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

A jungle 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 jungle week

A day of the jungle 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 sounds would you hear in a jungle?”, sing “row, row, row your boat”, then Go, Snail, Go!.
  3. Centers, with the craft at one table: paper-chain vine.
  4. Letter J: trace it once, then hunt for J around the room.
  5. Snack: Fruit Dip, with children pouring and counting.
  6. Outside: through the jungle.
  7. Rest, then a longer read-aloud: Lion and Mouse.

Jungle circle time

  1. Good morning song, then say each name together.
  2. Calendar: the day, the date and the weather.
  3. Ask: “What sounds would you hear in a jungle?”
  4. Sing: Row, Row, Row Your Boat.
  5. Read: Go, Snail, Go! (level 3).

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

Jungle theme books

  • Go, Snail, Go! (level 3, free on peabody.kids): Slow and steady, for the fast-and-slow talk.
  • I See a Boy (level 3, free on peabody.kids): Animals and bees seen one at a time.
  • Lion and Mouse (read aloud, level 4): A read-aloud fable: even the small can help the big.
  • The Tortoise and the Hare (read aloud, level 5): A read-aloud fable: the slow one wins.

Jungle craft: Paper-chain vine

You need (4): green paper strips, glue stick, paper leaves, tape.

  1. Loop a strip and glue its ends.
  2. Thread the next strip through and glue it: make a chain.
  3. Glue on leaves and tape the vine across the room.

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

Jungle song: Row, Row, Row Your Boat

The words

Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream.

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

Jungle snack

Fruit Dip from the Peabody Kitchen: picture steps, allergy swaps and safety lines on the recipe.

Letter J activities

JjJ is for jungle. Print the two pages (a trace page and a color page).

Threes and fours: trace J and j once, then find J in the room and in the book.

Outside activity: Through the jungle

An obstacle path: crawl under a vine (a rope), step over logs, tiptoe past a sleeping tiger.

Jungle theme for toddlersJungle theme for 2 year oldsJungle theme, all ages

Checked 2026-10-30