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

A shapes 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 shapes week

A day of the shapes 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 shape is our door? What shape is a plate?”, sing “hot cross buns”, then Ben and the Blocks.
  3. Centers, with the craft at one table: shape picture.
  4. Letter S: trace it once, then hunt for S around the room.
  5. Snack: Kiwi Turtles, with children pouring and counting.
  6. Outside: shape stops.
  7. Rest, then a longer read-aloud.

Shapes circle time

  1. Good morning song, then say each name together.
  2. Calendar: the day, the date and the weather.
  3. Ask: “What shape is our door? What shape is a plate?”
  4. Sing: Hot Cross Buns.
  5. Read: Ben and the Blocks (level 3).

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

Shapes theme books

  • Ben and the Blocks (level 3, free on peabody.kids): Building with blocks on a rainy day: squares and rectangles everywhere.
  • Moss and the Box (level 3, free on peabody.kids): A cat and a box, for corners and sides.
  • Man, Pan, Map (level 0, free on peabody.kids): A round pan and a flat map, said in a pattern.

Shapes craft: Shape picture

You need (4): paper shapes cut by a grown-up, card, glue stick, crayons.

  1. Pick a circle, a square and a triangle.
  2. Glue them down as a house, a face or a car.
  3. Name each shape you used.

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

Shapes song: Hot Cross Buns

The words

Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns! One a penny, two a penny, Hot cross buns!

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

Shapes snack

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

Letter S activities

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

Threes and fours: trace S and s once, then find S in the room and in the book.

Outside activity: Shape stops

Chalk a big circle, square and triangle on the ground. Call a shape; everyone runs to it.

Shapes theme for toddlersShapes theme for 2 year oldsShapes theme, all ages

Checked 2026-10-30