What You Need

Colored construction paper, cut in half

Buttons in blue, brown, and green

Cut pieces of yarn in yellow, brown and red

Old magazines, store ads, grocery store ads

Safety Scissors

Paper plate

Paint

Assorted craft supplies (colored buttons, feathers, beads, foam shapes, and stickers)

A family picture sent from home

What To Do

Page One – Self Portrait

Give each preschooler one half of a piece of construction paper with "All About Me" Or "All About [preschooler's name]" printed at the top of the page. Give each preschooler a turn to look in a small hand mirror and talk about what their faces look like. Instruct each preschooler to draw a self-portrait on the piece of paper. Provide buttons that are blue, brown and green for preschoolers to use as eyes. Cut pieces of yellow brown and red yard for preschoolers to glue to their paper as hair.

Page Two – Things I Like

Give each preschooler one half of a piece of construction paper with "Things I Like" printed at the top of the page. Talk about how everyone likes different things. Ask the preschoolers to share a few of the things that they like with the preschool class. Give the preschoolers a collection of old magazines, store ads, and grocery store ads. Give each preschooler a pair of safety scissors. Instruct preschoolers to look at the pictures in the magazines and ads and cut out the pictures of things that they like. If preschoolers cannot find a picture of something they like, provide markers or crayons for them to draw a picture of the object.

Page Three – I Am Special

Give each preschooler one half of a piece of construction paper with "I Am Special" printed at the top of the page. Explain to the preschoolers that everyone's fingerprint is unique. Tell them that no two people have the same exact fingerprint. Fill a paper plate with paint. Help each preschooler to dip their hand in the paint and press their hand onto their piece of construction paper to create a hand print.

Page Four – My Favorite Color

Give each preschool one half of a piece of construction paper with "My Favorite Color is [color]". Let each preschooler share their own favorite color with the preschool class. Provide a selection of craft materials such as colored buttons, feathers, beads, foam shapes, and stickers. Let each preschooler glue selected objects in their favorite color to the page. Provide markers and crayons for preschoolers who want to illustrate objects that are their favorite color.

Page Five – My Family

Give each preschooler one half of a piece of construction paper with "My Family" printed at the top of the page. Let each preschooler talk about the people in their own family and tell the preschool class the things that make their family special. Have each preschooler ask their parents to send in a picture of their family. Using a glue stick, attach the pictures to each preschooler's paper. Allow the preschoolers to decorate the page with stickers and other craft supplies.

Assembly

Help each preschooler assemble their "All About Me" Book. Line up the pages and hole punch the top and bottom on one side. Use yarn to tie the pages of the book together.

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Helpful Tips for Parents

• Learning environments matter. A space with accessible books, puzzles, art supplies, and natural materials at child height encourages more learning than a child-proofed empty room.

• Read aloud daily for at least 15 minutes. This single habit is the strongest predictor of kindergarten reading readiness and long-term academic success.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should my preschooler be reading before kindergarten?

Reading before kindergarten is possible for some children and developmentally not expected of most. The literacy skills that predict reading success — phonological awareness (hearing sounds in words), letter knowledge, print awareness, and vocabulary — are the appropriate focus before age 5. These skills are built through: reading aloud daily, nursery rhymes and songs, alphabet activities, and rich conversation. A preschooler who loves books, knows their letters, and has a large vocabulary is fully reading-ready, whether or not they can decode words independently.

Related reading: See also our counting activities and our writing readiness guide for more ideas on this topic.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 📚 Pre-Reading Skills — Activities that involve letters, sounds, rhymes, and print directly build the phonological awareness and letter knowledge that are the two strongest predictors of successful reading development.
• 🔢 Early Numeracy — Hands-on counting, sorting, measuring, and pattern work develops the number sense and mathematical reasoning that formal arithmetic will later build on — and preschool numeracy is one of the strongest predictors of later math achievement.
• 👂 Listening & Attention — Activities that require children to listen carefully and follow directions build the voluntary auditory attention that classroom learning, reading comprehension, and conversation all require.
• 💬 Vocabulary Expansion — Every new concept, activity, and domain-specific term a child encounters expands their vocabulary — and children's vocabulary at kindergarten entry is the single strongest predictor of reading comprehension at age 10.

One of the most important jobs that preschoolers have is learning about themselves and the person that they want to become. These open-ended art activities come together to form an "All About Me" book that preschoolers will love to share with their parents.