Career Day Ideas for Preschool

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The goal of career day activities for preschoolers is to help them understand the world around them. Focus on careers that they would recognize and present activities that are interactive and easy to understand. Consider different approaches to find the one that's best for your classroom.

Career Day Fair

Invite several professionals to set up an interactive booth for preschoolers. Firefighters, police officers, doctors, nurses and teachers are good choices. Give guidelines on what you want in the booth, such as tools the students can handle or a coloring page to take home. Ask the professionals to give a short presentation to the students.

Career Day Presentations

Invite parents to make presentations about their jobs. The presentations should be brief and spread out over several days, because preschoolers can have a difficult time sitting still for very long. Encourage students to ask questions of the parents.

When I Grow Up

Have students draw and color pictures of themselves that show what they want to be when they grow up. Some students may have several different things they want to do, and you can encourage them to include more than one profession in their picture. Ask each child share his completed picture and talk about his future plans.

Career Discussion

During circle time, have a discussion about what a job is and the different types of jobs there are. Ask the children to share what their parents do for a living. You can list the jobs on the board. Talk about why it is important to work and about how school prepares people for jobs.

Community Workers

Discuss different professions and their role in the community. You can talk specifically about teachers, police officers, firefighters, and utility workers. This can lead to a discussion about how someone works so that the lights will turn on, and how someone works so we can have running water. Students can also talk about people who work in stores or supermarkets and how they help get food to their families.

Career Day Role Play

Provide career-oriented costumes for the children to play with during the day. These costumes allow them to explore different career possibilities with their peers. In addition to the costumes, you can provide the tools they would use on the job.