Farm

Crafts

*Make paper bag animal puppets.

*Animal stamping - paint with animal shaped sponges.

*Pig Finger Puppets - Cut a finger shape from pink felt x 2. Make sure it is wide enough that a finger will fit into it when glued together. Glue together and then add ears, eyes, snout, and a curly tail.

*Hobby Horses - stuff a sock with newspaper. Attach to a wrapping paper tube using 2 elastics. Glue on facial features, ears, and wool for mane.

*Mud Pictures - fingerpaint with mud.

Science

*Milk a Cow - Cut a cow shape from heavy cardboard. Attach a latex glove to the cow for the udder. Poke small holes into the 'udder' using a pin. Fill the glove partially with milk. Place a bucket underneath the cow and let the children take turns 'milking' the cow.

*Make Butter - fill a baby food jar 1/2 full with whipping cream. Take turns shaking the container until butter forms. Taste on crackers.

*Gardening - plant vegetables and care for them all summer. Reap your rewards at the end of the summer and early fall.

*Alfalfa Sprouts - place alphalpha seeds in a jar. Cover the jar with clean nylon or cheesecloth attached with an elastic. Every day, rinse the seeds with water to keep moist. Once the alphalpha grows, use in a salad.

Block Area

*Add plastic farm animals and fencing to your block area as well as tractors.

Dramatic Play

*Add overalls and hats to your dress-up area.

*Put animal noses in the dress-up area and put a paper barn on the wall (or use a large refridgerator box and paint it red and have a "real barn" that the children can use.

*Put plastic fruits and vegetables in the area for planting foods - add watering cans and plastic hoes, shovels, gardening gloves, and wheelbarrows.

Circle Time

*Old MacDonald had a Farm
*Down on Grandpa's Farm

*6 Little Ducks

*Baa, Baa Black Sheep

*The Farmer in the Dell

*Mares Eat Oats

*See the Ponies Galloping

*Cluck, cluck Red Hen

*I have a little Pony

*I Had a Rooster

Stories:

*The Little Red Hen
*Too Many Chickens

*Down on the Farm with Grover

*The New Baby Calf

*Brewster Rooster

*The Jolly Barnyard

*Sitting on the Farm

*Hattie and the Fox

*Two Cool Cows

*Pig Sty

Games:

*Matching Game - cut eggs in half with identical markings, and children must correctly match the eggs into pairs.

*Egg Carton Sorting - number the bottom of the egg cups from 1 to 12. in an egg carton and childrenmust count correct number of objects into each cup according to the numeral written in the cup

*animal/object match - children must match the correct item to the animal it comes from ie: milk & cow, chicken & egg, wool & sheep, etc.

Water & Sand Play

*add tractors and farm animals with cedar shavings (the type used for hamster cages) into your water table... Make sure you tape over the spout area so that the shavings do not block it for the next time you want to use water in it.
*put small plastic vegetables in the sand table with hoes to "dig" up the crops
*add small amount of sand to table and make mud put in fencing and animals (pig families)

Outdoor Play

*put a large cardboard box outside with a steering wheel and use it for a tractor
*bring out wagons for children to pull
*set up a haypile for the children to jump in (great if grass was just mowed, can make one by raking it up into a big pile)
*plant a vegetable garden in the corner of your playground / yard
*get a composter and discuss how it works AND use it

Field Trips/ Special Days

*visit a nearby farm
*have a Fall harvest day or Spring planting day
*visit a stable

Songs

Cluck, Cluck Red Hen

(sung to:Baa, Baa Black Sheep)

Cluck, cluck red hen have you any eggs?
Yes sir, yes sir, as many as your legs
One for breakfast, one for lunch
Come back tomorrow and I'll have another bunch
Cluck, cluck red hen have you any eggs?
Yes sir, yes sir, as many as your legs.

Moo, moo brown cow have you milk for me?
Yes sir, yes sir, as tasty as can be
Churn it into butter, make it into cheese
Freeze it into ice-cream or drink it if you please
Moo, moo brown cow have you milk for me?
Yes sir, yes sir, as tasty as can be!

I had a Rooster

I had a rooster and my rooster pleased me
I fed my rooster from the green berry tree
And my rooster went cock-a-doodle-doo dee-doodle-dee-doodle-dee-doodley-doo

I had a hen and my hen pleased me
I fed my hen from the green berry tree
And my little hen went cluck, cluck, cluck
And my little rooser went cock-a-doole doo dee-doodle-dee-doodle-dee doodley-doo

I had a little pig and my pig pleased me... etc ... (continue with more farm animals)

Printouts

Related Sites

Perpetual Preschool

The Kid's Ag Page

Hummingbird Educational Resources

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