Sample curriculum for 3 year olds

Rhonda - posted on 02/18/2009

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Cyndie - posted on 02/18/2009

I want to thank each and every one of you for all of the great suggestions. I really do appreciate it. I look forward to checking out the above mentioned websites and doing many of the suggested activities in the coming days. Thanks again!

Denise - posted on 02/18/2009

Well obviously sometime before they start Kindergarten they need to learn numbers & letters. First they learn to count & say the alphabet... then they learn to recognize individual numbers & letters... eventually they'll learn to write letters & numbers. They also need to recognize letters & shapes. For all these things, just point them out wherever you see them & make it fun.



You can try teaching some basic time concepts, but I've found those are pretty tricky for kids to grasp... hours/seconds/minutes.... days/weeks/months/years. You can start some very basic instruction by pointing out clocks & calendars. But don't expect your kid to pick those concepts up for awhile yet!



Some other basic concepts you can talk about are: weather - rainy, cloudy, snowy. Seasons also fit in well with that. Feelings - happy, sad, angry, scared, etc. Family - parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins, etc. These are all things that I remember my oldest spending a month at a time on, when she was in daycare at this age! They also spent a month on dinosaurs, LOL. Hey, whatever gets the kids talking! Animals are actually a great way to get kids interested.



You can practice fine motor skills by trying a variety of art projects. Try switching between crayons, markers, pens & pencils, paintbrushes, chalk. You can start teaching him to hold scissors too. At this point I wouldn't expect cutting to be too sophisticated! But there are whole workbooks you can buy later on to practice cutting straight lines, curvy lines, circles & other shapes. All of these things will help to strengthen his hand muscles & develop coordination.



Don't get too stressed out! I didn't expect my list to get so long... thinking about what my oldest was learning at this age helped to remind me of what I want to be doing right now w/ my little ones! : )

Cheryl - posted on 02/18/2009

I bought a workbook called "Preschool Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills" at my Sams Club. Its by School Specialty Publishing. It is really big. Amazing what they are supposed to know before they even get to school! But it gives you a great idea of what things you should be thinking about teaching. At 3, my daughter wasn't too interested in it, but now as we are approaching 4 she loves picking different pages to work on. We skip around a lot and make it fun, only what she feels like doing. And I think some of it is sinking in. Good luck.

Claudia - posted on 02/18/2009

My son is 3.5 and here are a few websites I've used for some learning... but we don't do anything structured, it's more like play and learn.

http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?cur...

http://www.starfall.com/

http://letteroftheweek.com/Preparatory.h...

As long as they are having fun, you can make it a learning experience.

Kate CP - posted on 02/17/2009

I wouldn't do a "curriculum" for him. He's three! He needs to learn fine motor skills, develop empathy and explore the outdoors. One of the best things to do with a toddler is to take them out for a walk and show them all the neat stuff outside. Show him flowers and trees and leaves and let him touch them and smell them and just have fun being a kid. As for learning things like shapes, colors, etc I would look into Montessori methods. http://www.montessori.edu



My daughter goes to Montessori school and she's not even three. She's learning how to interact with other children and adults, communicate her feelings, work in a group, and all the other things that go along with school. It really is wonderful!