10 November Preschool Themes Beyond Thanksgiving

If you've only got as far as planning preschool themes involving Thanksgiving for your class, then don't worry we have got some great ideas to help you out.

Preschool themes are topics that you can use to teach kids about all different subjects, from art to music to mathematics to science experiments.

Great theme ideas allow you to capture your preschoolers' attention and help them take in their core subjects in a far more engaging way than just sitting around the classroom. These theme ideas for your preschool class explore all sorts of activities that will have your preschoolers queueing up to take on the role of teacher's pet.

If you need November themes and ideas for preschool kids, then these are going to spark your imagination and help teach your students all about the wonders of this month.

After a little bit of planning, you can use these November preschool themes to create some activities that are great learning opportunities and unique to the month. Can't get enough of preschool articles? You might like this one on [playing in preschool], or our ideas for organizing the ultimate preschool graduation.

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Thanksgiving

Most of us totally love the month of November because we get to celebrate Thanksgiving with a big party and a seriously tasty feast.

Planning some Thanksgiving-themed activities is going to get your kids in the mood for their Thanksgiving dinner. And speaking of Thanksgiving dinners, why not create a Thanksgiving theme meal by encouraging kids to draw their favorite food onto paper plates, and bringing them together to a make-believe circle time dinner event?

Or, spend an afternoon getting the whole preschool class involved in making a gratitude book, where each person can write and draw the things they are thankful for.

Guy Fawkes

Preschoolers will love learning the dramatic story of Guy Fawkes and his gunpowder plot. Tell the story in circle time and you'll have kids on the edge of their seats!

There are some great printable coloring sheets available for free online, but we like the idea of getting extra creative and making 'Wanted' posters for the kids.

Fireworks shows are even more exciting when you are preschool age, and learning about why we see them is definitely going to cause a buzz. Painting black over crayon drawings of fireworks is a great activity for children to create their own night sky pictures.

Pipe cleaners can be made into fun and safe sparklers for kids to play with at a class "fireworks" event which you can stream from YouTube with a projector.

Veteran's Day

On November 11 we remember the important veterans that have fought for our country. Celebrate our amazing veterans in the classroom with this preschool theme, perhaps one of the most important November preschool weekly themes.

We can get carried away with fun Halloween activities that blur straight into Thanksgiving activities, and with Veteran's Day falling right in the middle, this theme can sometimes be overlooked.

Learning about the people who fight for our country is something we think is important, and we can honor it with some great activities too. Try a fun craft making coffee filters into poppies. Why not make them into a wreath and take it to a local veteran's statue in your town.

Pie

Young children love pie, and theming your lesson plans and activities around the famous food is definitely going to get their attention.

The month of November is the first wintery month as it is right at the end of Fall, so get your classroom warm and cozy with some fun pie-themed preschool activities. Thanksgiving and pie go hand in hand, so we love the idea of dedicating a special November theme to one of the nation's favorite foods.

Not to mention that it's actually National Lemon Cream Pie Day on November 29, do you need any more excuses? Use felt and cotton balls to make yummy-looking soft play pies.

Take this theme a step further by turning the classroom into a pie shop, and getting kids to buy and sell slices of pie to each other during playtime.

Animals From The Forest

The winter is a great time to teach your preschool class all about forest animals, and this preschool theme is bound to be a hit because kids love learning about furry friends.

Turn the classroom into a forest, and teach your class about all the animals that come out to visit us in the Fall and what they do during winter.

From bears to hedgehogs, teach kids about why their favorite animals disappear over the winter months and what they get up to. You could also set up a sensory bin with plastic animal toys and some sticks and leaves, read stories about the forest and create some forest-themed art.

Put toy animals to sleep for the winter as a class and wake them up after the holidays for a fun activity.

Native Americans

A Thanksgiving theme is one of the most popular preschool November themes, so it's important to honor Native Americans and learn about their history and culture during the winter too.

With lots of inaccurate depictions of American Indian culture flying around at Thanksgiving, we can use this as a time to teach accurate information. Find books written by American Indians, and celebrate  American Indian artists like Oscar Howe by making art inspired by their work.

Avoid the stereotypical crafts and activities like making headdresses out of feathers, because these are sacred to Native American culture, and can be disrespectful to use in a throwaway fashion. Instead, teach about why these are known to be sacred objects. This is one of the most important November classroom themes for preschools to explore.

Farm Animals

One of the best preschool weekly themes for November is farm animals and learning about what they get up to in the season of Fall.

Children can explore with loads of great resources and fun crafts, it's easy to plan a week of activities that will make learning about the farm fun. Try making sheep out of cotton wool and toilet roll tubes, or pigs from pink paper.

Corn on the cob rolled in paint can create awesome effects, the corn will make cool textures on paper that can be used for creating hands-on farm-themed art.

The Five Senses

One of our favorite preschool themes for November is the five senses. We can use sensory play to explore how our eyes, ears, nose, and mouth work, and plan activities that preschoolers will love getting stuck into.

Dedicate a whole day of activities for each of the senses to learn about this awesome theme over a week-long period.

An activity we love to do that will teach kids all about their sense of touch is to put different objects into a feely bag, and get kids to take turns putting their hands in and guessing what they're touching.

There's so much more sensory play that this theme could last the whole of November if you wanted, and kids will love getting mucky and having some sensory fun.

Folk Tales

After the excitement of Halloween, one of our favorite ideas for November preschool themes to help us relax and take a break is folk tales.

Folk tales are a brilliant winter idea for preschoolers because the holiday season is full of imaginative stories from our past that will spark their creativity.

This cute idea for a preschool theme is sure to give you tons of ideas for lessons to plan and fun activities that preschoolers will enjoy.

Make the houses of the 'Three Little Pigs', grow some beans like in 'Jack And The Beanstalk', or get to work decorating yummy gingerbread men, and let them come to life during a drama activity, before eating them as a tasty afternoon snack.

There are hundreds of preschool activities around this fun theme, and it's great for getting the imaginations of your preschool class fired up.

Fall

One of the themes with lesson plans for November that we aren't going to forget very easily is Fall. There is so much learning that preschoolers can do around the Fall season and loads of great sensory resources that will help any teacher with activity and theme ideas.

This preschool theme is a great one to examine easily found items, so why not collect some objects from nature and use a magnifying glass to get a closer look?

Learn about the magical changing of the leaves, and use hand-prints to make leaf-shaped decorations for the classroom. Children will love decorating the classroom with Fall themed art. Another of our favorite preschool activities for the Fall theme is to make sun catchers out of tissue paper in the colors of Fall.

If you found these themes for preschool in November helpful, why not take a look at the [preschool language scale] or our article on [transitional kindergarten]?

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