By the time most children reach preschool, between three and six years of age, they already know that pajamas mean that night is near. Tie a nighttime theme to your class pajama day with a variety of related art projects. Create a night sky to cover your classroom ceiling (or walls) and invite the kids to draw white chalk stars onto black construction or rolled paper. Design individual skies that can be pieced together or one gigantic class mural. Another option is to try a phases of the moon project. Cut white paper plates into crescents, halves, gibbous shapes or leave them whole. Use sponges, brushes or any other fun tool to paint the plates in metallic silvers, yellow or cream.
Turn pajama time into math time with a preschool graphing activity. Use a large (at least 11- by 14-inch) piece of white poster board for the graph's background. Decide on a specific theme for your chart such as colors of PJ's, characters on the kids' nightwear or whether the jammies are long and short sleeves. Write the categories across the top and the numbers up the left vertical side. Ask the kids to raise a hand if they fit in a category. For example, call out, "I am wearing pajamas that have blue on them." Count the number of hands that are raised and make a mark in the corresponding space on your graph. Make the chart colorful, and include small pictures or use star stickers instead of marks to count the kids.
Choose from a variety of different puppet making projects that can easily match up to a pajama day theme. From stick puppets to paper bag versions, preschoolers can hone their creative skills and design a project that they can later use for hours of dramatic play. Add in a bonus lesson about our planet by reusing old pajama scraps for a textured filled puppet decoration. Send a letter home asking parents to send in old (washed and dried) PJ's. Cut the pajamas into pieces and invite the kids to dress up their puppets by gluing the scraps onto their new fictional friends.
Aside from nighttime PJ wear, preschoolers may think of pajamas as a sick day outfit. Help young children to learn about health topics by creating a pajama day tie in such as drawing self-portraits of sick and healthy or trying a pretend play activity. Create a classroom doctor's office or hospital in the dramatic play area and invite the kids to stage their own health related play. Discuss why we get sick, who helps us to get better (e.g., parents, doctors, nurses) and ways to keep healthy such as hand washing and getting enough sleep.