Preschool Educational Activities: Sleep

Did you know that tomorrow is “Festival of Sleep” day? What a great celebration! Today I thought I’d gather up some fun activities so you can celebrate Sleep Day in style!

Happy Snoozing!

Decorations

Bring out pillows and blankets from the bed room and make one GIANT bed in the living room.
If you’ve got an air mattress, today would be the day to break that baby out!
Have the kids wear their pajamas all day!
Wear you own bathrobe to add to the fun!
You could either hang “S” for sleep or “Z” for a snoring sound around the house to practice letters.

Activities

Today would be a great day to teach the kids how to make their beds if they don’t already know how to do so.
Make mini pillows for dolls or stuffed animals using a hot glue gun, cotton balls, and scrap fabric (check out details on how to make the pillow in this post from Growing Kids Ministry)

Talk about animals who sleep all winter long and wonder together what it would be like to hibernate. Pretend to hibernate together.
Use this FREE PRINTABLE to sort hibernating animals from non-hibernating ones. Read the book Animals in Winter (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1) for a little extra learning!
Build a bear cave and crawl inside for a long winter nap! Check out Teach’s Preschool’s post on this!
Read Goldilocks and then take turns sleeping in each other’s beds. Have your child take turns being Goldilocks and then being Baby Bear and finding Goldilocks (you) in their bed! My daughter’s toddler bed only holds 50 pounds, so we can to improvise a little!
Gather up all your stuffed animals or figurines and talk about how or where the animals sleep (standing up, in a barn, in a cave, etc). You might have to do a little research of your own on this one!
Make a paper plate clock and discuss when bedtime usually is. Talk about why people usually sleep at night and get up in the morning.
Make a paper quilt together (check this post for directions)

Make a doll bed using a Cuties box (check this post at Spoonful.com for directions

Books to Read (check your local library!)

Can’t Sleep without Sheep by Susanna Hill
Why Do Animals Sleep in Winter?
Animals in Winter
No Nap for Natasha (N book in the Sesame Street Alphabet Books)
Goodnight Baby Bear
Kiss Goodnight
Starry Night, Sleep Tight (beautiful pictures in this one!)
Princess and the Pea

Coordinating Toddler Activity

Got a little one that isn’t quite ready for preschool yet, but still wants to learn? Try a few of this simple activities:

Put a pillow on the floor and ask your toddler to put their head ON the pillow (following directions)
Pretend play that you are sleeping and then act surprised when your little one “wakes you up” (dramatic play)
Use the Monkey finger puppet from this lesson to sing with your little one!

Free Printable

Don’t forget to grab your hibernating animal sorting chart FREE PRINTABLE!

More Resources

About the Author

Lindsey Whitney is a blogger over at Growing Kids Ministry. A blog designed to help parents, teachers, and Children’s Ministry workers who want to help the kids they love grow in their faith. You can connect with her via twitter or on facebook.

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