Last Updated on September 16, 2021 by Sheryl Cooper
Inside: Wondering how to introduce preschool journals to 3 year olds? Here are some examples of our journal activities, and how we keep them simple.
Journals are one of our favorite activities in our classroom. Often when I mention to others that we do journals, I get looks of disbelief. Some people have told me they are too young. But when I say we do simple journals with 3 year olds, I must emphasize SIMPLE.
SIMPLE preschool journals.
Journals with 3 year olds exposes them to handling writing tools, opening books, moving from left to right, and dictating. Our journals are cherished by their young owners. They love that these books are THEIRS. Teachers can do these during small group time. And at the end of the school year they get to take them home.
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Journals with 3 year olds exposes them to handling writing tools, opening books, moving from left to write, and dictating.Click To Tweet
How to Introduce Preschool Journals to 3 Year Olds
Note: I’ve been asked where the little pockets that hold the name cards can be found. They are actually library card pockets (if you are as old as I am – ahem! – you recall when they were inside the covers of all library books).
Self-Portraits
Mat Man
Because our preschool uses the Learning Without Tears program, Mat Man is a popular activity.
After building Mat Man during circle time (using the Mat Man song), our children are then invited to draw mat man in their journals.
Mat Man teaches children to draw and develop body awareness.
While building and drawing him, we have to think about where each body part goes as well as its use.
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Every theme comes with recommended reading lists, songs, material lists, and more.
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Toddlers (18 – 36 months):
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I do similar activities with my 3-4 year olds. we use binders instead of composition books but i like the idea of composition books because they are pre-bound. thanks for a beautifully photographed blog post!
Thank you, Stephanie! I did try 3-ring binders but the pages ripped out too easily. The composition books are sturdy, plus a nice size for the 3’s to handle.
hello,my son is also 2- year-old n ur all activity is very useful for me.He is now going to learn shapes and angles.Thankyou so much for all this..
So happy you are finding some good activities for your 2 year old. It’s such a fun and busy age!
hi,
i would like to know that which type of color pencil use and how to wash back dirty on the hand….
What a wonderful idea! I love that they are so proud of their books!
Thank you, LeeAnn – they really are so proud of them!
I am very happy to see you implementing a type of journal writing activity at this age. I am a high school teacher, and we write in our journals daily. As a mother to a 2.5 year old, this reminds me that I need to get her started on journal writing!
I try to offer opportunities for writing in many areas of the classroom. Clipboards in the block area, pads of paper in the dramatics corner, etc. That, plus a print rich environment, encourage even the youngest preschoolers to take a great interest in letters and eventually reading and writing!
I enjoyed seeing the kinds of things you do in your journals. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!
I bought journals for my threes too and never even set them out yet!! I will take them out right away and get started!!
Hello! I just discovered your blog and it is wonderful! I am a Preschool English teacher and I also teach a group of 2 year olds privately in their homes. Your blog is full of very useful ideas and projects that I can adapt for my lesson plans. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and know how with us!
Thank you! I am so happy you’ve found some useful ideas and projects!
juat shared this via fb! i love this idea what a great way to introduce more literacy activities!
Thank you for the sharing of information. I found the information very useful. This is a great item you posted. I’ll be back to read some more.
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I love this idea and can’t wait to implement with my 3 and4 year olds as well as my daughter. I would be interested in reading more about your journals!
I absolutely LOVE this!! I’m going out to buy a journal for my son today. Thanks for sharing!
I love this idea! I don’t know why I never started one with my son at home when I do it everyday with my students in 1st grade:) Im going to share this idea on my Facebook link with this post link attached:)
Thank you! Please let me know how your son likes it!
Thank you for the sharing of information. I found the information very useful. This is a great item you posted. I’ll be back to read some more. new york retirement community
I love this idea! My little guy turns 3 in December, and I have been planning his preschool curriculum…I’m definitely going to use this idea! Thanks for sharing it!
I love this! My kids (3 and 6) are going to do journals this summer. I can’t wait to do some of this with them.
Do you let them do as many pages as they want? Or just one at a time? I think my 3yo might fill up the whole book in one day! 😉
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I’ve let them do as many pages as they want, and so far the 3’s have really respected their journals and still have many blank pages, even though the school year will be over in 2 weeks. They will often go back to a pages with just a few marks and add more. They cherish their books and are excited to finally take them home soon!
I just discovered your blog and LOVE it. I have spent hours reading through your posts. You have so many amazing ideas. I love the idea of implementing journals at this age. Do you ever do more formal entries like asking them to make a circle or write their names etc? Thanks again for sharing all your ideas.
Thank you, Chantel! I encourage them to write their names, or a letter in their name, when they are ready, but it’s very informal, and part of what they are already doing. In the 3’s class, my hope is to get them feeling comfortable about having their own journal and using writing tools. I did have some children who wrote their names and drew pictures by the end of the year, but it was on their own. When they move on to the pre-K 4’s class next year (different teachers), they will begin a more formal journal routine, where they will be given a topic to draw and/or write about.
What size are the journals? In some photos they look large and in others smaller.
They are 9 3/4″ x 7 3/4″. I love the size because they aren’t overwhelming for the preschoolers, and they stack nicely in a small basket.
Oh and I forgot, do the parents view the journals throughout the year?
When the parents arrive to pick up the children, some love to grab their journals and show their parents. I don’t formally display them for parents to view, but who knows? I just might this year. 🙂
This is nice – when creativity is encouraged, it gives free rein to grow in many areas not just art.
