25 Theme Ideas for Daycare| Ready-to-use Free Printables
Can’t decide on your next daycare theme?
Here are 25 theme ideas for daycare that’ll get your creative juices flowing.
We have included ideas about seasons, plants, camping, animals, space, emotions, kindness, family and everything in between.
To make the lesson planning easy, we’re also sharing learning and activity ideas and free printables for each theme that you can simply download.
So let’s get into it and help you find the perfect theme.
25 Theme Ideas for Daycare
1. Summer
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Play a sport
- Read summer stories
- Arrange some outdoor activities
- Play a treasure hunt where the treasure is a small candy jar
- Watercolor painting
- Draw summer fruits
- Teach kids about how plants make food through sunlight
Free Printables
- Spot the difference sheet
- Trace and color the fruits
- Summer writing worksheet
- Summer coloring pages
- Find shapes
- Name and color worksheet
- Summer word search
- Word scramble
2. Winter
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Play indoor games
- Make a 2D snowman with cotton
- Tell your 5 favorite winter activities
- Ask kids to tell what they like the most about winter
- Make winter treats/ food board and ask kids to mark their favorite winter food
- Make fake snow and play with it
- Make winter crafts
- Read winter stories
- Learn about animal hibernation
Free Printables
- Winter hat drawing worksheet
- Cut and paste the Fox worksheet
- Cut and paste the penguin worksheet
- Spot and color winter objects
- Hibernation coloring page
- Snowman puzzle
- Penguin coloring page
- Winter compound words worksheet
3. Fall
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Teach kids why leaves fall in the fall
- Explain why the color of leaves change
- Collect leaves of different colors like red, orange and yellow
- Do leaf painting and printing
- Learn parts of leaves
- Learn different types of leaves
- Read autumn stories and poems
- Do corn painting
Free Printables
- Fall puzzle worksheet
- Leaf color sorting
- Fall tree number matching
- Parts of leaf
- Fall scavenger hunt
- Leaves counting grid game
- Apple-themed writing worksheets
- Fall counting clip cards
4. Spring
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Paint a garden scene
- Collect flowers
- Make a bouquet
- Teach kids how flowers turn into fruits
- Read spring stories
- Ask kids to write 3 sentences on spring
- Share 1 thing you like about spring
- Play outdoor games
- Make flower crafts and origami
Free Printables
- Spring scavenger hunt
- Spring word search
- Flower tracing
- Butterfly drawing activity
- Spring crossword
- Spring animals writing activity sheet
- Spring worksheets for daycare (writing, counting and math)
5. Animals
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Make animal origami
- Write 5 sentences about your favorite animal
- Read animal stories
- Tell kids fun facts about animals
Free Printables
- Animal coloring pages
- Animal crossword puzzles
- Connect the Dots activity sheet
- Animal coloring by numbers
6. Weather
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Teach kids about different weather
- Learn weather words
- Learn how clouds are formed
- Explain the water cycle and how it rains
- Read weather stories
- Paint or draw different weather scenes
- Write 5 sentences about your favorite weather
- Write about a rainy day you experienced
Free Printables
- Bundle of free weather activity sheets
- Weather words
- Weather coloring pages
- Weather word search
- Connect the dots
- The weather and clothes match
- Weather game matching cards
7. Plants/Garden Theme
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Learn how seeds turn into plants
- Learn parts of plants
- Read plant stories
- Learn how plants make food
- Draw and color trees and plants
- Plant a seed
- Go flower picking
Free Printables
- 5-paged bundle of plant worksheet (Tracing, cutting and matching)
- Learning plant activity worksheets
- Garden word search
- Connect the dots and color the plant
8. Kindness and Care
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Make cards for the parents
- Write kindness notes
- Teach kids to share
- Teach kids the importance of kindness
- Explain to them ways to be kind to others
- Read care and kindness stories
- Give a scenario to kids and ask them how they will show care in that scenario.
