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

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A hats 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 hats week

A day of the hats 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, “Why do people wear hats?”, sing “the grand old duke of york”, then The Hat Cat.
  3. Centers, with the craft at one table: paper-plate hat.
  4. Letter H: trace it once, then hunt for H around the room.
  5. Snack: Rice Cake Faces, with children pouring and counting.
  6. Outside: hat parade.
  7. Rest, then a longer read-aloud: Where Is Ned's Hat?.

Hats circle time

  1. Good morning song, then say each name together.
  2. Calendar: the day, the date and the weather.
  3. Ask: “Why do people wear hats?”
  4. Sing: The Grand Old Duke of York.
  5. Read: The Hat Cat (level 3).

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

Hats theme books

  • The Hat Cat (level 3, free on peabody.kids): A cat and a hat, with short words a four-year-old can follow.
  • The Red Hat (level 3, free on peabody.kids): One red hat, for the colour talk and pointing.
  • Six Cats, Six Hats (level 1, free on peabody.kids): Counting hats on cats: six, then fewer.
  • Rain on the Hat (level 3, free on peabody.kids): A hat for the rain, and the sound it makes.
  • Where Is Ned's Hat? (read aloud, level 5): A read-aloud: a hat lost on a cold day, and where it turns up.

Hats craft: Paper-plate hat

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You need (5): paper plates, crayons, stickers, a strip of card, tape.

  1. Color and sticker the plate.
  2. A grown-up tapes on a card band to fit.
  3. Wear it in the hat parade.

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

Hats song: The Grand Old Duke of York

The words

Oh, the grand old Duke of York, He had ten thousand men; He marched them up to the top of the hill, And he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up, And when they were down, they were down, And when they were only half-way up, They were neither up nor down.

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

Hats snack

Rice Cake Faces from the Peabody Kitchen: picture steps, allergy swaps and safety lines on the recipe.

Letter H activities

HhH is for hat. Print the two pages (a trace page and a color page).

Threes and fours: trace H and h once, then find H in the room and in the book.

Outside activity: Hat parade

March around the yard in your hats while the class sings. Freeze when the song stops.

Hats theme for toddlersHats theme for 2 year oldsHats theme, all ages

Checked 2026-10-30