My First School · Level 3 · Preschool · Age 3
The preschool year. Where play has purpose.
This lay-based preschool curriculum shows you what to teach a three year old at home, including early literacy, basic math concepts, music and movement, independence skills, and hands-on activities that prepare children for pre-k without rushing academics.
You don’t need flashcards. You need a rhythm.
- 12 themed units
- 240 daily activities
- 6 skill areas
- 10–15 min a day
$97 one-time payment
That’s $8 a month over the year — no subscription, no logins.
Not sure yet? Try the free preschool sample first →
The Pinterest Trap
You don’t need more ideas. You need a plan.
Three hundred saved pins. Thirty-eight bookmarked Instagram reels. Two crafts that needed pipe cleaners you didn’t have, and one that ended in tears (yours).
Pinterest gives you inspiration. It does not give you Tuesday. It does not tell you what to do after lunch on a rainy Wednesday in February when your three-year-old has flung the magnetic tiles across the room for the ninth time.
This does.
What’s inside
A full year of preschool. Already planned.
Open to any unit. Pick a day. Do one activity. That’s the whole system.
12
Themed units
Self-contained. Use in order, or grab whichever fits your season, your mood, your week.
48
Weeks of plans
Four weeks per unit. Monday through Friday. The fridge-magnet version of preschool.
240
Real activities
Each with materials you already own, ten-minute setups, and exactly what to say.
6
Skill areas
Literacy. Fine Motor. Math. Art & Sensory. Pretend Play. Big-Kid Skills.
The weekly rhythm
One skill a day. Monday through Friday.
Monday
Literacy
Books, letters, sounds, name writing, story-telling.
Tuesday
Fine Motor
Cutting, gluing, lacing, beading — the hands that will write.
Wednesday
Math
Counting, numbers, patterns, sorting — math through play.
Thursday
Art & Sensory
Painting, mixed media, sensory science, hand art.
Friday
Pretend
Dramatic play, emotions, friends, role-play.
Big-Kid Skills — independence, self-care, focus — are woven through every day. If Tuesday slips, do it on Wednesday. The rhythm matters more than the schedule.
The twelve units
A theme for every month of the year.
Or skip the calendar entirely. Every unit stands alone — pick whichever fits the season, the weather, or your three-year-old’s current obsession.
01
September · Fall
All About Me
Identity, family, the foundation of who they are.
02
October · Fall
Five Senses & Fall
Sight, sound, smell, taste, touch — and falling leaves.
03
November · Fall
Helping Hands & Gratitude
Community helpers, real gratitude, kindness in action.
04
December · Winter
Lights, Shapes & Patterns
Geometry, patterns, and cozy winter sensory play.
05
January · Winter
Counting Up
Numbers, counting, math as play.
06
February · Winter
Friends & Big Feelings
Emotional literacy, friendship, the social brain.
07
March · Spring
Spring & Growing Things
Plants, life cycles, weather, scientific wonder.
08
April · Spring
Letters & Sounds
Alphabet, letter sounds, the first name they write.
09
May · Spring
Ready for Big School
Independence, big-kid skills, kindergarten prep.
12
August · Summer
Stories & Imagination
Pretend play, story-making, imagination unleashed.
Peek inside
Here’s what this Monday looks like.
Unit 1 · Week 1 · All About Me · One play idea per day · 10–15 minutes each
Monday
Literacy
All About Me Book
Stapled paper booklet, crayons, family photos. Make a “My Book” together — one page each: my name, my family, my favorite food, my favorite color. They dictate, you write. They illustrate. Read it daily — they’ll memorize it.
Tuesday
Fine Motor
Name Tracing
Their name in dotted letters, a chunky pencil. Show them how to trace each letter slowly. Say each letter aloud. Don’t expect perfection — they’re learning shapes, not penmanship. One letter is a win.
Wednesday
Math
Count Me
Just your bodies. Count their fingers (10!). Then yours (10!). Count toes, ears (2!), noses (1!). Numbers attached to real things stick. End by counting eyes: “You have two — same as me!”
Thursday
Art & Sensory
Self-Portrait
Mirror, paper, crayons. Set up the mirror. “What do you see?” Help them notice features — eyes, hair, mouth. Their version may be a circle with two dots — that’s a perfect self-portrait at three.
Friday
Pretend & Friends
Family Restaurant
Play food, plates, and an apron. They run the restaurant; you’re the customer. Take orders, serve food, and give a bill. Pretend role-play with family-member roles. Switch and let them be the customer.
The method
Same skills. Growing challenge.
A three-year-old doesn’t master reading in a week. Letters, numbers, scissors, social play — all built through hundreds of small repeated moments, across months, not days. This is called spiral learning, and it’s the gold standard for how very young children master big developmental tasks. Every skill area reappears every single week of the year. What changes is how we practice it — simpler in Unit 1, more complex in Unit 12.
Watch “Literacy” grow across the year:
Unit 01
Literacy — saying their full name out loud
Unit 03
Literacy — first written gratitude (scribbles!)
Unit 05
Math — recognizing numerals 1–10 in the wild
Unit 07
Literacy — first, then, last in a story
Unit 08
Literacy — “B says BUH!”
Unit 12
Literacy — their full name, by themselves
A note from Alexa
You don’t need to be a teacher. You don’t need fancy materials. You don’t need to do every single activity. What you need is here.
