Kids are sponges. They soak in every little word and details of their lives.
Whether tot schooling, doing preschool themes or you’re looking for weekly learning theme for kindergarten through 1st or 2nd grade, we have you covered to make sure that even in simple learning activities, book lists, and hands-on fun, kids are learning all about a variety of topics through exciting unit study ideas for ages toddler through 2nd grade.
In late 2013, I ambitiously decided I would start tot schooling daily. It’s morphed into a life-long learning challenge with our kids as we do learn daily whether it’s intensive or not.
Contents
About our weekly learning themes
- Over the years we have compiled books, activities, printables and more surrounding specific themes to help inspire you and get you started.
- I will try to include at least one book for each theme and link to it via Amazon so that you have some great book recommendations to build a theme library. This is important to me as it creates an extensive home library.
- While the majority of the material is secular, several themes will have posts that include Bible verse of the week that correlates in some way to the theme. We share because this is what we do, but like the rest of the curriculum, what you choose to include and what to omit is up to you and shaping it to adapt to your needs is perfect. The printables are completely secular in nature unless otherwise indicated.
- If you have any great ideas, send them to me!
- We will be trying to explore local museums and places that facilitate our learning. I encourage you to do the same! It’s always great to see what your town and region has to offer, plus it’s also wonderful to support local when you can.
Important Tot School Resources & Supply Lists
My Tot School eBook | Supply List | Our School Room | Chore List
Pre-K through 2nd Grade Resources
- Learning themes planner bundle
- Preschool Learning Objectives Printable
- Comprehensive Weekly Learning Theme Planner w/ daily planning sections (4 pages)
Adapt as needed to make it age appropriate. I will try to indicate What age group it was originally created for, but all theme can be adapted for tot through early elementary level kids. They are inalphabetical order or you can use your “find” function by hitting control F on your keyboard to locate a specific topic.
(T – Tot, P – Preschool, K – Kindergarten, 1- 1st Grade, 2 – 2nd Grade)
Unit Study ideas, Printables, and Resources
A
- Acts of Service (T,P)
- Art & Music (T,P,K)
- Autumn (T,P)
B
- Body Parts (T,P)
- Body Parts & Bodily Functions Books (T,P,K, 1)
- Buildings (T,P)
C
- Clothing (T,P)
- Colors (T,P)
- Construction (T,P)
E
- Earth Day Book List (T,P,K, 1, 2)
H
- Homes & Cities (T,P)
- Hot & Cold (T,P)
J
- Jungle & Safari (T,P)
K
- Kitchen & Food (T,P)
L
- Land & Earth (T,P)
- Letters & Alphabet (T,P,K, 1)
- Lids & Fasteners (T,P)
M
- Magnetism (T,P)
- Math Concept Books (T,P,K)
- Measurements (T,P)
- Movement, Fitness, & Sports (T,P)
N
- Nature & Bugs (T,P)
O
- Ocean & Bodies of Water (T,P)
Printables you’ll love!
- Patterns (T,P)
- Planes & Travel Books (T, P, K)
R
S
- Scent & Smell (T,P)
- Seeds & Plants (T,P)
- Shapes (T,P)
- Snowy Days Book List (T,P,K, 1, 2)
- Spring Season (T,P)
- Suction (T, P, K, 1, 2)
- Summer (T,P)
T
- Teeth and Oral Hygiene Book List (T,P,K, 1, 2)
- Texture (T,P)
- Transportation (T,P)
Get my free homeschooling mini series!
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Monica
What a wonderful planner! Thanks for sharing this resource.
Monica
Kara Carrero
Thank you! I figured if it helped me, then it could help someone else too.
Stephanie Kay (@stephmommybrain)
Great planner! I wish I’d been this organized with themes when my oldest (now 10) was a preschooler! Pinning to my homeschool board. Thanks for linking to Family Fun Friday.
Dayna @ Lemon Lime Adventures
What an excellent planner. Sometimes I wish I worked in themes. It would be much easier to just plan out the year 🙂
Sara
What a great resource! This looks perfect for my 3 and 4 year olds to do together.
