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

A rock 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 rock week

A day of the rock 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 lives in the dirt?”, sing “humpty dumpty”, then Mop Can Hop.
  3. Centers, with the craft at one table: rock friend.
  4. Letter R: trace it once, then hunt for R around the room.
  5. Snack: Peanut Butter Energy Balls, with children pouring and counting.
  6. Outside: rock sort.
  7. Rest, then a longer read-aloud: Gus and the Big Rock.

Rock circle time

  1. Good morning song, then say each name together.
  2. Calendar: the day, the date and the weather.
  3. Ask: “What lives in the dirt?”
  4. Sing: Humpty Dumpty.
  5. Read: Mop Can Hop (level 3).

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

Rock theme books

  • Mop Can Hop (level 3, free on peabody.kids): A puppy in the mud.
  • The Big Truck (level 2, free on peabody.kids): A truck stuck in the mud.
  • Ants Are Strong (level 3, free on peabody.kids): True facts about ants that live in the soil.
  • Gus and the Big Rock (read aloud, level 4): A read-aloud: a frog and a big rock.

Rock craft: Rock friend

You need (3): a smooth rock as big as a hand, washable paint, a brush.

  1. Wash and dry the rock.
  2. Paint a face or a pattern on it.
  3. Give it a name and a home in the garden.

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

Rock song: Humpty Dumpty

The words

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men Couldn't put Humpty together again.

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

Rock snack

Peanut Butter Energy Balls from the Peabody Kitchen: picture steps, allergy swaps and safety lines on the recipe.

Swap: Peanut butter → sunflower seed butter.

Letter R activities

RrR is for rock. Print the two pages (a trace page and a color page).

Threes and fours: trace R and r once, then find R in the room and in the book.

Outside activity: Rock sort

Collect rocks bigger than your fist. Sort them: big and small, smooth and bumpy, light and dark.

Rock theme for toddlersRock theme for 2 year oldsRock theme, all ages

Checked 2026-10-30