P is for Pets Preschool Lesson Plan

P is for Pets was a very fun topic. Each child picked their own pet from my collection of stuffed animals to take care of as we learned about pets. They even named them!  We had Pinky the pony, Frog the frog, Sam the dog, Fluffy the cat, and Jewel the cat.

Then the kids went to 6 stations to learn about pet care:
1. Grooming. The kids gave a pretend bath and brushed their animal's hair.
2. The Veterinarian. That was a big word for the kids to learn!  The kids checked out their animals, administered shots and made sure everything was A-OK. We talked about the doctors office and what happens here and talked about the differences and similarities between a doctor and veterinarian.

3. Exercise. With our pets, we did a relay race here, played parachute (tossing the pets into the air), and exercised as each animal would do (hopping like a frog, galloping like a pony, slithering like a snake, pouncing like a cat, etc.)
4. Teaching Obedience. Each child was the leader for "Simon Says" with a different name of "Rover says"as we learned how important it is for our animals to learn obedience.
5. LOVE - we showed our animals love while we sang and danced with them to several animal songs.
6. Food. The kids shared a snack with their pet. At first they didn't want to eat them because they looked too much like dog food in dog cereal bowls that my friend lent me. But I finally convinced the preschoolers that it was Scooby Snacks (graham crackers) and they gobbled them up.  We also had goldfish crackers and milk, but rather than put milk in the bowl to lap up, we just drank it from a cup!


We had lots of activities and letter P focus, but the pretend pets and stations were the favorite. Another favorite was making a pet dog to take home for their very own.

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Not all of the preschoolers actually have pets at home, although we did learn about those who did. Since I couldn't let them take their special pets home, we each made a pet of our own to take home.

We made these with white paper plates.  I had precut large black ovals for the ears and the kids glued them down and folded them half way to look like floppy ears.  Then they glued on a white oval which they had decorated with whiskers.  Under the the oval, they glued a bone that had their name on it (or you could have it say the pet's name).  Finally the kids glued on a large black pom pom for a nose and googly eyes.  These were so easy, cute and fun!

An extension or fun field trip would be to visit a pet store or have the preschoolers bring their pets for a pet show and tell.

Some fun pet songs…

How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?

How much is that doggy in the window? (bark)

The one with the wiggly tail.

How much is that doggy in the window? (bark)

I do hope that doggy is for sale!

How much is that Kitty in the window? (meow)

The one that purrs so

How much is that Kitty in the window? (meow)

I do hope that Kitty is for sale!

How much is that Bunny in the window? (hop)

The one that goes hip-ity-hop

How much is that Bunny in the window? (hop)

I do hope that Bunny is for sale!

Five Kittens in a Row

Submitted by Helen

Five little kittens standing in a row

They nod their heads to the children, like so.

They run to the left, they run to the right,

They stand up and stretch in the bright sunlight.

Along comes a dog who’s in for some fun,

Meow, see those kittens run.

Where is the Kitty?

A Kitten is hiding under a chair.

I looked and looked for her everywhere.

Under the table and under the bed

I looked in the corner and when I said,

Come Kitty, come, Kitty, here’s milk for you.

Kitty came running and calling “Meow, meow

The Veterinarian

(Sung to: Oh, My Darlin)

Bring your dogs, bring your cats,

Bring your hamsters one by one.

I take care of the animals,

I'm a veterinarian.

The kids had so much fun doing pretend play. Even during play time, they took their pets down with them and played with them. We discovered a lot of words that start with P other than just pets. We talked about what kinds of animals can be pets and what can't. We decided that dinosaurs, zebras and elephants and a few others don't really fit in that category! Song time was fun with songs about a veterinarian, Mary had a Little Lamb, BINGO, and then we changed "How Much is that Doggy in the Window?" several times to fit our different pets. And we read a bunch of books about fish, dogs, cats, bunnies, frogs, etc.

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