February Preschool Themes

Our February preschool themes are a great way to keep your preschoolers stimulated and delighted to learn during the shortest month of the year! These themes that are perfect for February are just a small selection from our ultimate list of preschool themes. 

Audrey Hepburn said, “The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” With Valentine’s Day in the middle of the month, February is a natural time to focus on lessons about kindness. Treating others with respect and being a good friend are valuable social skills that preschoolers will carry with them throughout their lives. Several of our February preschool themes focus on teaching children how to interact with others, including:

• Emotions/Feelings
• Family
• Friendship
• Kindness
• Valentine’s Day

Of course, outside of Valentine’s Day, there’s a lot happening in February! It’s National Children’s Dental Health Month, with lots of associated learning opportunities. Additionally, if you’re lucky enough to live in an area that’s starting to get the first glimpse of spring, our Flowers and Trees theme might be perfect for you. Whatever works for your classroom, our February themes will get you organized and help you save time during the shortest month of the year!

I’ve made a free printable preschool theme list to help with all your planning!

February Preschool Themes

All About Me Theme

Oh, how preschoolers love to talk about themselves! All About Me allows students to talk about themselves, their interests, and learn what they share in common with others. It’s a great theme for any time during the year! Make it easy with done-for-you all about me lesson plans! We also have a whole list of all about me activities and all about me books that are perfect for circle time. This catchy book, I Like Myself, is a great read for encouraging differences and self-love.

This is an easy time to incorporate name recognition activities, such as tactile name writing practice or this simple craft.

Grab the free All About Me poster below to guide your preschoolers as they share how truly unique they are! 

Check out the All About Me Theme lesson plans in our preschool store or toddler store for lots more ideas!

Animals Theme

The sky is the limit here! So much to choose from: mimic animal movements, learn about habitats, read some of the million books starring animals, talk about different sizes, listen to rare animal sounds, or make a craft! You can start with your class’s favorite animal and go from there.

You’ll love my new book Wild Animal Babies: An Alphabet Book, which is perfect for an animal theme as you learn about new and unusual animals and their babies!

Grab our animal lesson plans in our preschool store or toddler store.

Author Study – Anna Dewdney Book Study Theme

You’ve surely run across the beloved Llama Llama books. Bring them into the classroom with this beloved author (she is one of my favorites!) There are a ton of social/emotional skills to be discussed and practiced in Llama, Llama, Red Pajama and Llama, Llama Misses Mama. But let’s be honest, they’re all a treasure trove of social/emotional skills!

Balls Theme

One of my favorite lesson plans for working on movement and gross motor! Younger children need this, and it’s wonderful for older kids too. One of our favorite activities is putting butcher paper on a slide and rolling paint-covered balls down. Just be sure to have something to catch it at the bottom! You can find other fun ball games in this list of free preschool games. Or get an entire ball lesson plan from Preschool Teacher 101 to get more ideas.

Black History Theme

February is black history month and a perfect time to talk about African-American heroes and pioneers. There are many amazing people to study and read about during this time, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver, Mae Jemison, Barack Obama, and so many more.

See some fantastic black history activities from Happy Toddler Playtime that work great for this month.

This might also be a perfect time to implement an All About Me Theme and read one of these fantastic All About Me books.

Dental Health Theme

How many teeth does a preschooler have? 20!

Dental Health Month is in February, and this is a great month to talk about cleaning teeth and what kinds of foods are good for them. Invite a dentist to visit or teach proper teeth cleaning. Did you know there’s even a podcast for kids called Chompers that encourages them to brush for the full two minutes? Give it a listen while doing teeth brushing!

Need more ideas? Here are some great dental health activities.

Or grab an entire hands-on dental health lesson plan from the amazing Preschool Teacher 101.

Dinosaur Theme

A beloved preschool theme that kids naturally adore learning about. We’ve got you fully covered! Here’s a great list of dinosaur lesson plans. Check out these amazing dinosaur songs, and don’t miss the dinosaur books! Grab our dinosaur 10-frame counting mats, perfect for a prehistoric math center. Get them for free below!

Or have it all done for you! Grab an entire dinosaur-themed lesson plan in our preschool store or toddler store.

Emotions/Feelings Theme

This preschool theme is great for social/emotional development and can be done any time of the year. Don’t miss the chance to use calming glitter jars and other sensory tools while using this theme!

Don’t forget to sign up below for our VIP Subscriber Library for our Social/Emotional Skills Progression chart to help with all those big feelings!

There are lots of ideas from Preschool Teacher 101 in this emotions-themed lesson plan unit.

Family Theme

Family is a perfect preschool theme to tie into Valentine’s Day. It is also a great way to help build community and to get to know more about your students.

