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

A food 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 food week

A day of the food 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, “What is your favorite food, and where does it come from?”, sing “old mother hubbard”, then Sip, Sip, Sip.
  3. Centers, with the craft at one table: paper-plate meal.
  4. Letter C: trace it once, then hunt for C around the room.
  5. Snack: Butter in a Jar, with children pouring and counting.
  6. Outside: mud kitchen.
  7. Rest, then a longer read-aloud: Yum!.

Food circle time

  1. Good morning song, then say each name together.
  2. Calendar: the day, the date and the weather.
  3. Ask: “What is your favorite food, and where does it come from?”
  4. Sing: Old Mother Hubbard.
  5. Read: Sip, Sip, Sip (level 0).

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

Food theme books

  • Sip, Sip, Sip (level 0, free on peabody.kids): Sipping and tasting, in a pattern.
  • Jen and the Jam (level 1, free on peabody.kids): Fruit turned into jam, and a mess.
  • A Bun for Fran (level 2, free on peabody.kids): A bun to share.
  • Yum! (read aloud, level 4): A read-aloud pattern book: what does a frog think is yummy?

Food craft: Paper-plate meal

You need (4): paper plate, food pictures or colored paper, glue stick, crayons.

  1. Draw or glue on a food for each part of the plate.
  2. Add something to drink.
  3. Tell a friend what is on your plate.

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

Food song: Old Mother Hubbard

The words

Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard, To fetch her poor dog a bone; But when she came there The cupboard was bare, And so the poor dog had none.

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

Food snack

Butter in a Jar from the Peabody Kitchen: picture steps, allergy swaps and safety lines on the recipe.

Swap: Round crackers → gluten-free round crackers.

Letter C activities

CcC is for cook. Print the two pages (a trace page and a color page).

Threes and fours: trace C and c once, then find C in the room and in the book.

Outside activity: Mud kitchen

Spoons, pots and water in the sandbox or mud: cook a pretend soup and serve it.

Food theme for toddlersFood theme for 2 year oldsFood theme, all ages

Checked 2026-10-30