Absolutely!!
I am a writer. My website for children is The Chronicles of The K-9 Boys and Girls on Locus Street http://www.pshene.webs.com/
My adult fare is more numerous – just plug in my name.
Hi, Just came upon your site. It is great. I am a speech and language pathologist and have created a free speech/language and learning resource for families. You can view developmental milestones and watch free videos to teach you how to promote speech and language skills. I also have an online journal and some extras available to track kids speech/language progress. Your site has great activities that can provide lots of terrific language rich vocabulary. I’d love for you to take a look at my site, Little Talkers, when you get a chance- http://www.littletalkers.com. If you would ever like me to share some information on speech and language development let me know. Also check out some of my blog entries to see how to incorporate language skills during every day activities. You can contact me through my site or facebook. Would love to connect.
I teach 3’s and wanted to try journals with them. How do you keep them from writing in all the pages at once?LOL
I have a three year old who does great with her recognition of letters, sounds and numbers, but struggles with fine motor skills (such as coloring). Her preschool teacher has told me to have her work with playdough to build muslces and to have her practice her motor skills by stringing beads and other things.
However, I love this idea for working on drawing shapes and beginning writing.
THANK YOU
I really love this idea of early journal writing. I cant wait to try this with my preschoolers this year. I did want to ask if you have a list of topics for the year? Since this will be the first year that I will be doing this i would like to know topics/ ideas you have used to encourage early writing skills. Thank you so much for sharing.
we follow a high scope curriculum, how can I include this in the curriculum?
Unfortunately, since I am not familiar with High Scope, I am not sure. If you find out, please let me know!
Hi. I’m working with 2-3 years head start class and same we follow a high scope curriculum. I will appreciate if did you find out the way to introduce this wonderful idea with high scope curriculum? Or does any one knows ? please let me know. It will be great help!!!!!
Hi Judy, Unfortunately I am not familiar with High Scope, but if I run across anything, I will let you know.
I am a HEad Start teacher and we are required to have journals but its always been something that I hated because I could never get the hang of it. I love the ideas that you provide and plan to implement them next school year!
Yay! So happy these ideas have helped you!
I am very excited to implement journals this next school year. I plan to purchase the same composition notebooks but I’m going to have them cut in half at Office Depot. Great post!
Janice @ prekpartner.com
awesome sites, great ideas to do.with kids.
Thank you for this idea! I have been looking for a way to do journal writing with my preschool class and this made it so simple. You mentioned there is a journal center. Do they rotate to it everyday? Is is independent then? Are the children good about not scribbling on every page right away?
Hi Toni,
We have 4 small groups each day for around 10 minutes. One of the groups is journals. While I give them different “props” or tools each week, they are also free to do whatever they want in them. And yes, some scribble. But that does not bother me, because my goal is for them to feel comfortable with them. Eventually the ones that do scribble start to form more of a picture as the year progresses. I try hard not to have specific rules for this age group because I want them to enjoy these books and feel very comfortable with them. As they move into the pre-K class (4 and 5 year olds), they have a bit more of a formal journal time.
Sheryl
Love this concept! I am starting to teach a 2-year-old pre-school class this year. Do you think this could be adapted for this age group?
Hi Brittany,
I personally think waiting until 3 works better for journals, but who knows? If you do try it, please let me know how it works!
Hi.
Whenever I am in a bind for ideas to do with my two year olds this is the first place I come to! Thank you so much for sharing your ideas. I love this journal idea. When I was a t.a for a four year old class the teacher had journals. I am about to start my third year teaching. I teach two year olds and I never implemented this journal idea. I thought they would be too young. I would like to try it though. How do you find this working for your two year olds? And do you tweak it for them? Thanks!
Hi Karina – I have not tried journals with my 2s. I am hesitant because they are still pretty mobile and love to use larger pieces of paper, plus many of them are just exploring writing tools, if at all. Please let me know if you try it, and how it’s working!
I giggled about the gingerbread story by Kaiya. Tim Burton like. I’m curious if, being as I live in the PNW, it’s the same Kaiya I know. Mischievous, clever, and adorable. I was her daycare teacher for a while.
I followed a pin for this, and would love to integrate it into my homeschooling of my 3 year, and 1year old kids. Thank you!
I don’t think this Kaiya was in daycare, but the description fits her! I hope your kids enjoy this, too!
I give the children the larger size index cards to journal on this way they can choose if they would like to use the lined side or the plain side depending their development and journaling level. I then punch a hole on the upper left corner and use binder rings to hold the pages together. The children love to carry them around by the rings and look at them. We journal everyday with all our children as soon as they can hold the crayon it is never to early to introduce them to literacy.
Wonderful idea! Isn’t it sweet the way they love to carry them around?
I watch a 2 1/2 year old grand baby and she loves to write in notebooks. She will randomly go through and write on many many pages. Would I have to limit her writing to just the next page or the next few pages each day? Thankyou.
I wouldn’t. She’s getting used to paper, having fun. Once she’s filled up a notebook, give her a new one.
I teach 3 year olds and want to know if you pick topics to “write” or draw about? We have the Mother Goose Time curriculum in my room. Do you go off of what you’re teaching or do they all do whatever they want in their journals?
Hi Brandy – truly, it’s not even that structured. My simple goal for our journals is for them to have their own special book that they can “write” in, or draw, or stamp, stencils, etc. Even my students who normally don’t care for picking up a writing tool adore their journals. Once they move on to the next class (pre-K 4’s), it becomes a bit more structured.