9 books & circle time activities for 2 and 3 year olds { with FREE Printables}

Now that I am back in the classroom, I get to lead circle time again. I LOVE circle time. I love seeing all the little faces looking up at me and that moment when they connect to the material.  Teaching 2 and 3-year-olds, my circle time is short and simple. We all sit on the floor and read a book and do a coordinating group activity. This all takes at most 10 minutes but more often 5 or 6. Keeping it short means making your students successful. I would rather have a 2-minute activity where they were all engaged and I can praise them for that than a 10 minute one where kids are losing interest and not at all engaged.  Here are 9 books and dynamic circle time activities for 2-3-year-olds

This list contains affiliate links.

Book: How Big Is a Pig? by Claire Beaton

Activity : Sorting large and small

Activity set up :

• Print out the image above by clicking here for the pdf and printing.
• Cut the animals out and laminate or use contact paper to cover. Add magnets or velcro if you want to do this activity on a magnet or felt board.
• Add the large and small barns to a box or the board you are using. Click here to print the small barn and here for the large barn.

The lesson:

• Read the book.
• Give each child one or two animals telling them that they are going to help you decide if these animals are large or small. If you have their attention take the time to ask if they know another word for large.
• Invite each child one at a time to add their animal(s) to the right size barn.
• After all the animals have been sorted count the animals together as a group.

 

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Book: Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

Activity : Make The Color Purple!

Activity set up :

• Gather a snack size ziploc for each child, blue, and red liquid paint, a small bowl, one paint brush, and duct tape.
• Add a small amount of both colors in the ziplocs. Secure with duct tape. Trust me your circle time carpet will thank me. Set aside where kids can’t see.
• Add paint to the dish.

The lesson:

• Read the book.
• Ask the group if anyone knows how we make the color purple. Tell the students that today they get to be color scientists and they will be making purple.
• Demonstrate how the colors mix together in the dish.
• Hand out the ziplocs and encourage them to squish the colors together to make purple.

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Book:  Secret Seahorse by Stella Blackstone

Activity : Sea animal or  land animal?

Activity set up :

• Gather animal figurines likes these Safari Ocean Animals and Wild Republic Animals
• Grab two shallow containers. You can fill one with grass and dirt and the other with a little water or green and blue paper respectively. If you are in a rush skip this, just grab the animals and make two piles!

The lesson:

• Read the book.
• Give each child one or two animals telling them that they are going to help you decide if these animals live on land or in water.
• Invite each child one at a time to add their animal(s) to the right habitat.
• After all the animals have been sorted count the animals together as a group.

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Book: Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha

Activity : Taking Out The Letter Trash

Activity set up :

• Gather some magnetic or other manipulative letters ( at the start of the year I always focus on the first letters in my students names), 4-5 mini garbage cans like these Mini Desktop Trash.
• Label the trash cans with the letters you are focusing on. You will only be using the same amount of letters as you have cans so you will need duplicates for medium and large size classes.

The lesson:

• Read the book.
• Tell the children that Mr. Gilly took out the trash but they get to sort it! Their trash isn’t old banana peels and soup cans, their trash isn’t even trash at all, it’s letters!
• Give each child a letter.
• Invite them to show the class their letter and find the correct can for it.
• If your class has good letter recognition skills you can make this more of a challenge by using lowercase letters sorting into uppercase trash bins.

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Book: Happy Hippo, Angry Duck: A Book of Moods by Sandra Boynton

Activity : Happy? Sad? or Angry?

Activity set up :

• The days leading up to this lesson invite each child to make happy, sad, and angry faces for photos.
• Print out the photos and laminate them.

The lesson:

• Read the book.
• Invite the group to make happy faces, sad faces, and angry faces.
• Shuffle the cards so you use at least one of each child during the activity so no one is left out.
• Hold the cards up one at a time and have the group decide how that person is feeling.

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Book : The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri

 

** Only to be used in a facility where nut allergies are not an issue. You can use photos of nuts if that is the case.

Activity : Sorting and Counting Nuts

Activity set up :

• Gather a dozen or so nuts in the shell ( walnuts, chestnuts and almonds work well. A nutcracker as well ( a real one like this ( affiliate link) not the fancy ones).
• Gather 4 baskets. Place all the nuts in one basket taking out one of each kind for the

The lesson:

• Read the book.
• Ask the children what the squirrel was gathering for winter. Show them the inside of each of the nuts.
• Tell them that you have some nuts like the ones the squirrel was gathering but you need help to find out how much of each kind of nut you have.
• Sort the nuts together.
• Dump each basket and count as a group.

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Book:  Mr. Cookie Baker by Monica Wellington

Activity : Shape Match Cookies

Activity set up :

• Print out the pdf of the image above by clicking here and cut the cookies out. Laminate or use contact paper to cover.
• Print out the jar printables click here for the triangle, here for the square, and here for the heart. Tape to the front of an empty jar or basket.

The lesson:

• Read the book.
• Ask the children if they can help you put all the cookies in the correct cookie jar.
• Hand each child one or two cookies.
• Invite the students to place the cookies in the correct jar. If a child is having a hard time don’t just swoop in, see if another child can help.
• After sorting count the contents of each jar.

* Tip the younger the group the more simple the sorting should be. At the start of the year I would only have 2 options and nearer the end I would expand that to 3 or even 4.

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Book:  Learn the Alphabet with NorthWest Coast Native Art by Ryan Cranmer (and others)

Activity: Fishing for Letters

Activity set up :

• Gather some magnetic letters, a small blue towel, and a magnetic fishing pole. You will also want a cookie sheet or magnet board.
• Lay out the blue towel and place the letters on top.

The lesson:

• Read the book.
• Ask the children if they had a favorite animal in the book. Tell them that you thought the salmon ( or just fish) were very neat.
• Tell them that they get to go fishing too! But that they are going to fish for letters!
• Invite each child up to fish for a letter. When they have one ask them if they know what letter it is, if not label it for them. Place the letter on a magnet board or cookie sheet.
• After all the children have fished a letter review the letters that were caught and then release them back out into the ocean!

 

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Book: Alphabet Under Construction by Denise Fleming

Activity : Building with letters

Activity set up :

• Gather large cardboard blocks like these Jumbo Cardboard Blocks
• Using painter’s tape add letters to each one ( like shown in this post)

The lesson:

• Read the book.
• Tell the children that they will get to be builders today just like the mice in the book and build with the alphabet.
• Bring out the bin of cardboard blocks.
• Invite each child to pick out a block, tell the class what letter is on the block and place it in the middle of the rug to make a tower.  If the tower is getting too high build a 2nd one.

 

I hope these ideas are something you can use or adapt to your classroom.  I have been having so much fun being back at circle! What is your favorite circle time activity? Link or comment below!

Want more preschool lesson plans and circle time activities? Our Build Preschool Thematic Units have tons of great ideas!