1 year old preschool: 1 Year Old Lesson Plans

1 Year Old Lesson Plans

Wondering what to teach your toddler? Take a look at these 1 year old lesson plans, perfect for little ones. Includes activities by theme!

At a year old, the thought of having a lesson plan can seem crazy. She’s only a toddler, you think. She just finished being a baby.

Still, this is the age when your child’s curiosity is limitless. She’s enamored by her world and willing to explore, make mistakes, and keep learning. The goal of creating 1 year old lessons plans isn’t so much to “teach” as it is to give her the opportunity to continue doing what she does best: learning.

She’s building synapses in the brain, putting pieces together to make sense of her surroundings. Educational activities, whether for yourself or even her caregiver, can give everyone a sense of structure and routine. And with weekly toddler lesson plans, you can reinforce a theme over the course of many days.

Weekly themes for 1 year old lesson plans

And that’s exactly what I share here. Don’t think so much about making sure your child learns the alphabet and numbers. Instead, draw on her curiosity and tie in those elements along the way.

For instance, you might count the animals you see on a farm, or expose her to new words as you read about them. You might take her on a “field trip” to visit an observatory or provide a sensory experience by going to the beach.

If anything, these 1 year old lesson plans give you a loose structure to plan your days in case you’re out of ideas. The best part? You’re modeling your own excitement and eagerness to explore, making it easier for her to follow suit.

Check out these weekly themes for 1 year old lesson plans. Many of these ideas are free and easy to do, often at home. They encourage language and gross motor skills, and you’ll find plenty of books to read, places to visit, and crafts to do:

1. Farms

• Song: Old McDonald Had a Farm
• Read: Children’s books about farms
• Field trip: Visit a local farm
• Crafts: Do farm-theme crafts for kids

Free resources: Want ideas on what to do with your little one? Join my newsletter and grab your printable calendar of fun and simple toddler activities! Check them off as you go along, or use the blank template to add your own ideas. Get it below—at no cost to you:

2. Gardening

• Read: Children’s books about gardening
• Numbers: Count the number of leaves on a plant or insects you find
• Field trip: Visit a botanical garden
• Crafts: Grow green beans (in warm seasons) or peas (in cool ones) from seed
• Food: Eat fruits and vegetables found in books you read
• Colors: Talk about different-colored flowers, fruits, and vegetables

3. Stars and space

• Song: Sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
• Read: Space books for preschoolers and toddlers
• Field trip: Visit an observatory
• Numbers: Name and count the planets in the solar system
• Crafts: Do space activities for kids

4. Parts of the body

• Song: Hokey Pokey or Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
• Numbers: Count fingers and toes
• Sensory exploration: Point out different smells, use a sensory table

5.

Seasons of the year

• Read: Children’s books about seasons
• Numbers: Collect and count nature items, depending on the season
• Field trip: Visit a seasonal place, like the beach during the summer or a poppy reserve during spring time
• Crafts: Do easy and fun activities about the seasons

6. Transportation and automobiles

• Song: The Wheels on the Bus
• Read: Children’s books about cars
• Count: Count how many cars you see or walk by
• Field trip: Ride a bus, visit a car museum or small-aircraft takeoff points, or watch construction trucks
• Colors: Point out different colors of automobiles
• Sign language: Learn baby signs for car, boat, airplane, truck
• Sensory activity: Fill a sensory table with sand and place toy construction trucks inside

7.

Weather

• Read: Weather books for kids
• Language: Introduce words like rain, wind, fog, snow, hot, cold, lightning and rainbow
• Crafts: Create a weather forecast! Print out an icon and the accompanying word for the day’s weather (for instance, a cloud with rain and the word “rain” below). Hang the day’s weather forecast on a wall and swap it out each day.
• Colors: Talk about the colors you can use to describe the weather (“gray” or “blue” to describe the sky, or the “white” clouds).

8. Oceans and beaches

• Read: Children’s books about the beach
• Field trip: Take a trip to the beach, or visit a local aquarium or marina
• Sensory activities: Turn field trips into sensory activities by exploring sand and water
• Song: Sing Baby Shark or Baby Beluga

9.

