Backyard Playlab Lesson Plans for Toddlers


How do I write lesson plans for toddlers?

I use super simple lesson plans as I prepare for my Backyard Playlab each week. Lesson plans provide structure to what you’re teaching toddlers and can help you make sure to focus on the most important things.

Here are 6 tips to help you write successful lesson plans for toddlers.

1. Get to know your students!

Getting to know your students is probably the most important part of lesson planning for toddlers. Once you know about their interests and skills, you can structure lessons to help them develop their skills in areas that they need to work on. Knowing their interests will also help you design activities that will be engaging and fun for them.

2. Define your goals.

Knowing what skills you want to focus on and what goals you want to accomplish during each week and throughout the year with each child will help drive your lesson plans.

Here are 6 skills that I think are most important for toddlers to develop.

3. Keep it simple.

Keep activities simple and routines structured but flexible. Toddlers thrive with consistent routines that also allow for flexibility.

4. Embed choice and open-ended activities into your plan.

Offering choices is great because it lets kids develop decision making skills. This boosts their confidence and self-esteem.

Open ended activities promote creativity! They also let kids develop new vocabulary, experiment, problems-solve and more,

5. Use themes!

I love a good themed lesson. My Year of Play Toddler Curriculum is a great guide if you want a theme based plan right now. Themes provide a clear structure and focus for lesson plans, making it easier for toddlers to stay engaged and understand the content. Themes also help them make connections, build on prior knowledge, and more! Themes also make lesson planning so much simpler.

Sometimes themes can also be taken too far! It’s ok if not every aspect of your lesson plan connects to the theme of the day. This helps ensure that all kids will connect with your lessons- especially any kids that might not like every theme you pick.

6. Make sure to embed play!

Toddlers need to play and move! Play is where toddlers can learn so many important skills. Sometimes we want to rush to make toddlers “big kids” and give them a structured school experience with lots of circle time and group learning time. I don’t believe that a lot of time sitting down listening to the teacher is developmentally appropriate for toddlers.

Structure your play stations and free choice activities to help kids learn as they play! If you do plan for group circle time, incorporate hands-on and sensory experiences like singing songs with movement, using props or instruments, or exploring sensory bins.

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