Discovering Italy with Preschoolers: An Italy Preschool Unit Theme
My daughter has big dreams of traveling to Italy one day (and just about anywhere else in the world!) But since that is nowhere to be found in our budget anytime soon, I created an Italy-themed preschool unit for us to complete right at home. (And to get her really excited about it, I called it a “Discover Italy Box” and she was PUMPED.)
Keep reading for EASY ideas for Italy-themed preschool activities, including cultural activities, arts and crafts, geography activities, and family activities.
Plus, at the end, there’s an option to download for free a PDF of the choice board I made for her to go with the box.
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Language Activities
Learn Three Italian Words
Easy enough and nothing fancy here. Pick three Italian words and challenge your preschooler to use them for a day.
For us, we went with “ciao,” “grazie,” and “prego,” as these are essential conversational words that we want to emphasize using in our home anyways.
If you’re feeling fancy and motivated, you could definitely make a little word poster to remind everyone to use these words.
I wasn’t feeling fancy about this, so instead, I printed off coloring sheets with these words and my daughter colored them and then drew little symbols to remember what they mean. (Plus- this helped her as she is currently learning her letters.)
Then we hung those drawings on the fridge for the week that we were working our way through our Italy preschool unit.
(I made mine in Canva, and to be honest, didn’t love it. But if you’re looking for additional, CUTER, sheets from someone with better Canva skills than me- I found some that I love here.)
History
Learning About Ancient Rome and Pompeii
Italy is such a rich place to learn the history of and a GREAT place to introduce your preschooler to the idea of learning about history in general.
For us, we did three easy activities to introduce the idea of Ancient Rome:
Build an Aqueduct
Grab some open PVC pipe or some pool noodles and let your kid engineer themselves an aqueduct.
If you choose to use a pool noodle, cut it open and into different segments. Give your preschooler different lengths of pool noodle, masking tape, and different containers of water. Give them the task of figuring out how to build an aqueduct. As simple as that.
Then after learning about aqueducts, look at images of massive aqueducts that the Romans built and talk about how aqueducts changed everyday life for people.
Color in the Empire
This sheer size and scope of historical empires can be a tricky concept for even my high schoolers to grasp. So to help my preschooler just begin to really be familiar with historical empires as well as modern geography, I keep this simple. Grab a coloring sheet of the Roman Empire and let them color it in.
As they color, talk about the countries that are in those areas today for them to begin to understand just how much power the Romans had.
Also, if you really want to start introducing ideas of chronology, talk about how long it took for them to build the empire. Is your preschooler going to be able to conceptualize that amount of time? Of course not! (But if they can- you should probably stop reading this blog and instead be researching Mensa.) But this is all about just laying a foundation and INTROUDCING them to these concepts.
This was the easiest map I could find for my daughter to color. I just downloaded the PDF and then printed it in grayscale for her to color over.
Talk About Pompeii
Ok, clearly with this one, you’re going to want to approach it in an age appropriate manner. My daughter is EXTREMELY interested in Pompeii and also happens to be really sensitive to other people’s well being, so we’ve treaded lightly here.
But there is just something about the idea of Pompeii that seems to really capture people’s attention.
So to introduce this to my daughter, we’ve talked about how there is a big volcano (one of her other many interests) and when it erupted, it completely preserved a Roman town for centuries. That’s been our emphasis. But she’s been FASCINATED by images of Pompeii today and the idea of walking through the ruins.
She’s asked about what happened to the people there and for now, we’ve just said that they had to flee. (Which isn’t completely a lie, right?) I just don’t have the heart to tell my four year old the full truth. We’ll get there.
We also had the opportunity to take her to a traveling Pompeii exhibit. If one is ever at a museum near you, I HIGHLY recommend it.
Geography Activities
Coloring in the Seas and Mountains
This is a great way to help introduce your preschooler to physcial geography concepts. It’s easy, low-prep, and highly effective, so it’s something we do often.
Grab a big poster board and sketch out an outline of Italy on it. Sketch in where the mountain chains are and draw little waves for the seas. (This is also a GREAT way to introduce the idea of a map key to your preschooler- even if they can’t read on their own yet.)
Then let your preschooler color it! Color in the seas and the mountains and the plains with different colors and before you know it- they’ve made their own physical map of Italy’s topography.
Placing Images of Italy on a Map
After they’ve explored the physical geography of Italy, it’s time to add on cultural geography.
Write in some key Italian cities on the map (I chose Rome, Pompeii, Venice, Florence, and Pisa.)
