you that we all make mistakes and that is O.K.
• The lifesaver is to remind you that you can come to me if you need someone to talk to.

Magic Play dough The Magic Play dough helps children to release any nervous energy they may have. For each child, roll a piece of white play dough into a ball. Poke a small hole in each with your finger and add a few drops of food color. Cover the hole carefully. Place each ball into a ziploc bag and place a bag at each child's seat. Let childen take out their "Magic Play dough" and say the following rhyme together:

I squeeze my play dough, it's shiny white.
I squeeze it, I squeeze it with all my might.
Slowly I see a color appear,
Yes, it will be a great school year!

Let children play with their play dough or instruct them to make certain things and share these with the class:

Back-to-School Friendship Walk

Have children stand in a circle and choose a fun back-to-school music CD to play during the game. Choose a child to walk around the circle as the music plays. When the music stops, the child moving around the circle stops and joins hands with the child closest to him/her. As the music begins again, the two children now walk together around the circle. Each time the music stops, the children walking around the circle join hands with the next child standing closest them. The friendship walk continues until everyone is walking in a circle together with joined hands.

Back to School Name Chant

Hi There!
Original Author Unknown
(Tune: Shoo Fly)

Hi there, so glad you came,
Hi there, so glad you came,
Hi there, so glad you came,
1-2-3, Let's shout "Hurray! Hurray!"

Hi there, so glad you're here,
Hi there, so glad you're here,
Hi there, so glad you're here
1-2-3, Let's give a cheer! Yay!

Back to School Song

This is the Way
Original Author Unknown
(Tune: All Around the Mulberry Bush)

This is the way we sit in a circle, (start off song sitting in a circle)
Sit in a circle, sit in a circle.
This is the way we sit in a circle,
Here at our school.

This is the way we raise our hands, (raise hands up and down)
Raise our hands, raise our hands.
This is the way we raise our hands,
Here at our school.

This is the way we read our books, (pretend to turn pages from left to right)
Read our books, read our books.
This is the way we read our books,
Here at our school.

This is the way we write our names, (write names in the air)
Write our names, write our names.
This is the way we write our names,
Here at our school.

This is the way we eat our lunch, (pretend to each lunch)
Eat our lunch, eat our lunch.
This is the way we eat our lunch,
Here at our school.

This is the way we get in a line, (move into lining up to leave classroom)
Get in a line, get in a line.
This is the way we get in a line,
Here at our school.

Back to School Books

Back to School Tortoise	The Berenstain Bears Go Back to School	First Day Jitters	How I Spent My Summer Vacation (Dragonfly Books)	If You Take a Mouse to School
It'S Back To School We Go!	Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes	Splat the Cat: Back to School, Splat!	Timothy Goes to School	The Kissing Hand

First Day of Kindergarten Books

Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come (Picture Puffins)	Countdown to Kindergarten	The Night Before Kindergarten (Reading Railroad Books)	Kindergarten Rocks!	Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten (Miss Bindergarten Books)
Welcome to Kindergarten	Will I Have a Friend?	First Day Jitters	First Day, Hooray!	Miss Mingo and the First Day of School

First Day of Preschool Books

The Night Before Preschool	What to Expect at Preschool (What to Expect Kids)	Preschool Day Hooray!	My First Day at Nursery School	Bye-Bye Time (Toddler Tools)
I Love You All Day Long	The Kissing Hand	I Don't Want to Go to School: Helping Children Cope with Separation Anxiety (Let's Talk)	Oh My Baby, Little One	Wemberly Worried

Ready for Preschool - First day of preschool books:

Ready for Kindergarten - First day of kindergartenl books: