Hosting a Preschool Open House

The September Experience Preschool curriculum kit included an Open House celebration kit. This is something new! It inspired me to have an open house for my preschool. In the past, I’ve hesitated to schedule and event after hours knowing how busy families are. However, I do want parent involvement. I do want our group to get to know each other’s families and create a sense of community. I want to share the excitement of the work we are doing with all of the families. This post shows tips and ideas for hosting a preschool open house.

Posted Date: September 2015 Many changes have been made to my environment since this time. Materials in Open House Celebration may have changed.

Below is the Welcome to Preschool “Learning Grows Here” display we made by tracing our hands. It’s such a fun display that I hope to keep up all year. All the materials to make it were included in the kit.

When school starts, it’s a big deal to visit the school. We officially start preschool again in September after having a more causal routine all summer so  I wanted my group to have that experience too. In the past I haven’t had the confidence to “invite everyone in” even though families are here daily. The Open House kit helped me create a plan and added professionalism to our event.

Hosting a Preschool Open House

The open house kit includes:

• A Step-by-Step Agenda for Hosting a fabulous open house
• invitations
• thank you cards
• welcome wall display materials/idea
• games
• art projects
• coloring pages
• directions for planning and preparing with the children
• preschool maps
• butterfly snack craft
• tour guide badges
• family information guides
• Tips for what to say to guests

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Invitations

I printed the invitations and sent them home with the kids. I also posted it on my preschool Facebook page. At circle time we talked about our open house and marked the calendar so we could count down the days. It didn’t take much of an explanation – my group was so excited their parents were coming!

WELCOME

I set up a small table outside the door with materials for each family. I clipped together:

• tour guide necklaces
• apple craft
• class photo
• preschool map
• Family information guide
• Clifford book (freebies from Scholastic. I’ve had them for a while)

Placing these on the table outside, they were the first things parents saw upon arrival. The child could put on their tour guide necklace. It saved some space indoors too, since there were a lot of people inside! I have 8 families. 30 people, including the kids, attended. My home is not very big…and it rained..like stormed! There wasn’t much room but it all worked out. Don’t worry about every detail, people understand.

Here’s how to make a Back to School Pencil Wreath like is hanging on the front door. We made our coffee filter banner during the Nature Detectives theme, by dropping rocks into shallow paint cups.

  

I bought a couple dozen Lofthouse cookies, because who doesn’t like frosting and sprinkles?? I also made chocolate chip cookie bars. In true preschool fashion, water was served in paper cups. I really made an effort to keep things simple. I tend to make things difficult on myself and go overboard at times. The butterfly clips and treat bags were included in the open house kit. I filled those as suggested with grapes and goldfish crackers. Each child was able to eat one or take one home.

Activities

My open house was rather casual. Everyone came and left at different times. Some ate and some didn’t. Some played with their kids, others visited. There wasn’t room or time to organize all the activities. The flower shapes shown below were intended to be used with the “Pick Your Name” activity but in effort to use all the materials supplied we did this instead. Coloring pages were also available but ended up being taken home to use later. I was able to get all the kids together to sing a song for the parents.

We sang:

You Are Special (Day 3)
To the Tune of (Frere Jaques)

You are special, you are special,
Yes you are, yes you are.
You are very special.
You are very special.
We love you, we love you.

Of course, they were quite shy and just a couple actually sang. It was a good effort though!

  

The rest of the photos are a tour of our space. Here are our circle time display and our writing area. You can see Experience Curriculum materials throughout our room.

Another view of our room from the writing area. Our letter F foxes are hanging on the mobile. The sticks in the can are alphabet sticks from the Alphabet House theme in June.

Our sensory bin.

Our library/quiet corner.

Dramatic play area – this place has changed already since the pictures were taken.

Certificates/licensing paperwork & our art drying rack.

Scholastic poster in the hallway with the Mother Goose Time sign language posters.

Our check-in area allows each child to move their photo up when they arrive and move it down when they leave. Our Little Helper Job Chart uses pockets and name sticks. They love the new jobs to choose from!

After our open house, we colored in Thank You cards and attached a picture to send home.

We had a very successful open house and lots of positive feedback! I’m pleased with the Experience Curriculum Open House Kit that inspired and encouraged me to host this event! I want my families to take my efforts to teach and care for their children seriously and include them in our community. Experience Curriculum is making a difference in the lives of children and in my business! I hope you will consider hosting a preschool open house.