Print and laminate some iconic image cards and help your preschooler place where they go. (If you want the ones I created for my own daughter, they’re available on my Teachers Pay Teachers site here.)
Now they’ve made an interactive map!
Plan a Dream Italian Trip and Chart it on a Map
One last easy activity with the map you’ve already created!
Have your preschooler dream up the ultimate trip to Italy. Jot down what they say and then have them figure out the itinerary that makes the most sense using the map they’ve made! Help them trace out the route that would make the most sense!
Actually using and interacting with a map will help them fall in love with geography far more than just memorizing maps ever will (can you tell I used to teach geography and I LOVED IT???)
Architecture
Iconic Architecture Matching Cards
Print and laminate some iconic architecture matching cards (I have some available here) and let your preschooler explore them.
My preschooler likes to just flip through them, but you can also adapt them to what other skills you’re currently working on.
Working on attention and focus? Print two sets and turn them into a game of memory.
Working on letter sounds? Match the images to their corresponding beginning letter sound with a set of sandpaper letters.
Working on introducing chronology? Help your preschooler place the architecture in the order that it was built. Ask them what they notice about changes in architecture over time.
Create Your Own Leaning Tower of Pisa
Grab some clay and let your preschooler construct their own Leaning Tower of Pisa. And a bonus? If your preschooler’s structures all tend to be a bit lopsided, then this will look even more like the real thing!
We love the Crayola model clay for activities like this.
Paint Cinque Terre or Color Sheets of Architecture
After we explored different iconic scenes and structures throughout Italy and after she had made her dream itinerary, I printed off coloring sheets for her to complete.
These really let her slow down and focus on all the details. (And when she was done, she wanted to hang them up in her room to make an Italy museum.)
My favorite sheets I found came from this website.
Art
Learn About the Italian Renaissance
You can’t have an Italian themed preschool unit without including the Renaissance!
Pick a few key artists and let your preschooler look through their art. Again, you could print and laminate art cards. To make it even more fun, make your preschooler their very own art museum by hanging up the art cards in a hallway and doing a gallery walk.
Ask your preschooler what they notice about the art, what colors or mediums were used, and what they like the most.
When they’re done with the gallery walk, encourage your child to create their own masterpiece using Renaissance art as inspiration.
Sensory/Fine Motor
Transferring with Olive Oil
Toddlers and preschoolers alike love to transfer. Mix it up with letting your preschooler transfer with olive oil.
The different texture and density will be get their attention. Give them a challenge with having them fill up to certain lines or pour into different shaped glass bottles. (And to not waste olive oil, have them pour out a certain amount to use while you cook an Italian meal together!)
Create Mount Vesuvius or Roman Pottery out of Clay
We love Crayola’s model clay for activities like this- the texture is just perfect for letting little hands really get involved in molding something out of clay.
To tie into the Italian theme, my daughter created a Mount Vesuvius model and some smaller “pinch pots” like what she had seen in pictures of Pompeii.
After it air dried over night, she painted Mount Vesuvius and absolutely loved getting to paint her pottery pieces with different patterns.
Cooking
Create a Homemade Italian Dinner as a Family
It doesn’t get more fun (or tastier) than this. We love cooking as a family, and what better way to wrap up an Italian themed preschool unit than by making a big family dinner?
This is also a great way to modify activities for different ages. Have older kids? Try making your own pasta from scratch.
Preschoolers can definitely help make sauces and breads.
Toddlers will gleefully add cheese to meals.
But as you cook, talk about different elements of Italian cuisine. And most importantly, try to emphasize the experience of social eating and enjoying everyone’s company.
(And if you’re looking for tips on getting your babies, toddlers, and preschoolers more involved in the kitchen in general, check out my tips here.)
Create an Italian Flag Caprese Salad
If it’s summertime and you have an abundance of basil and cherry tomatoes, try making an Italian flag platter out of Italian foods! Let your preschooler arrange the basil, cherry tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella on a platter to match the Italian flag. And when they’re done, drizzle some balsamic reduction sauce over it and you have a Caprese salad!
Books about Italy for Preschoolers
If you can only include one or two books about Italy for your preschooler, I would recommend Good Night Italy by Adam Gamble or Magic Postcard: Italy the most for this homeschool theme. Both books feature MULTIPLE sites around Italy (not just Rome) and pair well with the iconic sites cards.
Have your child match the iconic site cards to the scenes in the books.
And if you’re looking for more books about Italy to share with your preschooler, be sure to check out my post on best books about Italy for preschoolers.
Lastly, if you would like to download a free PDF of the choice board I created for our unit, grab that here!
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