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Dinosaur theme for 3 and 4 year olds: a week of activities

A dinosaur theme lesson plan for 3 and 4 year olds: what a day looks like, then the week's circle time (ten to fifteen minutes, with a child holding the book), books, craft, song, snack, letter and outside time, each with what changes at this age.

Plan this week for 3 and 4 year oldsThe whole dinosaur week

A day of the dinosaur theme with 3 and 4 year olds

  1. Arrival, sign-in, and a job from the helper chart.
  2. Circle (ten to fifteen minutes): calendar, “Were dinosaurs bigger or smaller than our room?”, sing “hickory dickory dock”, then Mop Can Hop.
  3. Centers, with the craft at one table: dinosaur footprints.
  4. Letter D: trace it once, then hunt for D around the room.
  5. Snack: Ants on a Log, with children pouring and counting.
  6. Outside: dinosaur dig.
  7. Rest, then a longer read-aloud: Big Egg.

Dinosaur circle time

  1. Good morning song, then say each name together.
  2. Calendar: the day, the date and the weather.
  3. Ask: “Were dinosaurs bigger or smaller than our room?”
  4. Sing: Hickory Dickory Dock.
  5. Read: Big Egg (read aloud).

Threes and fours: ten to fifteen minutes; let a child hold the book.

Dinosaur theme books

  • Big Egg (read aloud, level 4): A very big egg, for the hatching talk.
  • Mop Can Hop (level 3, free on peabody.kids): Hopping and stomping in the mud, like a dinosaur.
  • Jump, Jump, Jump! (level 2, free on peabody.kids): Big jumps for big feet.
  • Look at the Big Pig (read aloud, level 4): Big and little, the dinosaur question in a pattern book.

Dinosaur craft: Dinosaur footprints

You need (4): large paper, a sponge cut in a three-toe shape (grown-up), washable paint, wipes.

  1. Dip the sponge in paint.
  2. Stomp the footprints across the paper.
  3. Count how many steps your dinosaur took.

With a grown-up. No heat, nothing hot.

Dinosaur song: Hickory Dickory Dock

The words

Hickory, dickory, dock, The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one, The mouse ran down, Hickory, dickory, dock.

Traditional; public domain. From Top 52 nursery rhymes with lyrics.

Dinosaur snack

Ants on a Log from the Peabody Kitchen: picture steps, allergy swaps and safety lines on the recipe.

Swap: Peanut butter → sunflower seed butter.

Letter D activities

DdD is for dinosaur. Print the two pages (a trace page and a color page).

Threes and fours: trace D and d once, then find D in the room and in the book.

Outside activity: Dinosaur dig

Bury big blocks or toy bones in the sandbox; dig them up with spoons like scientists.

Dinosaur theme for toddlersDinosaur theme for 2 year oldsDinosaur theme, all ages

Checked 2026-10-30