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

A leaf 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 leaf week

A day of the leaf 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 leaves fall off the trees?”, sing “pease porridge hot”, then A Nest on the Hill.
  3. Centers, with the craft at one table: leaf rubbing.
  4. Letter L: trace it once, then hunt for L around the room.
  5. Snack: Yogurt Parfait, with children pouring and counting.
  6. Outside: leaf hunt.
  7. Rest, then a longer read-aloud: Who Lives Under the Log?.

Leaf circle time

  1. Good morning song, then say each name together.
  2. Calendar: the day, the date and the weather.
  3. Ask: “Why do leaves fall off the trees?”
  4. Sing: Pease Porridge Hot.
  5. Read: A Nest on the Hill (level 2).

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

Leaf theme books

  • A Nest on the Hill (level 2, free on peabody.kids): Nature close up: a nest, a hill and a kind act.
  • Go, Snail, Go! (level 3, free on peabody.kids): A slow walk outside, the way a leaf hunt goes.
  • Pit, Pat (level 0, free on peabody.kids): Rain on the leaves, in a pattern little ones can tap.
  • Who Lives Under the Log? (read aloud, level 5): A read-aloud: true facts about what lives under the fallen leaves and logs.

Leaf craft: Leaf rubbing

You need (4): leaves from the walk, white paper, crayons with the paper off, tape.

  1. Tape a leaf under the paper.
  2. Rub the side of a crayon over it until the veins show.
  3. Try a second leaf in another color.

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

Leaf song: Pease Porridge Hot

The words

Pease porridge hot, Pease porridge cold, Pease porridge in the pot, Nine days old. Some like it hot, Some like it cold, Some like it in the pot, Nine days old.

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

Leaf snack

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

Swap: Yogurt → oat yogurt.

Letter L activities

LlL is for leaf. Print the two pages (a trace page and a color page).

Threes and fours: trace L and l once, then find L in the room and in the book.

Outside activity: Leaf hunt

Find a big leaf, a small leaf, a red one and a brown one. Line them up from small to big.

Leaf theme for toddlersLeaf theme for 2 year oldsLeaf theme, all ages

Checked 2026-10-30