Dinosaurs

• Field trip: Visit your local natural history museum and look at dinosaur fossils
• Numbers: Count how many toy dinosaurs he has and arrange them by size
• Crafts: Do crafts about dinosaurs

10. Apples

• Numbers: Introduce fractions (yes!) by talking about how you slice an apple into halves, quarters, and 1/8 slices
• Read: The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Song: Sing Apples and Bananas
• Food: Eat an apple, or bake an apple pie together
• Colors: Talk about different-colored apple varieties
• Field trip: Visit an apple farm where you can pick your own
• Crafts: Create an apple craft

11. Pumpkins

• Read: Check out the ultimate list of pumpkin books for preschoolers and young toddlers
• Field trip: Visit a pumpkin patch, especially during the fall
• Crafts: Decorate miniature pumpkins with finger paint
• Numbers: Count how many pumpkins you can see at the patch
• Colors: Describe the different colors of pumpkins
• Sensory activity: Gently touch different textures of pumpkins, from rough and bumpy to smooth and shiny
• Food: Bake pumpkin pie cupcakes together

12.

Swimming

• Read: Children’s books about swimming
• Field trip: Take a dip in your pool or visit a local pool
• Numbers: Count how many times you carry him up and down into the water
• Sensory activity: Describe what he feels: the cool water, the sounds of his splashes

13. Zoo animals

• Song: Sing Five Little Monkeys
• Field trip: Visit the zoo
• Read: Zoo books for kids
• Numbers: Count how many animals you see (whether at the zoo or in a book)
• Craft: Print and color coloring sheets of zoo animals

14. Trains

• Song: Sing Down at the Station
• Field trip: Ride a train or visit a train museum
• Numbers: Watch a train go by and count the number of cars
• Crafts: Create crafts about trains

Conclusion

Even when my kids were only a year old, I loved turning educational “lessons” into a fun and engaging activity. Maybe that meant taking them to a pumpkin patch or counting clouds in the sky. Sometimes all it takes is using descriptive vocabulary, like talking about what you’re doing or the sounds you hear.

Even with 1 year olds, there’s always a way to make learning fun and nurture their curiosity.

Get more tips:

• Things to Teach a 1 Year Old
• Easy Arts and Crafts for 1 Year Olds (No Complicated Instructions!)
• 31 Activities for 1 Year Olds
• Fun Places to Take a 1 Year Old
• Rainy Day Activities for 1 Year Olds

Don’t forget: Join my newsletter and grab your PDF of fun and simple play activities:

Free one year old lesson plans {to get a head start for Pre-K}

by Alexa

If you are looking for free lesson plans for one year olds to get a sense of what it is to Homeschool your little one, or to add more learning through playtime at home here are 8 lesson ideas that I worked on with my son.

If you are like me, it’s always on your mind – am I teaching my child enough? Am I giving him enough attention? Should I be doing more to help him learn? Could I be a better mom??

The mom guilt is REAL and it’s totally normal.

We always feel like we could be doing more for our children: feeding them better, teaching them more, being more patient. 

When it comes to teaching and doing activities at home, Pinterest is full crafts but nothing really tells you what to teach and what they are learning. All educational material is usually for older pre-school kids and nothing for one year old. 

Give them that advantage of knowledge before they start pre-k with fun activities during playtime with these free lesson plans.

I worked with speech developers, teachers, and other moms who have done teaching at home and took all their recommendations plus my research on what to teach them at this age and combined it with my passion for making teaching fun and creative.

I spent hundreds of hours on Pinterest to search and tweak (to suit a one year old) activities to make the most fun one-year-old curriculum out there! I used it myself, and I get told a lot of compliments about my son’s speech and development. Fastforward a year and now I teach sensory classes and help thousands of moms teach their little ones at home.

I love to create resources that will help you teach at home. This is why I created the Learning Binder for One-Year-Olds for the days when you only have 15 minutes a day to teach, or My First School: One-Year-Old Curriculum with over 30 quick and easy themed lessons you can do at home.

