1 Year Old Lesson Plans: Activities by Theme
Looking for fun and educational activities for your 1 year old? Check out these lesson plans organized by theme, from farms to outer space!
At a year old, the thought of having a lesson plan can seem impossible. 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. The goal isn’t to “teach” as it is to give her the opportunity to continue doing what she does best: learn.
Check out these weekly themes and lesson plans. Many of these ideas promote gross motor activities for 1 year olds and are free and easy to do, often right at home. You’ll find plenty of books to read, places to visit, and crafts to do. As one reader said:
“I’m a nanny. I love the lesson plans. They are easy to alter if you need to adapt to constraints.” -Joyce Edwards
Table of Contents
Seasons of the year
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- Read: A Stroll Through the Seasons by Kay Barnham and Maddie Frost
- Numbers: Collect and count nature items, depending on the season (like pinecones, seashells, or daisies)
- Field trip: Visit a seasonal place ( the beach makes a great summer activity for 1 year olds!)
- Crafts: Do activities about the seasons
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:
Oceans and beaches
- Read: Children’s books about the beach
- Field trip: Take a trip to the beach! You can also visit a local aquarium or marina.
- Sensory activities: Sensory bins are perfect for 1 year olds! Fill one with sand and bury small toys and shells.
- Song: Sing Baby Shark or Baby Beluga
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 and the sounds of his splashes
Gardening
- Crafts: Grow green beans (in warm seasons) or peas (in cool ones) from seed. Or start a vegetable garden for kids!
- Numbers: Count the number of leaves on a plant or insects you find
- Field trip: Visit a botanical garden
- Food: Eat fruits and vegetables found in books you read
- Colors: Talk about different-colored flowers, fruits, and vegetables
- Read: Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
Parts of the body
- Song: Hokey Pokey or Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
- Numbers: Count fingers and toes
- Sensory exploration: Point out different smells or use a sensory table
- Read: My First Body
Pumpkins
- 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 together
Farms
- Read: Children’s books about farms
- Song: Old McDonald Had a Farm
- Field trip: Visit a local farm or animal sanctuary
- Food: Pick strawberries at a pick-your-own farm
- Crafts: Do farm-theme crafts for kids
Weather
- 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).
- Read: Weather by Jill McDonald
Stars and space
- Read: Children’s books about space
- Song: Sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
- Field trip: Visit an observatory
- Numbers: Name and count the planets in the solar system
- Crafts: Do space activities for kids
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
- Read: Trains Coming Through! by Stephanie Morgan
Transportation and automobiles
- Song: The Wheels on the Bus
- 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
- Read: Children’s books about cars
Dinosaurs
- Field trip: Visit your local natural history museum and look at dinosaur fossils
- Crafts: Create a dinosaur-themed cotton ball painting
- Numbers: Count how many toy dinosaurs he has and arrange them by size
- Read: Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton
Apples
- Numbers: Introduce fractions (yes!) by talking about how you slice an apple into halves, quarters, and 1/8 slices
- Song: Sing Apples and Bananas
- Food: Eat an apple or bake an apple pie together
- Colors: Talk about different-colored apple varieties
- Activity: Do an apple-themed gross motor activity
- Field trip: Visit an apple farm where you can pick your own
- Read: Apples by Gail Gibbons
Zoo animals
- Song: Sing Five Little Monkeys
- Field trip: Visit the zoo
- Read: Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
- Numbers: Count how many animals you see (whether at the zoo or in a book)
- Craft: Print and color coloring sheets of zoo animals
Conclusion
Even when my kids were only a year old, I loved turning educational “lessons” into fun and engaging activities, from taking them to a pumpkin patch to counting clouds in the sky. There’s always a way to make learning fun and nurture their curiosity—even when your toddler just finished being a baby.
Get more tips:
- Things to Teach a 1 Year Old
- Easy Arts and Crafts for 1 Year Olds
- 31 Activities for 1 Year Olds
- 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 below—at no cost to you:
