Free Picnic Printables and Montessori-Inspired Picnic Activities

A picnic is a great summer activity at any age, and a picnic theme is a fun, adaptable summer theme. It really is fun!

Here, you’ll find links to free picnic printables used to prepare hands-on activities and a new Montessori-inspired picnic pack for our free newsletter subscribers’ resource library! This unit has resources for preschool through early elementary.

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Montessori Shelves with Picnic-Themed Activities

You’ll find Montessori-inspired picnic-themed numbers, letters, and and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) Note: The Montessori-inspired picnic pack isn’t designed as a complete picnic unit but as supplemental materials. I design the packs using realistic images that I’ve often looked for when preparing a unit study (such as font cards and phonogram cards featuring the letter and phonogram related to the theme and math cards with realistic images that fit the theme and can be adapted for math activities at a variety of levels.)

You could mix your picnic-themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special picnic-themed area something like the one pictured. My shelves at the beginning of our unit have a mixture of skill levels. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels. If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, simply rotate them.

Montessori Shelves with Picnic-Themed Activities and Claude Monet Art Print

Notice the framed illustration The Luncheon (1873) by Claude Monet. It’s a free download from Wikimedia Commons.

For our monthly featured art print, I purchased a Li’l DAVINCI art frame that opens in the front for easily changing a free art masterpiece printable or vintage illustration to fit with the month’s theme. The frame can be switched from horizontal to vertical without changing the hanger, which is perfect!

If you’re wondering about the rugs and rug box I use, both the rugs and wooden rug holder are from Montessori Services. I love the Montessori Services rugs and rug holder! I used to use an umbrella stand something like these. I loved that for 1-3 rugs, but I needed something different when I had more grandchildren and some projects that needed more than one rug.

Favorite Shelves, Trays, Baskets, and More for Montessori Homeschoolers

I often get asked about the trays, baskets, etc., that I use, so I published a post with many of the items. You can find lots of helpful resources here. They’re not all essential, so don’t feel you need to have everything. Just choose what’s best for your budget and your unique family’s needs. You’ll find more ideas in the Living Montessori Now Amazon shop

Books for a Picnic Unit

Even though I have books on shelves, I usually have many of my themed books in a forward-facing display after placing a plant where the themed book basket was before. Most of my seasonal books are now in that book basket. For this unit, I have fewer picnic books out, and they’re on the top themed shelf and a shelf across the room. I’m using the forward-facing display for a variety of summer books.

For toddlers and preschoolers, about ¾ of the books I use are typically Montessori friendly (focusing on reality without smiling or talking animals or smiling or talking vehicles). This unit has more fun fiction than normal, but it’s a fun summer unit!

Shelf with Fun Fiction Books for a Picnic Theme

Here are some of our fun fiction books for a picnic theme:

The Berenstain Bears Respect Each Other
Max and Marla Are Having a Picnic
The Most Perfect Spot
We’re Going on a Picnic!
Good News Bad News (My 6-year-old grandson laughs at the silliness of this book and the fact that the only words are “good news,” “bad news” (and the addition of the word “very” at the end!)

You can see many picnic books here: Picnic Books for Kids (including books as they’re published)

Monet Books with Watercolor Work and Printable Based on The Luncheon

Free Printable: The Luncheon (1873) by Claude Monet (free download from Wikimedia Commons) printed 5×7

Free Printable: Coloring Page Based on The Luncheon by Claude Monet at Just Coloring

There are a number of great books about Claude Monet for kids, but I really love these two. We had many of the books in the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists series when my now-adult kids were homeschooled. I’ve saved them for my grandkids. They’re a fun way to learn about artists. A Picnic with Monet is a board book and a fun look at Monet’s work using a picnic theme.

I have a small the watercolor paint set on the tray. It has a tiny paint brush, which is great for the delicate designs on the printable. Of course, children could choose to use crayons or markers to color the pictures if they prefer.

Teddy Bear Picnic Book, Mask, and Invitation

The Teddy Bears’ Picnic is a fun book that is great with one of the “Teddy Bear’s Picnic” songs from my Free Teddy Bear Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time.

Free Printable: Teddy Bear Mask from Super Coloring (the mask shown on top)

Free Printable: Teddy Bear Mask from How to Start a Home Daycare

Free Printable: Teddy Bear Mask from Woo Jr

Free Printable: Teddy Bear Picnic Invitations from How to Start a Home Daycare

Free Printable: Teddy Bear Picnic Printables by Mrs Learning Bee at TPT (I didn’t use these printables, but they could be a great option for preschoolers.)

The children could make masks using popsicle sticks to hold them or elastic ties to wear them. They could choose colored or black and white versions from a variety of skill levels.

The picnic basket is our Ceramic Tea Set with Basket. That set isn’t currently available. Some of the other ceramic tea sets have a picnic basket included.

Check out my post on How to Have a Healthy and Courteous Teddy Bear Picnic with ideas and resources.

Sand Writing Tray for a Picnic Theme

Free Printable /p/ for picnic font cards (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my free newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber). They come in print, D’Nealian, and cursive.

You’ll see a variety of simple letter writing trays in my previous unit study posts. I often used the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container work best for you, though.

The sandpaper letters I use with younger kids are available in print or cursive.

