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Every classroom in your school gets access on day one, so 3s teachers can explore the lessons alongside the rest of your staff.
Three-year-olds ask “why” about everything, want a turn with everything, and learn best with their hands busy. Our digital preschool curriculum gives your 3s teachers a play-based plan for every day of the year, with a coach built into each lesson.
Three-year-olds are new at being part of a group. By age 3, most children can join other children in play and settle within about 10 minutes of a parent leaving at drop-off. Sharing a tub of blocks, waiting for a turn, and sitting through a group story are skills they are still building. They ask “who,” “what,” and “why” all day, and a good 3s room answers with play, not worksheets. Our guide to what a preschool curriculum should include explains that balance.
The hard part is running it. One teacher is resetting the dramatic play center, another is settling a tug-of-war over the wagon, and someone still has to fit in counting and rhymes. Learning Beyond Paper hands that teacher a day already planned around centers and short group times (see our circle time planning guide for preschoolers), with ELBY tips for the moment a center falls apart.
Watch a 3s teacher pull up today's center activities and ELBY tips on a phone in the middle of a busy morning.
See the 52-week preschool scope: centers, STEAM investigations, rhyme and story play, early counting, and social-emotional lessons for ages 3 to 4.
Walk through a preschool week with our team and ask how it fits your 3s rooms, your schedule, and your staff.
Each morning starts with a plan: play-based activities with a clear objective, open-ended questions to ask, and tips for a child who needs more support or more challenge. Your yearly school-wide subscription includes all 52 weeks, ELBY coaching, 49.5 hours of embedded professional development, and Spanish versions of everything.
Lessons fit how threes learn: hands on, out loud, and in short bursts. Children sort and count real objects, test ideas at the sensory table, act out stories in dramatic play, and practice taking turns with a friend. Every activity names its objective and the questions that stretch thinking.
When a center gets crowded or an activity is too hard for a child who just turned three, ELBY suggests a simpler version, a stretch for a child who is ready, a swap for materials you don't have, and questions that grow vocabulary.
A teacher moving up from a toddler room, or starting in a first classroom, learns how to set up centers, coach sharing and turn-taking, guide play without taking it over, and ask questions that stretch a three-year-old. It is all part of LBP's 49.5 hours of embedded professional development.
Each center has an activity, an objective, and questions ready, so center time turns into learning the teacher can describe to a family or a reviewer, not just supervised play.
Lessons build sharing, waiting, and solving small conflicts into play, and the guidance gives teachers words to coach a child through a dispute instead of stepping in to fix it.
ELBY helps teachers share the day's activities and at-home ideas, so a parent who asks “what did you do today?” hears more than “played.”
Clear quarterly benchmarks keep every 3s teacher focused on growth that fits the age, and LBP's observation tools help them note what they see during play.
Every classroom in your school gets access on day one, so 3s teachers can explore the lessons alongside the rest of your staff.
A 3s teacher opens the lesson on a phone or tablet, checks the materials, reads ELBY's tip, and sets out three or four centers. Routines come first: hand-washing, clean-up, and a short, warm goodbye at the door.
Centers are where most of a three-year-old’s learning happens, so LBP plans for them. Activities draw on centers for sensory play, literacy, dramatic play, building, STEAM, and art, and each one lists its objective and the questions to ask. In the first weeks, LBP’s guidance is to open three or four centers and add more as children settle. If an activity calls for something you don’t have, ELBY suggests a swap.
Yes. Every LBP activity includes tips for differentiating: a simpler version for a child still settling into group play, and an extension for a child ready to count further or retell a whole story. ELBY can also suggest changes for children with special needs. Because the subscription covers every age group, a teacher can look ahead to the Pre-K curriculum for a child who is ready for more.
LBP sets clear quarterly benchmarks for the preschool year, so teachers know what growth fits the age instead of judging a three-year-old against kindergarten. Teachers check progress with LBP’s observation tools, noting what children say and do during play, and use that to plan next steps. LBP’s preschool materials lists are organized by quarter as well, which makes supply ordering easier to plan.
Through real objects and real questions. In a 3s room, math looks like counting cups at snack, sorting by color, comparing who has more blocks, and spotting shapes outside. The Head Start ELOF expects children 36 to 48 months to say some number words in order, up to 10, and LBP’s lessons are aligned to goals like that one. For more ideas, see our STEM activities for preschoolers lesson plan.
For formal reading lessons, yes. For reading foundations, no. LBP’s literacy approach follows the Science of Reading through play, starting with oral language and vocabulary. For threes that means talk, songs, rhymes, and stories. The ELOF lists enjoying rhyme and recognizing letters from one’s own name at this age, and the CDC milestones by 3 years include back-and-forth conversation and asking who, what, where, and why questions.
By practicing inside play, many times a day. Most children notice other children and join them to play by age 3, but cooperating, waiting, and solving a disagreement come next. LBP’s social-emotional activities give children small, repeated chances to do those things at centers and in group games, and the lesson guidance gives teachers sentence starters to coach a child through a conflict. These skills match ELOF goals for cooperative play and resolving conflicts.
Some tears are normal. By age 3, most children calm down within about 10 minutes of a parent leaving, though a new room can take longer. LBP’s first-week guidance favors short, warm goodbyes that are the same every day, a small job for each child on arrival, one new routine at a time, and activities of five to ten minutes. Read our back-to-school activities for the first week of preschool.
Yes. LBP is a digital, cloud-based platform that opens in a web browser on phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops, with no app to download. In a 3s room that matters: the teacher can check the next step while sitting on the floor at the block center instead of walking back to a binder. Pages can still be printed when a center needs a picture card or a family wants a copy.
One yearly school-wide subscription covers every classroom, so a second or third preschool room does not change what you pay, and there are no per-teacher fees. The subscription also includes your infant, toddler, and Pre-K rooms, ELBY coaching, 49.5 hours of embedded professional development, and Spanish content. Start with a free 30-day trial, then book a demo for pricing for your program.
Yes, at no extra cost. Lessons, training, and resources are available in English and Spanish, which helps in rooms with dual-language learners. ELBY answers in whatever language a teacher types, so an assistant teacher who prefers Spanish gets coaching in Spanish, and ELBY can help teachers connect with multilingual families.
Sensory, language, and attachment-focused lessons for ages 0–12 months.
Independence, early language, and mobility activities for ages 12–24 months.
Creativity, communication, and social growth for ages 24–36 months.
Standards-aligned, play-based lessons for children ages 3–4 years.
Kindergarten readiness and school-preparedness for children ages 4–5 years.
Center Director, Pirates Den Daycare
Preschool lessons connect to your state's early learning standards, Head Start ELOF, and CLASS®, which helps you document quality for licensing and monitoring.
Let your 3s teachers run real lessons for a month before you decide.
Owners and directors in all 50 states plan their preschool days with Learning Beyond Paper.
Curriculum by state
Every state and Washington, DC has its own page naming the early learning standards our lessons are mapped to. Pick yours on the map.
Your 3s teachers can start this week.
Walk through a preschool day with our team.
Every room from infants to Pre-K is included.