Alexa Torrijos is an early childhood educator, sensory play teacher, and mom. Kid Activities with Alexa started as one mother looking for simple ways to support her child’s learning — and has grown into a library of resources used by families, teachers, and speech-language pathologists, with features on PBS Kids South Florida.
This program was designed to make early learning feel natural and doable. No long lessons. No complicated setups. Just simple invitations, playful repetition, and a few minutes of connection at a time. — with love, Alexa
By year’s end
What your child will actually do.
Every child develops on their own timeline — this is a guide, not a test. But this is what a year of consistent play-based learning tends to look like.
Age 3 · Starting Out
Starting Out
- Speaks in full sentences (5+ words)
- Says first and last name
- Names four or more colors
- Counts to ten
- Holds a crayon properly
Age 3 · Mid-Year
Mid-Year
- Names ten or more letters
- Counts to fifteen
- Draws a person (head plus body)
- Cuts on a line
- Plays cooperatively
Age 4 · Early
Early Four
- Writes own first name
- Recognizes numerals 1–10
- Tells a simple story
- Pedals a tricycle or bike
- Dresses mostly without help
Age 4 · Kindergarten Ready
Kindergarten Ready
- Vocabulary of 1,500+ words
- Counts to thirty or more
- Knows letter sounds
- Follows three-step directions
- Uses scissors well
A guide, not a checklist. Every child arrives in their own time.
What moms are saying
From the moms already inside.
★★★★★
My child started pre-kindergarten this fall and the teacher said she was the only one who had mastered scissor skills — she could tell her fine motor skills were on point.
Daniela · Davie, FL
★★★★★
“I’d been saving activity ideas for months and using none of them. This is the first thing I’ve actually opened on a Tuesday morning and actually used. Worth every dollar.”
Bailee · Ogden, UT
My First School · Level 3
A year of preschool. On your kitchen table.
Eighty-four pages. Twelve units. Two hundred and forty activities. One mom-tested rhythm that works.
Here’s everything you’re getting
- My First School Curriculum Level 3 — 12 themed units, 48 weeks, 240 daily activities. The complete preschool year.
- Spiral-learning method — six skill areas, revisited every week, growing in complexity. The same approach used in early-childhood research.
- Milestone guidance — built in, so you know what to expect from age 3 through kindergarten-ready.
- Lifetime access & free updates — buy once, use again for your next child.
$97
instant digital download · lifetime access
PDF download · Print-friendly · No subscription · Yours forever
🌱
Want to try it first?
Take a free week home before you decide — five real preschool activities to do this week. No pressure, just play. Try the sample first →
What Should a 3 Year Old Learn Before Pre-K?
Three-year-olds are in a window of rapid development — language explodes, curiosity runs the house, and the brain is primed for learning through play. But pre-k programs for 3 year olds don’t need to look like school. The best preparation for kindergarten happens in the kitchen, the backyard, and at the craft table. Here’s what research-backed early childhood education actually looks like at this age.
Early Literacy Skills
Before a child can read, they need to fall in love with stories. Early literacy at age three means hearing books read aloud daily, playing with the sounds in words, recognizing their own name in print, and beginning to connect letters to the sounds they make. My First School Level 3 builds literacy through themed units every single week — not as a lesson, but as a moment.
Basic Math Concepts
Math for a three-year-old looks like counting fingers, sorting blocks by color, noticing that two cookies is more than one, and understanding the words “bigger,” “smaller,” and “same.” These basic math concepts form the foundation for number sense — and they’re best built through daily play rather than worksheets.
Music and Movement Activities
Movement is not a break from learning — it is learning. Music and movement activities help children develop body awareness, coordination, rhythm, memory, and even early reading skills (rhyme and beat directly support phonological awareness). Action songs, freeze dance, and storytime with motions are all doing serious developmental work.
Number Recognition Activities
Knowing what “5” looks like and understanding that it means five of something are two different skills — and three is the perfect age to start connecting them. Number recognition activities like number hunts, playdough numerals, and counting books help that connection happen naturally, without pressure or drills.
Puzzles and Sorting Activities
Puzzles build spatial reasoning, problem-solving, and fine motor skills all at once. Sorting activities — grouping buttons by color, organizing toy animals by size, or matching socks — teach classification, a foundational math and science skill. Both also build the attention span a child will need in a classroom setting.
Independence and Self-Care Skills
Kindergarten teachers will tell you: the children who thrive are often the ones who can put on their own shoes, wash their own hands, and manage their own belongings — not necessarily the ones who read earliest. Independence and self-care skills like dressing, cleaning up, and following simple routines are every bit as important as academic content at this age.
Storytime and Listening Skills
The ability to sit, listen, and follow a story from beginning to end is a skill — and it’s one that’s built slowly, through repeated read-alouds, puppet shows, and audiobooks. Storytime and listening skills underpin reading comprehension, classroom participation, and the ability to follow multi-step directions. Ten minutes of storytime every day adds up to something significant by pre-k.
Questions
Asked & answered.
What should I teach my 3 year old at home?
Do 3 year olds need a preschool curriculum?
What should a 3 year old know before pre-k?
How long should lessons be for a 3 year old?
What is the best curriculum for a 3 year old?
Do I need to do this every day?
What materials do I need to buy?
My child is closer to four. Will this still work?
Do the units have to go in order?
What if my child won’t sit still for fifteen minutes?
Is this a printable, an app, or a book?
Ready to begin
The preschool year, intentionally.
Twelve units. Two hundred and forty activities. One small rhythm that turns ordinary days into the start of everything.
$97 · One-time payment · Lifetime access