You can go as slow or as fast as you want to go. You will get fine motor skills, gross motor skills activities, messy and non-messy activities.

All of the activities are games and fun exercises your toddler will be excited about!

Some required a bit of set up but they are surely full of sensory exploration and fun!

These are part of the lessons found in our learning curriculum.

Free One Year Old Lesson Plans

The areas of learning and development we will focus on these 8 lessons are:

• Fine motor skills,
• Gross motor skills
• Music appreciation
• Art & crafts
• Language development
• Critical thinking
• Pre-k readiness

Access Lesson Plans

Select the lesson plan you want to access. Each lesson plan has 3-4 activities to do at home.

Week 3: Body Parts

GET MORE with a Full Year of Lesson Plans

Our Products

After hours of research, purchasing products, and later finding out they were NOT suitable for a one year old, I gave up and the teacher in me had to come out. I developed a workbook and a full curriculum to teach our little ones what they should know at one year old. This was all tweaked and tested my multiple moms before it was launched.

If you want something quick with low set up like the Toddler Binder for busy Moms, or you want more hands-on sensory activities like the ones included in the My First School: One Year Old Curriculum you will finally spend more time playing with your little one that searching for activities to do with him/her.

I dedicate myself to making learning fun. My goal is to help you reduce the time looking for ideas and spend more time playing and teaching at home.
here are the two top seller ONE-YEAR-OLD Learning Resources (available Printed or PDF)

I love the idea of having my toddler at home with me every day, and I want to maximize my time with him and practice skills that will help him succeed in pre-k as he works on each developmental milestone. Before I know it he will be starting pre-k and I want to make sure I prepare him well for that.

Amanda Novello

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Development calendar: what a child should be able to do at 1 year old

During the first year of life, the child develops extremely intensively. From a helpless screaming lump, he turns into an independent person with his own character. What distinguishes one-year-old babies, what skills and abilities should a child have by this time? How to properly care for a child of 1 year old, what to teach and what to develop? We will answer these questions for you in this article.

Physical development of a one year old child

Statistics show that, on average, one-year-old children weigh 10-11 kg, and their height is approximately 72-77 cm. At the same time, weight gain should be about 350 g per month, and height – 1.5 cm per month. After a year, the pace of physical development of the child will gradually slow down.

Many mothers unwittingly compare the development of their child with the development of other children, which causes much cause for concern. “What if something is wrong with him?”, “Probably, I don’t do much with the child,” and so on. It is worth noting that the pace of physical development up to a year is individual for each child. In this regard, only a really strong lag behind the average norm should be a reason for excitement.

As a rule, by the age of 1, a child can sit, stand (with support), actively crawl and begin to take his first steps. One-year-old kids love to walk along the support and by the handle, and someone even tries to run. Also, with the help of an adult, the baby can slowly go up and down the stairs, climb and get off the sofa. Thanks to the ability to maintain a vertical position, the possibilities of the crumbs in the study of the world are expanding. This is a very important step in the development of the crumbs. In order for your child to learn to walk confidently, do not impose your help on him. Let the baby learn to walk short distances, for example, to you or to a toy. Insure him at arm’s length.

Since children of this age are very fond of conquering all kinds of peaks, it is necessary to provide the child with proper safety. Do not leave your child unattended in a room with open windows, shelving that can tip over, sockets, wires, and other dangerous objects.

Psychomotor development at 1 year old

The baby’s mental development also does not stand still. Children at the age of 1 can:

• Open and close doors, cabinets;
• Pull out drawers;
• Scoop up water;
• Collect pyramids from 2-3 rings;
• Build towers with 2 blocks;
• Put things in a box;
• Play with sorters;
• Throw a ball;
• Roll the ball on the floor;
• Copy the actions of an adult: combing, cooking porridge, etc.

At the age of 1, children mainly learn about the world with the help of feeling (tactile method). Also, the child can still put everything in his mouth, tasting things. Children learn a lot by imitating adults. The kid can copy the mother who cooks dinner and try to imitate the father who repairs the car. Therefore, it is very important to remember that although the child does not always obey you, he will always repeat after you and adopt your behavior model.

