Warm Weather December Themes - December Lesson Plans

I’ve always lived where we get to experience 4 distinct seasons and the changes in weather that come with them. That’s played a role in my lesson planning for sure, because all of these seasons are relevant to my students. What do you do when this isn’t the case? Maybe your students only experience one or two different types of weather, does it make sense to teach preschoolers about snow when your temperatures never dip low enough to get any of the white stuff?

There are two schools of thought here. One would say stick to what the children in your class will personally experience. I tend to agree with this for toddlers and very young preschoolers. They don’t have prior knowledge to help support understanding concepts that they don’t personally interact with on a daily basis. For these groups it makes sense to consider how your community marks changes in seasons when the weather doesn’t signal these changes. Do you continue to go about life as usual? Or are there other ways that the community marks these changes? Holiday decorations, special community traditions, and natural events can all be focuses for these times of year.

The other school of thought is to introduce children to new concepts, even if they aren’t especially relevant in their daily lives. If you live in a warm climate, then freeze some ice cubes and build with them or purchase some “fake snow” that children can explore. These are excellent ways to begin conversations about why these don’t occur naturally in your area, and identify some places that children could expect to see them.

If you’re looking for December themes that can be enjoyed regardless of the weather, those are also possibilities for study this time of year. Here are a few of my favorites.