{"id":53803,"date":"2025-04-24T09:54:50","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T17:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.abcmouse.com\/learn\/?p=53803"},"modified":"2025-04-24T09:54:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T17:54:52","slug":"preschool-curriculum-for-3-year-olds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abcmouse.com\/learn\/abcmouse\/preschool-curriculum-for-3-year-olds\/53803","title":{"rendered":"Preschool Curriculum for 3-Year-Olds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Preschool Curriculum for 3-Year-Olds<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Find out what a 3-year-old should learn in preschool and the many different ways ABCmouse can help, including games, activities, and lessons.<\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Table of Contents – Jump to Each Section<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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What Should a 3-Year-Old Learn in Preschool?<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Does A Preschool Curriculum<\/strong><\/strong> Look Like?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Do Preschoolers Learn with ABCmouse<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Does A Day of Learning Look Like for a 3-Year-Old<\/strong>?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Much Time Does My Preschooler Need to Spend Learning?<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Age three is a magical time: it\u2019s when a toddler transitions into the preschool years and their education becomes a bit more structured. A strong preschool curriculum for 3-year-olds paves the way for the school years to come<\/strong>, by teaching skills like letters, numbers, and shapes as well as encouraging curiosity about the world around us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discover more about what a 3-year-old learns in preschool, and then explore how your child can use ABCmouse to build essential skills through play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Should a 3-Year-Old Learn in Preschool? <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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By age 3, most children are ready to start approaching learning in a more structured way. This means setting aside daily time to focus on the important skills and concepts that prepare kids to learn reading, writing, math and more. Here\u2019s what preschool learning for 3-year-olds should include.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Early Literacy and Pre-Reading<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Three-year-olds should develop a skill called phonological awareness<\/strong>, which means they understand that words are made up of individual sounds. They also learn to recognize the letters of the alphabet and the sound(s) each one makes<\/strong>. This begins their journey with phonics, which opens the door to reading fluency. Learn more about phonics for preschoolers here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Early Math Skills<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A preschool curriculum for 3-year-olds teaches includes developing early math skills. Number recognition<\/strong><\/a> is one of the most important, starting with the numbers 1 to 5 for this age group. In addition to recognizing the numbers themselves, 3-year-olds learn how to count objects<\/strong>, using one-to-one correspondence to figure out how many items are in a group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basic shapes (and primary colors<\/strong>) are included in 3-year-old preschool activities too. Kids this age practice sorting<\/strong> items by their characteristics and recognizing simple patterns. They experiment with measurement<\/strong>, comparing items to find which are bigger or smaller. These math concepts for preschoolers<\/a> prepare them for elementary school arithmetic and geometry in the years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Real World Concepts<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At age 3, kids tend to have an insatiable curiosity about the world around them. Now\u2019s the time to teach them about animals<\/a>, seasons, and the weather<\/a><\/strong>. They also learn personal concepts like parts of the body<\/a><\/strong> and how to get dressed<\/a><\/strong>. Plus, 3-year-olds begin to explore and understand their relationships with people they know, such as parents, grandparents, siblings, teachers, doctors, and other caregivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Motor Skills<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your child has been developing motor skills since the day they were born! By preschool, 3-year-olds should be polishing their gross motor skills<\/strong> by practicing throwing and catching or exploring movements like jumping and skipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This age group is also developing their fine motor skills<\/strong>, understanding what it means to grip and use crayons or pencils to write and draw. They practice using scissors to cut along lines<\/a> and mold playdough into shapes with their hands. In today\u2019s world, they often learn how to tap on a screen or press the right keys to use learning apps like ABCmouse<\/a> too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Creativity<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Incorporating structured learning doesn\u2019t mean abandoning creativity and play\u2014in fact, it\u2019s just the opposite! Preschool activities for 3-year-olds should include plenty of exposure to music and art<\/strong>. Encourage your child to tell stories and act them out, mix paint colors to make new ones, or sing and dance to multiple kinds of music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Social Emotional Learning<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While formal skills like letters and numbers are important, a good preschool curriculum for 3-year-olds also incorporates social and emotional skills<\/strong>. They explore concepts like kindness, self-regulation, turn taking, and caring for the community, preparing them to be good citizens<\/strong> of the world as they grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Does A Preschool Curriculum Look Like?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A preschool curriculum should teach kids the developmental skills they need, including pre-literacy skills<\/strong> like letter recognition and sounds; foundational math concepts<\/strong> including counting, shapes, and patterns; beginning social studies and science<\/strong> topics<\/strong> like nature and communities; and creative exploration of color, music, and art<\/strong>. Ideally, a preschool curriculum uses a variety of activities to encourage learning, such as fun, engaging games and lessons, beginning readers, printable worksheets, and educational stories and videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you live in a community without a preschool, or if your child attends preschool but you’d like to further enhance their learning, ABCmouse aims to provide this effortlessly for families<\/strong>. The ABCmouse preschool curriculum<\/a> is designed by expert educators to provide all of these key elements, along with a motivating reward system and a wide variety of learning opportunities<\/strong>, which helps keep three-year-olds excited to continue learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ABCmouse doubles early learning gains in reading and math.<\/strong>*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Age of Learning study; PreK kids; min. 2 day\/wk & 1 hr\/wk usage. See aofl.com\/research<\/a> for more info.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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 What Do Preschoolers Learn with ABCmouse<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While there are thousands of different ways to learn with ABCmouse, the two main approaches are by following your child\u2019s Learning Path and\/or selecting from the many different educational games, songs, books, puzzles, and videos within the app. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Learning Path<\/strong> allows children to continue growing their skills through a variety of planned activities. If an adult or child would like to create more focused instruction on a topic, like numbers, or a theme, such as farm animals<\/strong>, they can do so by guiding the child to specific games, books, and activities.<\/p>\n\n\n

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What Does A Day of Learning Look Like for a 3 Year Old<\/strong>?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With ABCmouse, a day of learning for a three-year-old can be structured around their Learning Path or customized by an adult. The app can be used to support classroom learning or to grow foundational skills at home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ABCmouse Learning Path<\/strong> is designed to help children grow key skills through a variety of planned activities. Introducing concepts through engaging games, read alouds or read along books, learning activities, and printable worksheets and coloring pages gives children multiple ways to learn and practice, which helps them stay motivated and excited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adults can also choose what their child learns each day<\/strong>, planning a list of activities and guiding their child through them. This allows children to focus on specific skills, such as letter learning, or enjoy themed learning activities, such as a day of learning with pirates, farm animals, sea creatures, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One Day with the Level 1 Learning Path<\/strong>:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This example provides an overview of the types of activities and subject matter a three-year-old may engage with during one day on their designated Learning Path within in the ABCmouse app. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children can explore as many educational activities as they’d like while in app. On the other hand, if a child needs shorter learning session, that’s okay too\u2013a child’s Learning Path does not have to be completed within a certain timeframe. Here are a few examples of learning activities preschooler can enjoy on their Learning path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zoo Number Pop and Peek 1-5<\/strong> Learning Game<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playing this early learning game helps preschoolers work on number recognition skills while popping balloons that match the numbers they hear, uncovering a hidden zoo surprise. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Five Little Ducks Song<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This classic counting song <\/strong>encourages preschoolers to sing along as they practice with numbers and start laying the framework for subtraction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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