Socio-communicative and speech development of a one-year-old child

The repertoire of expressed emotions in one-year-old children is already quite rich. A child can express his need by crying, fear, laughter. Improving body language and facial expressions. The baby often shows feelings for you with the help of hugs, kisses.

A big leap is taking place in the development of the child’s speech. By the age of one, babies usually already know how to pronounce syllables and simple words (mom, dad, woman, bibi, etc.). A child at this age can well capture the intonation with which he is addressed, and fulfills the simple requests of an adult. There are no clear age limits for when exactly a child should speak. If you doubt that the speech development of the baby is within the normal range, seek the help of a specialist to rule out problems such as hearing impairments, problems with the speech apparatus, neurological diseases, etc.

If the baby does not speak yet at the age of one, but at the same time understands you, do not rush to sound the alarm. Talk to your child more and develop his fine motor skills.

Self-care skills

Having gained freedom of movement, a one-year-old baby is increasingly moving away from his mother and wants to be independent. The child may try to use a spoon himself, drink from a cup or drinker, undress (for example, take off his hat and socks), and someone even begins to master the potty.

Educational classes in the children’s center “Constellation”

• from 8 months up to 2 years

  Music lessons for children from 1 year old

  from 3330

  Includes 4 lessons of 45 min.

  from 2520

  Includes 4 lessons of 30 min.

  Expand other options

• from 8 months up to 2 years

  Montessori class with mom

  from 4320

  Includes 4 lessons of 60 min.

  from 7740

  Includes 8 lessons of 60 min.

  from 5220

  Includes 4 lessons of 75 min.

  from 6210

  Includes 4 lessons of 90 min.

  More options –
  on the lesson page

  Expand other options

View all

Daily regimen and nutrition for children 1 year old

Many mothers of one year old children face the problem of regime change. Often a baby at this age has difficulty falling asleep during the day, so daytime sleep is postponed until a later time. With the transition to one daytime sleep, you need to adjust the child’s diet. Usually meals are taken 4 times: for example, at 9in the morning – breakfast, at 13 o’clock – lunch, at 17 o’clock in the evening – afternoon tea and at 21 o’clock – dinner. At the same time, going to bed turns out to be quite late: at 22 – 23 pm.

The diet of a one-year-old child should exclude allergenic foods: chocolate, smoked meats, spices. Some doctors advise continuing to give formula to the baby, but not in a bottle, but on a plate. Gradually transfer the child to adult food. In order for the baby to develop a chewing reflex, replace the puree with small pieces of not very hard food. It can be cutlets, fruits, bread.

One-year-old child’s health

A trip to the pediatrician is considered a mandatory procedure every year. The doctor takes the necessary tests from the child, physiological measurements are made. The issue of vaccinating the child is also being addressed. It is also necessary to visit the following specialists: neurologist, surgeon, orthopedist. Additionally, it is advisable to consult with an ophthalmologist and dentist.

An important component of a healthy lifestyle is the observance of the child’s personal hygiene. In a year, a baby can learn to wash his hands before eating and after a walk, as well as to wash himself. If a child has grown at least 1 tooth, it is worth making friends with a toothbrush. And, of course, do not ignore the evening bathing and rinsing in the shower.

How to develop a child at 1 year old

Help your baby to develop quickly and acquire more and more new skills:

1. Carry your child less in your arms, give him freedom of movement.
2. Voice everything you see to your child, talk to him. Reading books to your baby is so important for the development of a child’s speech.
3. Play educational games: sorters, cubes, pyramids, lacing, etc. You can offer the baby a simple role-playing game (for example, construction, racing, etc.). Good for finger games.

The development of a baby at 1 year largely depends on his parents. Spend more time with your child, play, talk to him, walk. Provide your baby with new vivid impressions, then his development will certainly go uphill!

Conclusions

Time passes very quickly with a baby. During the first year of life, a child changes dramatically. The main changes in the development of a one-year-old child are the first words and first steps, the development of communication skills, exploration of the world, self-service.

