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Harvest theme for toddlers: a week of activities

A harvest theme lesson plan for toddlers: what a day looks like, then the week's circle time (two or three minutes, on laps), books, craft, song, snack, letter and outside time, each with what changes at this age.

Plan this week for toddlersThe whole harvest week

A day of the harvest theme with toddlers

  1. Arrival and free play on the floor.
  2. Sing “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” with actions; repeat it while you change and feed.
  3. Hold and pass something real for the week (harvest), and say its name.
  4. Snack: a toddler-safe version of ants on a log (check the recipe's lines for under-4s).
  5. Outside: a short walk looking for corn.
  6. Read At the Farm on laps, pointing and naming.
  7. Nap, then the song once more at pick-up.

Harvest circle time

  1. Hello song: sing hello to each child by name.
  2. Look out of the window together: sun, rain or clouds?
  3. Show the theme: hold up something real and name it.
  4. Sing: Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary.
  5. Read: At the Farm (level 3).

Infants and toddlers: two or three minutes, on laps.

Harvest theme books

  • At the Farm (level 3, free on peabody.kids): The farm in a pattern book, for the harvest talk.
  • Meg and the Seed (level 3, free on peabody.kids): From a seed to something to pick.
  • The Big Truck (level 2, free on peabody.kids): A truck in the mud, like a harvest truck.
  • Henny Penny (read aloud, level 5): A read-aloud: an acorn falls and a hen thinks the sky is falling.

Infants and toddlers: one book, read every day; point and name.

Harvest craft: Paper-plate scarecrow

You need (5): paper plate, crayons, yellow paper strips (straw), a paper triangle hat, glue stick.

  1. Draw a happy face on the plate.
  2. Glue straw strips around the edge.
  3. Glue the hat on top.

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

Infants and toddlers: let them touch and hold the materials while you make it; nothing small enough to swallow.

Harvest song: Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

The words

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockle shells, And pretty maids all in a row.

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

Harvest snack

Ants on a Log from the Peabody Kitchen: picture steps, allergy swaps and safety lines on the recipe.

Swap: Peanut butter → sunflower seed butter.

Letter S activities

SsS is for scarecrow. Print the two pages (a trace page and a color page).

Infants and toddlers: skip the trace page; show the picture page and say the word.

Outside activity: Scarecrow freeze

Children flap like birds; when the grown-up calls "Scarecrow!" everyone freezes with arms out.

Harvest theme for 2 year oldsHarvest theme for 3 and 4 year oldsHarvest theme, all ages

Checked 2026-10-30