Down On The Farm
Preschoolers of all ages have a great time with the Down On The Farm Theme. Sorting animals by type, cooking, fun songs and videos are just a few of the activities for this week long theme. There might be enough material for two weeks.
Let’s start off with a fun song. On Our Way To Grandpa’s Farm
Next try Sleeping Cows. Can’t find a video so imagine… your children lie down and pretend to be sleeping while you sing ? ” See The sleeping cows till it’s nearly noon come let us wake them with a merry tune.” ? As the children wake up they make the cow sound. Play as long as you like just adding different animals. “See the sleeping pigs, kitties, penguins… whatever you want. 😉
Hay Stacks
While we’re making these we’re looking at this video of an old classic nursery rhyme Little Boy Blue
Each child gets a 6×6 piece of wax paper and a wooden craft stick. First melt butterscotch chips. Then pour in the chow mein noodles. Mix until the noodles are coated. Scoop into plastic soufflé cups. Allow to cool just a moment. Kids “mix” with the craft stick and turn the hay stacks out onto their wax paper. Enjoy!
No product endorsements here. Store brands work fine!
Melt your Butterscotch chips in the microwave or on the stove. Pour on your noodles stir and cool for just a few minutes.
Hey! Hay bails can be delivered by local nurseries. When it starts to go to sprout or get moldy you can spread it over your garden or playground.
The kids find many uses for the hay.
Animals Down On The Farm
Milking Cows
We collected all the cows around our school to put in the milking bin. I filled a rubber glove with warm water and a few drops of white paint. I tied the top closed and poked a pin hole or two in a few of the fingers. The kids squeeze the glove to get the milk flowing.
What Grows Down On The Farm
Shucking the corn is fun and great for fine motor. This is cow corn.
The kids can glue the corn kernels onto a corn cob cut out or have them glue bits of torn tissue paper on instead. I’ve also seen this with hand prints cut out for the green husk.
Veggies growing in the soil in the sensory table. Kids can “harvest” the veggies and put them in the basket.
Play dough with Mr. Potato Head pieces. This would be cool on a day when you do potato printing, and/or potato planting
Three Little Pigs
We started with three large squares and 3 large triangles, bits of hay, craft sticks, and paper “bricks”. Made 3 teams of children to build a house of straw, a house of sticks, and a house of bricks.
The patterns for these masks are on Printables!
These are cute but the paint pealed of after it was dry. Needs some work – fail!
Be a tree rubber and a tree hugger! Getting a bark rubbing is a great way to introduce texture words to young children. It’s also a great time to start talking about concervation.
Tractor Pull
These are fun activities to do with your toy tractors. First, tape a large piece of butcher paper onto a table. Next poor some brown or black paint in a tray. Have the kids dip the wheels in and drive around the table. What fun making tracks is! The second pic has brown paint mixed with equal parts shaving cream and glue. Driving tractors in the mud is so fun!