Ever since my preschooler was 2 and saw Darth Vader Band-Aids at the store he’s been a total Star Wars fan. He was a bit young for the movies back then, but we got aalll the books and have read them a million times and now that he’s older we let him watch the original 3 movies since they’re only rated PG. He ended up being Vader for Halloween when he was 2 (although he’s since moved on to Kylo Ren) and dressed up as either Vader or a storm trooper pretty much every day for like a year and a half! The best part was one day when he wore his Vader costume to Target- mask and all- and was upset that nobody thought he was scary! hahahaha He was like, “Mommy why is everyone smiling at me!? I’m Darth MATER!” (not a typo- that’s what he used to call him!) He even had a Star Wars themed birthday party this past year when he turned 4, so with May 4th coming up, I knew we had to do a Star Wars week. Don’t forget to hop in your x-wing fighter and zoom over to my toddler post “Ewoks and Wookiees and Banthas- Oh My!” for more activities like a Tatooine desert sensory play bin and a TIE fighter toilet paper tube craft!
–Literacy:
-Dianoga craft and story: First we made Dianoga using the instructions on starwars.com– you just have your little paint a paper plate red (we added a little black so it would be more of a brick red color). When it’s dry, have your little cut around the circle after the wavy part of the plate (I traced the circle on the back of the plate so it would be easier for him to see). Then, have your little cut out a yellow almond shape and a smaller black almond shape for the eye (I drew them first, then he cut them out). Have your little glue the two almond shapes on the plate to make Dianoga’s eye. Then, draw 6 dots around the top and side edges of the plate and have your little punch them with a hole punch. Tie some pieces of yarn to the holes. Add a rectangle to the bottom for a long skinny neck and you have Dianoga! It looks really funny popping out from behind a picture or furniture! After finishing your craft, have your little tell you their own story about Dianoga. Write it down as they tell it and use prompting questions like, “What happened next?” if they don’t give enough details.
-Jedi or Sith quiz: Quizzes are always fun to do, and they’re a great way to practice oral listening skills! We all did this Jedi or Sith quiz and it turns out my husband and I are Han Solo and Leia and our preschooler is Kylo…because we both got Jedi and he got Sith (aren’t all preschoolers Sith Lords at one time or another, or is that just my family? LoL)
-Star Wars writing practice: I got a great Star Wars writing practice set for free from Teachers Pay Teachers, printed them, then had my little write and say the letters on each page. For the last page, we sounded out the words on the page together, then I had him write them while saying each letter.
-Q is for Qui-Gon Jinn: Star Wars is the perfect theme for practicing all the random letters that hardly ever get used- you can do Y is for Yoda, X is for X-wing, V is for Vadar or like us Q is for Qui-Gon Jinn. Just choose whichever one your little still needs to master! We went over the letter Q each morning during calendar time, then on the last day I had him practice writing it using this page I made by drawing the letters in dots. I tucked it in a page protector and had him write with a dry erase marker so we could use it again in the future with his little brother.
-“ABC-3PO” story: Not only is this story title all kinds of awesome, but it goes through all the letters of the alphabet with a poem about a Star Wars character that begins with each letter! Definitely a fun way to practice letter recognition.
-Star Wars book list:
–Math:
-“Obi 1, 2, 3” story: This fun book goes through the numbers 1-20 and counts Star Wars characters in little poems that go along with each number. By the same author as “ABC-3PO” it’s a great way to practice number recognition and counting (you can have your little identify the number on each page then count the characters in the picture as you read them the poems)!
-Star Wars count and clip: I printed this Star Wars count and clip activity from Teachers Pay Teachers, laminated it, cut it out and had my little count the characters and clip the corresponding number.
–Star Wars count, cut and paste: This was a great activity because it threw in some meaningful cutting practice along with math! You just print it, have your little cut out the numbers on the side of the page, then count each Star Wars object on the other side and glue down the correct number. I got this from The Simple Everyday Mom.
–Star Wars character connect the dots: I love doing connect the dots as counting/number recognition practice! Since my little still doesn’t know what larger numbers look like (and this one goes up to 56!) I point to the numbers as he connects them and counts. Afterwards he wanted to color it- he said the lightsaber is glowing- that’s why he scribbled to show the light- and Qui-Gon is covered in snow…which is why he only colored the light saber. LoL
–Science/Social Studies:
-STEM Ewok catapult: Give your little a block (we found wooden ones work better than Legos but my little insisted on using a Lego anyway), a rubber band, a popsicle stick (thicker ones work best but we didn’t have any on hand) and a few pom poms. Tell them their challenge is to build a catapult- a simple machine that can throw objects long distances- like the Ewoks did when they were defending Endor from the Storm Troopers.
-STEM Hoth ice base challenges: The icy planet of Hoth is where the rebel troops hang out while they’re trying to figure out how to defeat Darth Vadar. I reminded my little of this part of the story, then gave him some ice blocks I had made with a square ice cube tray. I told him he had 5 minutes to build a fortress that would keep out Darth Vader. After that challenge, I told him he had 5 minutes to build the tallest lookout tower he could. Finally, we built a Tauntaun pen just for fun!
-STEM star cruiser design: I gave my little a sheet of scrap paper then told him his challenge today was to use it to build a star cruiser that would actually fly! We tried a few designs and tested them until we had one that worked.
-“BB8 on the Run” and helping others: There are so many great Star Wars books out there that teach life lessons- and this is one of my favorites (I also really like “The Galaxy Needs You” from the book list in the literacy section). Daisy Ridley- the actress who plays Rey in the newer Star Wars movies- has a YouTube video reading the book “BB8 on the Run“, which is another book with a great lesson on the importance of helping others. We listened to her read the story, then I had my little tell me what he thought they author was trying to teach us through the story. Then, I had him think of ways he could help others too!
–Art: Don’t forget- there are seriously a TON of fun Star Wars art and sensory play activities on my toddler post Ewoks and Wookiees and Banthas- Oh My!
-Droid cutting practice: I don’t really like cutting practice pages- I feel like scissor practice should be something that is meaningful- like during craft creation. That being said, I really like this cutting practice page because it has a purpose (rather than random lines to follow). Your little cuts out the bottom halves of the droids and glues them to the top halves to make them complete! My little really enjoyed it! I got it from Simple Everyday Mom.
–Supply/shopping list:
- book “ABC-3PO”
- book “Obi 1, 2, 3”
- paper plate
- yarn
- popsicle sticks
- blocks (large Lego works best)
- pom poms
- rubber bands
- blender
- square ice cube tray
- beads/sequins/washers
- playdough (preferably black)
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!
littlelovesandlearning.com 