Kara Carrero
Thank you all! I really hope it works well for your family. Let me know if I can help in any way 🙂
Mommy Battles
A wonderful planner! I’ll definitely use it with my toddler.
Dianna Kennedy
I pinned this great resource a few months ago on Pinterest …. it’s great to hop over here and finally meet you!! Wonderful to find you in the BYB Challenge!
Kara Carrero
Thanks so much for pinning and for stopping by! 🙂 I am excited for the challenge and I am sure we’ll “meet” again.
Ashley
I stumbled upon your blog while looking through Pinterest for Tot School ideas. This is amazing and though I’m a little late to the game it will be great to use some of these with my 2 year old and all of these with my soon to be 1 year old (adjusted to age appropriateness, of course). You are so organized and have provided the guidance I’ve been looking for! Thanks so much for sharing all of your hard work with the rest of us.
Kara Carrero
I am SO glad to hear that it is going to be beneficial for you! I know that when I was interested in doing tot school, I wasn’t finding the resources I wanted so I decided to make one even if I was the only one using it. 😉 All of the activities should be age appropriate for toddler-preschool and are all ideas to spark your and your child’s imaginations!
I am a little (ok, a lot) behind right now because of a rough pregnancy and a sudden death in the family, but I am trying very hard to stay on top of it! I hope you continue to check back for all of our adventures.
Have fun tot-schooling 🙂
Kimberly
Thanks so much for this great planner. I really think this will help keep me on track next year!
Kara Carrero
You a very welcome. If you every need anything, just let me know!
Samantha
Looking for ways to keep the little ones busy this school year. Love the ideas on your blog. Thanks
Kara Carrero
Thank you! I hope they help throughout the year!
Diana Cote
Thank you so much, this is really handy. My daughter is turning 3 in a couple of weeks and shes doing great development wise but I want to start teaching her more and I was a little confused how to go about this but this is a nice guideline. 🙂
Kara Carrero
Remember that however you choose to go about it, that it’s all about following her lead but also introducing her to new ideas. I think that starting in January, we are going to go to Monthly themes which might be a consideration for you too! I know my daughter has a longer attention span and enjoys topics for longer. So just adjust as needed. Hope that these guide help a lot and thanks for your comment!
Jacquelin
The planner looks great and will help keep my little ones busy. Thanks for sharing!
Kara Carrero
You are very welcome!
Shay
Thanks I needed some more ideas for pre K.
Samantha
This is amazing! I absolutely love it. It’s some of the ideas I’ve had to work on with my toddler just planned out to not be overwhelming for him.
Kara Carrero
I am glad you like it and hope that you can find ways to adapt it to your son’s needs! There are definitely days when EVERYTHING is overwhelming to all of us so just remember that it’s all about learning through play 😉
Judith Martinez
What a wonderful list of ideas!! I keep thinking I should make some busy bags for my younger kids.
Kara Carrero
They are so handy for sure!
Julie
What a great resource! We do monthly themes, but this will be a great launching point for us! Thanks!
Kara Carrero
We are going to start monthly themes once these are done! Plus, many of these can be combined into singular months. 🙂
Stefanie
The weekly planner ideas are appreciated. I needed this to help start off our first year of homeschooling. I just didn’t know where to start and this planner is helping. Thank you for your generosity.
Kara Carrero
Absolutely 🙂 So glad to hear that it is helping!
Dorothy Boucher
what a wonderful planner and great way to stay organized, thanks for sharing 🙂 @tisonlyme143
celestine hyeche
I’m very please to fine this weekly themes planner. It will help me out a lot I work with 0-3 and its hard for me come up with themes.
Kelly
Thnkas Kara. I’m going to adapt this for my 8 year old homeschooler by using it as a monthly planning guide!
Kara Carrero
Great adaptation! You are so welcome. I hope it helps you and your family.
Tristen
This is fabulous! My little one is about to turn 2 and I can’t wait to start using these resources. I’m going to start this Monday. 🙂
Samantha
I love this theme list! I’m just wondering if there is a reason you did letters and numbers so much later than colors and shapes. Thank you!
Kara Carrero
You can do whatever order suits you! We did colors first because my daughter was 14 months old when we started.
Kendra Nguyen
Love this! Thank you for this great resource.