Free Printables
9. Emotions
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Read stories
- Ask each kid to write about their emotions
- Write or tell about when you were very happy
- Teach kids to control their anger
Free Printables
- Draw faces to match emotions
- Book of Feelings worksheet
- Feelings and emotions word search
- How do you feel worksheet
10. Cartoon Theme
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Write or tell about your favorite cartoon character
- Write 3 characteristics of given cartoon characters
- Play a guess game where you give hints about a character, and kids have to guess
- Make character crafts
Free Printables
11. Family
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Write or tell about your family
- Who’s your favorite family member
- Read family stories
- Read family poems
- Draw your family
- Make a family tree
Free Printables
12. World
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Tell kids fun facts about different countries
- Play the Guess the Flag game
- Ask kids to write or tell about their favorite vacation spot
- Tell kids about interesting places
- Learn about different cultures
- Try a different culture’s dish
Free Printables
- Continents printable
- Places coloring pages
- Earth coloring pages
- Famous Places of Countries worksheet
- Country flags flashcard worksheet
13. Earth
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Paint a “Save the Earth” poster
- Learn about how precious our planet is
- Tell the story of the formation of Earth
- Teach kids ways to protect our planet
- Do some recycling crafts
Free Printables
14. Ocean
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Learn about different ocean animals
- Learn about different ocean plants
- Tell kids how pearls are made in the ocean
- Read ocean stories
- Make origami fish
- Paint or draw an ocean scene
Free Printables
15. Dessert
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Learn about desert animals
- Read desert stories
- Learn how camel stores so much water in its hump
- Learn about mirage
- Play with sand
Free Printables
16. Flower
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Go on a flower hunt
- Make a small bouquet from collected flowers
- Learn how flowers turn into fruits
- Learn how bees make honey from flowers
- Draw and color flowers
- Paint or color a flower vase
- Make flower origami
Free Printables
17. Camping
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Read camping stories
- Setup a tent
- Color camping scenes and tents
- Have a mini camping in a park
- Play outdoor games
- Paint campfire
- Make camping food
Free Printables
18. Space
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Learn about the solar system, stars and galaxies
- Learn about black holes
- Show kids pictures of different planets, galaxies and satellites
- Make a 3 d model of the solar system using foam balls
- Paint or draw the solar system or moon
- Make origami rocket
- Make star wall hangings
- Paint stars and the sun on kids’ hands or face
Free Printables
19. Winter Animals
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Learn about hibernation
- Read related poems and stories
- Explore how different animals survive winter
- Tell kids how sea animals survive when the water freezes
- Paint winter animals
- Make origami animals
Free Printables
20. Mountains
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Read mountain stories
- Draw and paint a mountain range
- Learn about the highest mountains in the world
- Learn about volcanos
- Make a miniature volcano model
- Tell kids fun facts about mountains
Free Printables
21. Myself
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Write or tell about yourself
- Draw your favorite fruit
- Paint your names with a sponge
- Make a DIY photo frame
- Make a myself book
- Self-portrait with kids
- Do hand printing
- Paint your names or faces with salt
Free Printables
- All about me writing worksheet
- All about me printable
- Myself bundle worksheets
- Dough modeling template
22. My Body
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Learn parts of the body
- Learn organs of the body
- Explore the 5 senses
- Draw a self-portrait and label the body parts
- Hand and footprinting
- Make models with dough
Free Printables
- My body puzzle
- Matching Worksheet
- My body word search
- 5 senses worksheet bundle for kids
- Cut and make the face
23. Science
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Have fun with some cool science experiments
- Learn different phenomena along the way
- Explain basic phenomena to kids, like melting of ice, evaporation and plant growth
- Learn how the night and day changes
- Make elephant toothpaste
Free Printables
24. Sports
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Go outside and play some sports
- Ask kids to tell or write about their favorite sport
- Write or tell about your favorite player
- Play timed scavenger hunt
Free Printables
- Sports coloring pages-1
- Sports coloring pages-2
- Connect the dots
- Sports word search
- Connect the gear with the right sport
25. Ancient animals
Activities and Learning Ideas
- Learn about prehistoric animals
- Learn why animals get extinct
- Learn how we can protect them
- Draw and color ancient animals
- Tell kids fun facts about prehistoric animals
- Read dinosaur stories
Free Printables
A Tip for Finding Daycare Theme Ideas
Here’s a trick to make hundreds of themes from these 25 daycare theme ideas.
Be specific and narrow down the spectrum of your theme. Pick one animal or one fruit. Go deeper to find a perfect and unique theme idea for your daycare.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Is a Theme Plan In Early Childhood Education?
Many daycares and preschools have a day or a unit dedicated to a specific theme, where they learn and do activities only related to that theme. The activities and learning plans for the theme units and days are called theme plans in early childhood education.
2. What Is Theme-Based Activity in Preschool?
Any activity that is related to the theme of your daycare or preschool is theme-based.
Conclusion
Our long list of theme ideas for daycare now comes to an end. You can always narrow down or broaden a theme to make it unique and fit your requirements.
We hope you have got inspiration and ideas for your next theme unit. Thank you for staying with us till the very end.
