Preschool Pets Theme Ideas

Last Updated on July 21, 2025 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: Get ready to plan with these toddler and preschool pet theme resources! This collection includes activities, songs, books and printables that we will be using in our toddler and preschool classroom this year.

Updated: 7/21/25

The pets theme is meaningful to toddlers and preschoolers because either they have a pet or they know someone with a pet. It’s a great way to talk about caring for animals, especially with a veterinarian clinic in the dramatic play area.

I’ve put together this resource page that highlights what we will be doing with our toddlers and young preschoolers during our pets theme.

Toddler and Preschool Pets Theme Ideas

Art

Paint Plastic Pets Figurines

Place assorted plastic pets on trays along with containers of paint. Invite your children to paint them!
You can also have a tub of warm soapy water available for the children to wash the animals when they are finished painting them.

Pet Puppets

Choose pets from our animal puppet faces packet. Can use at circle time with pets songs!

Stamp Pet-Shaped Cookie Cutters on Paper

Provide plain sheets of paper along with pet-shaped cookie cutters and shallow containers of paint. Dip the cookie cutters into the paint and then onto the paper.

More Ideas

Pet Tracks (Fun-a-Day)
Paper Plate Cat (Fab Working Mom Life)
Paper Plate Dog (My Bored Toddler)

Fine Motor

Pets Left-to-Right Fine Motor Practice (Freebie)
Paw Prints Left-to-Right Strips (Part of our Animal Packet) – Can be used with markers or scissors.

Playdough

Your choice of colored playdough with pet cookie cutters. We’ve also enjoyed placing small plastic pet figurines at our playdough table!

Circle Time

Have children hold pet props – I make enough for each student, laminate and attach to a craft stick for them to hold. (From our Veterinarian Packet and we have more in our Animal Packet)
I also made an extra set of all the pet props, laminated them, placed self-adhesive magnetic dots on the back, and placed them on a magnetic board. I invited each child to bring their pet prop up to the magnetic board and tap the matching pet. (From our Veterinarian Packet)
Pet Matching – Make two copies and play a memory game during circle time – for preschoolers. You can see a snippet of this in my Instagram story. (From our Veterinarian Packet)
Pet Paw Color Matching – Make enough of the colored paws so each child has one. Place the colored circles on the floor. Invite each child to come up and place their paw on the matching colored circle. (From our Veterinarian Packet)
5 Little Puppies (or Kitties or Bunnies) Riding in a Car (From our 5 Little Animals Riding in a Car Packet)

Pets Songs

Preschool Pets Songs Playlist

Writing Table

Pet Coloring Pages (From our Veterinarian Packet)
More Pet Coloring Pages (Selected from our Animal Packet)
Pets Tracing Cards (Selected from our Animal Packet)
Pets Picture and Tracing Word Cards (Selected from our Short Words Tracing Packet)

Sensory Table

Small animal figurines with your choice of filler.

Literacy

Picture and Label Cards (Freebie)
Pets Picture Cards (Selected from our Animal Packet)

Table Activities

Pet Matching Cards – You can see how I set it up in this Instagram story. (From our Veterinarian Packet)
Paw Print Color Matching (From our Veterinarian Packet)
Dog Numbered Strip Puzzle (from our Animal Packet)