As much as I love the idea of educating children about the world around us, I don’t think that I would have the least interest in attempting to teach a three-year-old about plate tectonics. To start, what does the child know about earthquakes and volcanoes? That would be the point of entry: Teach that the surface of the planet moves, fractures and opens up to what’s beneath, and it often happens in human time.
Teach the effects of geologic time in the formation of sedimentary rocks, canyon formation and river beds. Teach about dinosaurs and fossilization – and again work on the concept of “geologic time”, which is going to take a long time for any three-year-old, no matter how bright – to wrap his mind around. That’s a hard concept even for adults to fully grasp.