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Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

Running a mixed-age room on one theme

Checked October 30, 2026

Keep one theme for the whole room and change what each age does with it: babies hear the song and hold the real thing, toddlers and twos do the craft with help, threes and fours add the letter page and lead the outside game. In the planner, pick Mixed ages and every part says who does what.

Who does what

  • Babies: the song every day, the book on a lap, the real object to hold (an apple, a leaf).
  • Toddlers and twos: the craft with a grown-up pouring and cutting, the color page.
  • Threes and fours: the trace page, the theme question at circle time, leading the outside game.

Let the oldest help

A four-year-old handing a two-year-old the glue stick is learning as much as the two-year-old. Give the fours a helper job in every part: turning the book's pages, passing out materials, showing the move outside.

Use nap time

When the youngest nap, the oldest get the letter page and the longer read-aloud book. The planner marks books above level 3 as read-alouds for exactly this.

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