This week we are talking about life on the farm. This is a great stand alone unit or great if you are completing My Father’s World Kindergarten. It would also work great as a book centered unit – see recommendations below.
Farm Fieldtrip
We went to a working farm & took a couple of educational classes. We learned about cows & Goofy even got to hand milk a cow! (We also got to observe how much faster a machine is able to milk a cow!).
We got to visit other farm animals (sheep, pigs, horses) and see a restored farm house from the 30s.
Goofy also took a class about Chickens where we not only learned about chickens, their habitats, and egg laying BUT he got to gather eggs that we then got to take home and eat. For lack of a better work the fresh eggs tasted more “eggy”. (Side note this Mom wants her own chicken coupe now!)
Barnyard Counting Worksheet
We practiced counting up to 20 with {free} Barnyard Counting Clip-On. I love the concept of these – they integrate counting, fun animals, the animal habitats, and the tactile exercise of clipping on the clothespin to the correct number. I guarantee your kids will love them ~ mine sure did!
Farm Worksheets for Kids
My kids LOVE worksheets. And I am always impressed by how much better Minnie (3) does each and every week. So bring on the worksheet fun as long as my kids are enjoying them! For this week I found these wonderful free farm printables at 2 Teaching Mommies. The free packet includes: tracing, which is different, building words with scrabble tiles, where things come from simple puzzles, pattern cards, mazes, number puzzles, shadow match-up, and a cut & paste activity to determine if animals go in the farm/ocean/zoo.
Farm Sensory Box
I made a Farm sensory box to go along with our weekly theme. The kids had a BLAST! The base of the sensory box was Fruit & Nut birdseed (giving it a fruity scent).
I also included metal shovels, rakes & measuring cups that were fun for scooping & made a wonderful sound. More fun: Pig Splat balls that were a hoot and a half, farm animal stamps, and farm stencils all from Oriental Trading Company. I purchased a farm animal Toob with very realistic animals, farm, tractor and hitch. I included some farm sticker scenes I had (not sure from where). And I included Hide and Seek eggs that come in a cute little 6 egg carton; You match the shapes on the bottom of the eggs to the cartoon - they also squeak and are colorful inside. Minnie’s favorite was a soft plastic mouse & cheese I found at Michaels; you could push the mouse into any of the cheese holes leaving just the face or tale peaking out – I still hear the giggling =-)
Hoppy Frog Math - Preschool and Kindergarten
Kids add up the frogs & place them on the correct lily pad. There are multiple frogs per lily pad. Goofy (Kindergarten) loved this fun way to practice addition.
Great Farm Books for Kids
As always, the basis of our week was good books. We were lucky to have Grandma visiting this past weekend. Grandma loved reading books to the kiddos & was wonderful playing alongside them during “school”. We also watched an educational video on Farm Animal Babies. Here are our favorite farm books:
FREE Printable Nocturnal Farm Animals Science Fun
We played Nocturnal Farm Animals Game. This is a FREE PRINTABLE I created just for this week. We had so much fun playing & learning together! Click on picture to download.
Making Homemade Butter Farm Activity
Making butter (1 pint heavy whipping cream, shake 20 minutes (or use mixer to speed things up), pour off liquid at top, tada – 1 cup butter – YUM!!)
Farm Crafts for Kids
What’s a good farm week without some fun farm crafts? These are great for creativity and developing motor skills.
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Farm Animal Hand Art
We made a hand art sheep with black fingers, horse with brow hand/fingers, and duck with sideways yellow hand/fingers. Goofy (Kindergarten) painted the barn and sun.
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Cow from Milk Jug
We painted a 1 galloon milk just white. Then we added black spots. The lid was the nose – we just added 2 nostrils. We added some googly eyes and cardstock ears. Such a fun project!
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Farm Silo from Oatmeal Container
Using an oatmeal container we covered it with red construction paper. We cut a circle from white construction paper and made a cone top.
Spanish Farm Vocabulary for Preschoolers
We learned some farm Spanish Vocabulary. It is easiest for kids to pick up a new language when they are young, so if you aren’t already doing so, I’d encourage you to introduce another language.
Additional Preschool Resources:
- Alphabet Printables - over 1000 pages of free printable letter tracing, alphabet worksheets, cut and paste, alphabet mazes, uppercase and lower case activities, and more!
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Reading the Easy Way (Dolch Sight Word Based 12 week program – use promo code HOMESCHOOL to save 10%) -
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{free} Weather Unit (ages 3-9) -
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Hatching Butterflies Experiment with {free} printable -
