Free preschool lesson plans: what 'free' means here

Peabody's free preschool lesson plans need no account, no email address and no payment, and there is no store behind them selling the "full" version. You pick a week and one of 52 themes in the theme planner and get the whole week: circle time, books, a craft, a song with its words, a snack, a letter pack and an outside game, printed on two sheets. Peabody is free through the end of 2026.

"Free" gets used loosely. Plenty of free plans turn out to be a sample week, a sign-up form, or a first page with the rest behind a checkout. This post says exactly what you get here, what you don't, and what happens to anything you type.

What "free" means here

Here is the plain list.

• No account. There is no sign-in on the planner, the theme pages or any of the paperwork tools.
• No email. Nothing asks for your email address before you can see or print a plan.
• No store. There is no paid tier, no "premium" theme pack and no bundle to buy. All 52 themes, their letter packs and their print sheets are the same for everyone.
• No ads. The pages carry no advertising.
• Nothing you type leaves your device. Day notes, your room's name, a newsletter's text and a pasted list of first names are kept in your browser. They are never put into a link.

The honest limit: Peabody is free through the end of 2026. That is the line we can say plainly today, so that is the line we say.

What a week's plan holds

Every theme fills the same seven parts. Pick a week (it snaps to the Monday) and a theme, and the planner fills them in.

1. Circle time. Five lines: a greeting, the calendar, the theme's question, the song and the book. For apples the question is "What do you think is inside an apple?"
2. Books. Three or four of Peabody's own stories. The first one is read on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
3. Craft. One craft, six materials or fewer, three steps, nothing hot, made with a grown-up.
4. Song. One public-domain rhyme, with its words on the sheet.
5. Snack. One recipe from the Peabody Kitchen, which lists its allergens and swaps.
6. Letter pack. The theme's letter: a trace page and a color page.
7. Outside. One game that takes the theme into the yard.

Then pick the room's ages: Infants and toddlers, Twos, Threes and fours, or Mixed ages. Some parts get a line for that age. For twos, the craft line says a grown-up pours the paint and holds the glue. For threes and fours, the letter line says to trace the letter once, then find it in the room and in the book.

Where the parts come from

Nothing in the plan points you somewhere you have to pay.

• Books are stories from Peabody's free library, with no sign-in. Levels 0 to 3 are ones a child can follow along with; anything above level 3 is marked as a read-aloud for you.
• Songs are public-domain rhymes from Peabody's lists, like the nursery rhymes with lyrics. The farm week sings "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"; the leaf week sings "Pease Porridge Hot."
• Snacks link to Kitchen recipes such as Ants on a Log for the bug week and Yogurt Parfait for leaves. Each recipe page carries its own safety lines.
• Crafts are written for a supply shelf: paper plates, crayons, a glue stick, cotton balls.

There are no named curricula and no state standards codes in the plans. They are plans for a week in a room, not a curriculum you have to adopt.

What prints

The planner prints two sheets.

The plan for the wall is landscape, with the days across and the seven parts down. Anyone covering your room can see that Wednesday is the craft's last step and Thursday is snack. Any note you type for a day prints in that day's box.

The family note for the door has the theme, the letter, the song's words, the book titles, and two things to ask at home. For apples: ask your child how many seeds were in our apple, and what color apples can be.

Each theme also has its own page with a letter pack and print sheets, all listed on the themes index.

The paperwork is free too

The plan is half the week. The other half is paper for the door and the cubbies, and none of it costs anything either.

• The newsletter maker: seven blocks you switch on or off, one page, two columns.
• The sign-in sheet: daily or weekly, 8 to 20 rows. It carries one line saying your state sets what a record must hold, with a link to your state's licensing page.
• The daily report slip: infant, toddler or preschool, four to a page, ticked by hand.
• Name tags and cubby labels from a pasted list of first names.

Try this tonight

Take ten minutes and plan next week.

1. Open the planner and pick next Monday.
2. Pick a theme. If you aren't sure, the themes by month show what rooms usually run now.
3. Pick your room's ages.
4. Type one note on any day that's different: a visitor, an early pick-up, a library trip.
5. Print the week for the wall and the family note for the door.

That's it. Nothing to sign up for, so nothing to cancel. If you want the reasoning behind the seven parts, the plan-a-theme-week guide walks through each one, and the year of themes post lays out all 52.

Where your notes live

Your plans stay in the browser you made them in. The planner keeps the last twelve weeks. If you clear the browser's data, they go too, so print anything you want to keep.

The "Send to my other phone" button makes a link that holds only the theme and the week. Your day notes and room name don't go into it. Open the link on your other phone and you get the same week's plan, without your notes. If you plan on a phone in a home program, the family child care post goes through that setup.

Three things providers ask

Is there a catch?

No account, no email, no store, no ads. Peabody is free through the end of 2026. The only thing to know is that your plans live in your browser, so print what you want to keep.

Can I change the plan?

Yes, in two ways. Pick a different theme for any week, and add a note to any day. The note prints on the wall sheet. You can also add your own library books in the notes box.

Do the plans meet my state's requirements?

The plans don't carry state standards, and Peabody doesn't give licensing advice. Your state sets its own rules for child care programs; your licensing office is the place to ask.