I typically now use this lovely spelling/alphabet tray from FamilyTreeWW on Etsy. I like it for writing more than one letter or spelling words. (Note: That sand tray is currently unavailable, but you’ll find lots of other options for Montessori sand trays on Etsy.) I found some colored sand in 12 colors on Amazon that I started to use instead of salt or colored salt. I love it because it’s so soft and feels great!

If you would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing objects with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.

Phonogram Work, Featuring ch in Sandwich

Free Printable /ch/ in sandwich (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber). They come in print, D’Nealian, and cursive.

These are the double sandpaper letters I have.

The basket was my now-adult daughter’s Bitty Bear’s picnic basket from her American Girl Bitty Baby and Bitty Bear set. I don’t think the picnic basket is available any longer. This is a cute miniature picnic basket option from Etsy. You could just adjust the size of the contents according to the picnic basket size.

Ch, Sh, and Th Sorting

Free Printable: Ch Buried Treasure Coins from MontessoriSoul

Free Printable: Sh Buried Treasure Coins from MontessoriSoul

Free Printable: Th Buried Treasure Coins from MontessoriSoul

I used our double sandpaper letters for ch, sh, and th along with six of the buried treasure coin words for each phonogram. I printed the coins at 75% to use with my 1.5″ circle punch, which I absolutely love! (I’ve used this and the 1″ version so many times with circle printables.) You could just use the /ch/ phonogram printables from Montessori Soul. We’ve already covered all the phonograms, so this was a fun review.

Note: You could simply use ch, sh, and th words or words and pictures placed in a miniature picnic basket.

Note: If you’re focusing on r-controlled vowels, check out R-Controlled Vowels Teddy Bear’s are, air, ear, and ere Words Picnic by Sandy’s Learning Reef at TPT.

Picnic Basket Alphabet with Ants Spelling

Free Printable: picnic basket alphabet cards (part of my subscriber freebies, so just sign up for my free newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber).

There are so many ways the alphabet cards can be used! This is just one idea for children who are focusing on both movable alphabet spelling and learning cursive.

The miniature ants were from a previous ant unit and were simply a fun addition to the activity.

The basket alphabet cards in print and cursive are easily adaptable, depending on the child’s level. They can be used for a variety of activities, such as matching letters with sandpaper letters, matching print to cursive letters, or movable alphabet word building.

Teddy Bear Picnic Addition with Stacking Teddy Bear Counters

Working with Teddy Bear Picnic Addition with Stacking Teddy Bear Counters

Free Printable: Teddy bear picnic number cards and addition symbols (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my free newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber).

Free Printable: Large Montessori number cards by Cosmic Minds Montessori on TPT (I just used the number cards for 1-30.)

I love these color matching stacking bears (10 each of 10 colors). For a 6 year old like my grandson, Caleb, I wanted a more advanced version than the usual counting bears. The stacking feature of these bears gives a fun fine-motor activity for older kids. They would be difficult and frustrating for preschoolers to stack, so I would recommend having preschoolers simply stand the bears up as you would with traditional counting bears. I used 10 each of the secondary colors, and we reviewed what the terms primary and secondary colors mean.

Note: For a child learning colors, these bears are great because there are 10 colors to match Color Box 2 with the exception of gray.

We have free spinners (both 1-5 and 1-10) in our subscriber freebie pack, but I used a 1-10 dice (I used a Sharpie to write a 1 in front of the 0 to make 10 instead of 0) for this activity. You don’t need to have 3 addends. I wanted to see how easy it would be for Caleb to add 3 numbers. He was able to do it mentally, and the bears were a confirmation of his answer. He used the bead bars from our decanomial box along with the free Montessori number cards to show the answer in more ways.

The bears could be used for a simple counting activity or any of the math operations. You’ll find many ideas in our previous units.

Going on a Picnic Game

Free Printable: Inference Activity/Game- Going on a Picnic by Mama’s Little Bees at TPT

There are directions for using this printable as a competitive game. We’ll be using it as a cooperative scavenger hunt where the Going on a Picnic! cards are hidden around the room. Then, a child reads one of the cards and everyone looks for the answer card. When all the cards are found, they can go on a picnic!

Free Montessori-Inspired Picnic Pack

Montessori-Inspired Picnic Pack for DIY Cards and Counters, Number or Letter Matching, Number or Letter Basket, Bead Bar Work, Hands-on Math Operations, Number or Letter Salt/Sand Writing Tray, Letter Tracing, DIY Movable Alphabet, and Creative Writing (subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password – or check your inbox if you’re already a subscriber).

More Picnic-Related Resources

Free Picnic Songs for Kids

How to Have a Healthy and Courteous Tea Party Picnic

How to Have a Healthy and Courteous Teddy Bear Picnic

Free Teddy Bear Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time

Free Ant Printables and Montessori-Inspired Ant Activities

Related Nature Resources and Activities

If you’d like ideas for calendar-based themes throughout June and July, see my June Themed Activities for Kids and my July themed Activities for Kids.

Have a fun summer!

If this is your first time visiting Living Montessori Now, welcome! If you haven’t already, please join us on our Living Montessori Now Facebook page where you’ll find a Free Printable of the Day and lots of inspiration and ideas for parenting and teaching! And please follow me on Instagram, Pinterest (lots of Montessori-, holiday-, and theme-related boards), and YouTube. While you’re here, please check out the Living Montessori Now shop.

And don’t forget one of the best ways to follow me by signing up for my weekly newsletter. You’ll receive some awesome freebies in the process!

Connect with LMN

Supervision

You Can Also Find Me

Subscribe by Email