Educational classes in the children’s center “Constellation”

• from 8 months up to 2 years

  Music lessons for children from 1 year old

  from 3330

  Includes 4 lessons of 45 min.

  from 2520

  Includes 4 lessons of 30 min.

  Expand other options

• from 8 months up to 2 years

  Montessori class with mom

  from 4320

  Includes 4 lessons of 60 min.

  from 7740

  Includes 8 lessons of 60 min.

  from 5220

  Includes 4 lessons of 75 min.

  from 6210

  Includes 4 lessons of 90 min.

  More options –
  on the lesson page

  Expand other options

View all

Conclusion

Developing activities can help the baby develop comprehensively and harmoniously. In the children’s Montessori Center “Constellation” there are “Together with Mom” ​​groups that children from 8 months to 2 years old can attend. Classes are aimed at developing fine motor skills (and hence speech), concentration, coordination of movements, imagination, memory, vision, thinking, vocabulary. An experienced teacher will show you how to work with this or that material and help to interest the child. Come and grow with us!

Prepared by a Montessori teacher
Shutova Anastasia

Story about the Children’s Club “Constellation”

We invite kids to visit the Children’s Club “Constellation” We have children aged from 8 months to 7 years old.

Veraksa N.E. Preschooler’s play

№1 2009

• Heading:

  – Editor-in-chief’s column

Full text

In Russian pedagogy and psychology, the opinion has long been established that play is the leading activity of a preschool child. This means that it is in the process of playing that a child develops intelligence, personal qualities, and is preparing for schooling. Interpersonal relationships in the kindergarten group also largely depend on whether the child knows how to play or not.

Many children bring toys to the group to make a positive impression on their peers. As a rule, the case ends with the fact that the toy ends up with other children, and the child himself only watches how someone plays with his car or doll. Here we are confronted with the position taken not only by preschoolers, but also by adults. The fact is that a toy cannot develop an interesting game for a child. And it would be so good to buy a toy for a child, and let him have fun and not interfere with an adult.

The world of children’s play is a special world, and not every toy contributes to its development. So, in recent years, various puzzles have become widespread. It turns out that already young children can successfully complete puzzles, even those consisting of several parts. However, as shown in a study by Doctor of Psychology E. O. Smirnova, not all puzzles are optimal for child development. For a full-fledged game, it is important that preschoolers master the variety of meanings that characterize people’s relationships. It is this side that turns out to be closed for many pictures and their parts embedded in the holes.

Parents often buy toy weapons for their children. However, in this case, we are faced with a strange sight when a baby with a large machine gun walks along with his mother. In this case, the machine hangs by itself, and the child walks by itself. The situation is absurd. Neither mother nor child is going to fight, but both consume the product of the children’s industry.

The main thing for a child is to create his own imaginary world during the game. And how can you create it with such a toy, where a caring adult has thought through everything to the smallest detail. This also applies to toys for girls. Many dolls are equipped with a whole system of miniature parts. Preschool girls don’t just play with dolls; they recreate the world of human experiences and relationships, as much as operations on the use of puppet objects work out. In this case, the emphasis is again placed not on the meaning of the action, but on its operational side. We don’t yet know where the industrialization of children’s play is leading. However, some details become noticeable in the light of the development of television and computer technology. If a preschool child plays a computer “shooter”, then it would seem that there is nothing wrong with that. But it should be borne in mind that in this case he did not end up in a world that he built himself, but in a world created by an adult. Staying in this world does not require the child to develop imagination and comprehend what is happening, only speed in shooting. Perhaps the speed of pressing the keys and mastering the keyboard will be useful to him at school. But what about creativity, feelings of love and care for one’s neighbor, which are mastered in the process of a role-playing game? Misunderstanding, underestimation of the role of a preschooler’s play by parents, and as a result, a reduction in the playing space, leads to deformation of the development of the child’s personality.

Unfortunately, children’s play is also being squeezed out of kindergarten life. This is due to the requirements of preparing children for school and the fears of parents and teachers for the success of the future education of children. Surprisingly, the successful development of a child in later life depends on how preschool childhood was lived and to what extent the child mastered play activities.