Explain to students that family members often do thoughtful things for each other because they love each other. Ask your students to think of something a family member did in the past week that was thoughtful. For instance, maybe their mom made them a special breakfast, or their sister helped them clean their room. Print out an award ribbon template, or design your own to give to students. Provide art supplies for decorating. Because preschool students aren't yet writing, ask them to draw a picture on the ribbon of what the thoughtful activity was. Have them share the information with the class as well.
At the beginning of the school year, allow students to share information about their families with a family --themed bulletin board. Cover a large board with bright paper, and take a picture of each student. Paste the pictures on the board, and ask students to draw a picture of their family to put next to the picture. Also, ask students to bring in a picture of their family doing something that they all enjoyed, such as a family vacation. Paste the picture next to the drawing and ask students to share information about their family with the class.
Ask children to think of all of their family members, including aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. To get an accurate count, send home a handout for parents to fill out about the family so that you can prompt each student as he's filling out his graph. Make a graph---or use a template---with separate boxes for each category of family member, including guardians, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and pets if you'd like. Children can use cutouts of people and paste them in the appropriate spot. For instance, they might paste a cutout of a boy in the siblings box if they have one brother. If the activity seems too advanced for your particular class, you can start by simply asking them to graph their immediate family members.
Children can create a puppet for each member of their family with a paper lunch bag. They can either cut out pictures from magazines to represent their family members, or you can ask parents to send in old pictures of family members. Students can paste these to the bottom of the bag and make up scenes for their family members.