Get an entire family lesson plan theme from some of our favorite teachers at Preschool Teacher 101!

Flowers and Trees Theme

Learn about popular flowers or local flowers during a flowers and trees preschool theme. Make a flower craft, a pine cone bird feeder to hang in a tree, a fresh spring flower sensory bottle, and more! This one is also easy to tie into another preschool theme such as birds, spring, or bees.

Or you can head to our store and grab an entire flower-themed lesson plan.

Friendship Theme

This theme is one that I love doing around Valentine’s day. Help children navigate through the important foundations of friendship and learn to be better friends themselves. A great place to start is with friendship books! Sending friendship letters is a great tie-in to this theme, as well as a wonderful way to practice writing and name recognition.

Snag an entire friendship theme lesson plan from Preschool Teacher 101 to get even more great ideas.

Hot and Cold Theme

This is a great science theme for your lesson plans. Talk about the weather outside or the changing seasons, and of course what it means to touch a hot stove or cold ice. I love using differently-shaped ice cube trays and molds, so I always incorporate playing with ice as part of this preschool theme!

This is a perfect tie-in to a weather theme with the weather lesson plans in our preschool store or toddler store.

Kindness Theme

Kindness is such an important value to teach children. The earlier they learn, the easier it will be for them to spread kindness throughout their life. One of our favorite ways to teach and model kindness are with kindness books. Also, hello songs are great ways to promote kindness toward other students! And of course, you can’t go wrong with the Kindness Elves.

Mindfulness Theme

Mindfulness is perfect to add to your February preschool themes – it’s is a great way to help little ones learn strategies to calm, manage energy levels, and relax when they find themselves wound up (or have eaten too many candy hearts!) This is the perfect theme for introducing yoga, and the easiest way is with our FREE animal yoga pack!

You can also check out yoga books, and kid yoga videos. Incorporate brain breaks to help relax or rejuvenate. Mindfuless can even be used outdoors! 

Numbers Theme

Get children counting and learning the foundational number sense skills with a preschool number theme. There are so many ways to make this fun, like with themed ten-frame mats. This can also be a great time to teach children their phone number! Our friends at Preschool Teacher 101 have some great math centers that are perfect to use all year.

STEM Theme

Add a bit more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics with an entire STEM theme! We love weeks with STEM activities. Get lots of great ideas in these STEM challenge ideas from Preschool Teacher 101.

Weather Theme

Weather is so interesting and there are so many aspects! Consider theming each day around a different type of weather – sunshine, rain, snow, etc.

Get more weather ideas in our weather lesson plan in our preschool store or toddler store.

February Holidays for Preschool Themes

Of course, there’s Valentine’s Day! But additionally, there are other holidays in February to incorporate into your February preschool themes. You can talk about these holidays on the day and use them to plan your circle time or activities.

Valentine’s Day Theme

A fun holiday theme that helps promote love, kindness, sharing, giving, and friendship. Plus, this is a wonderful theme for making gifts that parents or other caring adults will cherish. Check out these Valentine’s Day games, crafts, number recognition activities, sensory bin play, and other Valentine’s Day activities like science experiments!

Whether you’re the teacher who loves Valentine’s Day and embraces all things pink or the teacher who tries to avoid Valentine’s Day at all costs, Valentine’s Day can be a springboard to instill valuable lessons in your preschoolers- how to treat others. It is never too early to start teaching children to treat others with kindness!

Find more great ideas from Preschool Teacher 101 below! Just click on the image to see the lesson plans.

Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year, one of the world’s most celebrated festivals, happens each year between January 21st and February 20th. This is a special time for families to gather together and honor deities and ancestors, as well as lots of other fun cultural customs. Need some more ideas? Try these Chinese New Year songs and rhymes.

Groundhog Day

Falling on February 2, Groundhog day is a fun way to remind preschoolers that winter never lasts forever. You can explain the history and tradition behind Punxsutawney Phil and what it means if he does or doesn’t see his shadow. Leading up to Groundhog Day, you can even ask your kids to vote on whether or not he’s going to see his shadow with a bar graph, then share the results with them on Groundhog Day.

Washington’s Birthday

The first president of the United States of America, George Washington, was born on February 22, 1732. Another president, Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809. In the United States, the third Monday of every February is President’s Day. It’s a great time to talk about the lives of Washington and Lincoln and their impact on American History. Additionally, President’s Day can also be a celebration of any and all of the U.S. presidents! Choose your favorite president and share something about him with your preschoolers.

These February preschool themes are a great way to save you time by helping you plan your month. For even more themes and ideas, visit The Ultimate List of Preschool Themes.