Welcome to my toddler curriculum!
I created this curriculum from my years of experience and a desire to share with those who will love it! If you are a toddler teacher, or a stay at home parent/guardian who wants to do preschool at home – I made all this for you!!!!!!
There’s so much curriculum out there for prek, but as a toddler teacher, I could never find anything that is appropriate for toddlers! I mean, you can only keep a toddler engaged in worksheets for so long 😉 So I decided to make what I wish I could have had when I started.
Already read this post and just want the links to each curriculum week? Click the big green button👇
For years I’ve been famous for my toddler parties,
imaginative art projects,
photoshoots,
and over the top, crazy (in a good way) activities.
I’ve received so much positive feedback over the years for my lesson plans with parents raving and other teachers asking to copy ideas, that when I finally left to stay home I just couldn’t let it all go to waste!
So here it is – seven years (and counting) in the making! All the brainstorming and imagination, make it up as you go MacGyver moments, and countless times learning the hard way have come together in the hopes that some kiddo somewhere will sleep well tonight after a day competing in the Toddler Olympics,
going on safari,
creating a Picasso penguin,
eating s’mores in the classroom tent by the light of a crackling bonfire,
engineering an elephant elevator,
or leaving footprints on the moon
having learned more that day than they even realize 🥰
This curriculum in divided into 40 weeks which cover A-Z, colors, Bible stories from Creation to Paul, and all major holidays in-between (I will also be releasing my summer curriculum next year which is I believe my best!)
Each week will have a theme that includes a letter, a color, and a Bible story and several activities that are related to the theme. For each Bible story, I include what I have called a “repeatable phrase” which will be a short, relatable phrase that sums up the main point of the story in words that make sense to little ones.
My lesson plans are designed with activities that not only include every area of child development but also tie the concepts together to reinforce learning and retention by making connections and following up with repetition (in a way that is as fun as possible for all involved 😄 I go back to watch the videos and laugh uncontrollably all the time).
Since every daycare/preschool/home has different schedules and requirements, I will list every activity with directions/tips or tricks and which developmental areas the activity includes…
- *side note – many activities will include all areas but I may only list the area that is most utilized: for example, eating is primarily a sensory activity, but if done with intentionality can include fine motor control (hand/finger usage, grasping, eye-hand coordination etc.), social emotional (sharing a meal, taking turns, please and thank you, practicing patience and self regulation, preferences, feeding oneself etc.), STEM (hot or cold, classifying by kind, color, shape, chemistry and physics of cooking/preparing etc.) and so on*
…then at the end I will give an example of how I would divide it into a Monday-Friday lesson plan that you are free to use, tweak, or just pick and choose from to fit your needs!
Here’s how my examples will go:
Each day I include one of each of these categories:
- Art/Writing/Literacy
- Sensory
- STEM
and then at least one activity that emphasizes fine motor, gross motor, or social emotional (though as mentioned before, many of the activities if done with intentionality will have elements of these areas too!)
I will also include activities that tie into the Bible story and repeatable phrase for the week.
I organize the activities to group and connect ideas as much as possible while also balancing time and effort involved; for example, pairing a more involved science experiment with a low maintenance/easy clean up art project or pairing a project that requires one on one interaction with an activity that will engage all the others allowing one teacher to easily monitor while the other does the one on one.
I also try to put activities that require the most prep near the end (to give you the time to prepare) while making Mondays a little lighter (because Mondays are hard for all ages 😉).
I’ll also include in the details tried and true tips and tricks for executing the activities with intentionality but in a way that is manageable and won’t leave you pulling out your hair.
I’ve had years of experience organizing lesson plans, so you can trust me when I say it is possible (even with wild ones) to do everything on the plan – however, there will be days where the kids are just not having it…
…or maybe you just need a day! There is no shame in skipping or rearranging (or even delaying entire weeks #thankyoucovid). For those days I have a list of activities that I can pull out that are low energy yet engaging (for the days that need some chill) or are high energy yet simple (for the days they all seem to have eaten bowls of sugar and washed it down with coffee before coming in)
You can find my list here
Without any further ado – here are the links to each week of the curriculum!
Each week has EVERYTHING you could need to do the lesson – lots of activities, detailed directions and how-tos, ideas to make each activity more intentional, explanations of what they are learning, teaching tips, an example weekly lesson plan, and links to resources and any print outs needed. And it is all presented in my blog style with humor and lots of adorable pictures and videos 😁
I really hope you’ll check out the free sample (week 2) and decide the rest is well worth purchasing!
Links to Curriculum Posts
Each week is a password protected blog post.
Week 2 is free to all so you can have a chance to see exactly what you’d be getting, while the password to the others can be purchased from my Etsy or Teachers Pay Teachers store!
Once you’ve purchased a week (or a discounted bundle of weeks!), the PDF you download has instructions to bring you right here and the password you need to access the password protected blog post containing EVERYTHING!
Have you purchased the password for the week you want? If yes – you’re ready! Click on the week below, enter the password and ENJOY!😁
- Week 2 – Letter A, Black and White, Creation *FREE TO EVERYONE!*
- Week 34 – Letter W, White, The Widow’s Two Coins, The Rich Man’s Treasure, & Mary’s Precious Perfume
Again the passwords to the curriculum posts can be purchased at my Etsy store (click here) or my Teachers Pay Teachers shop (click here). All 40 weeks are now available. You can purchase each week alone, in discounted bundles of 4 weeks at a time, or a very discounted bundle of all 40 weeks!
If you know someone who would like this too please share! I’ve really put my heart into this in the hopes it will reach those who will use it and love it – so help me spread the word! 😁
I’m in the process of creating completely printable versions of each week – they will be added as I finish them!
Read on, enjoy, and feel free to leave comments or questions! You can also email me at blessthistoddlermess@gmail.com or follow on insta and twitter @blessthistotmess
This is genius!! You are truly gifted!