Young Learners: On the Farm

Literature:Book: Cock a Doodle Doo! A Day on the Farm
Book: When the Rooster Crowed by Patricia Lillie
Book: Moo Moo Peek a Boo by Jane Dyer
Book: Sleepytime Farm by Scholastic Books
Book: Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
Share: Bring an animal

Dramatic Play: Farm Prop Box (straw hats, bandannas, plastic shovels, seed packets and play vegetables, plastic farm animals, plastic fence pieces, buckets and stools)

Farm Animal Learning Centers: Provide children with the Little People Farm, Farm animal finger puppets, and the play stable and a plastic horse assortment and encourage them to explore freely and use dramatic play.

Sensory: Animal Sounds Guessing Game
I have a set of plastic farm animals with a sound button on the bottom. I placed all of them in a bag, and the children took turns guessing what animal was making the sound in the bag.
Sensory: U is for Udder! I filled rubber gloves with milk/water for the kids to squish and squeeze and pretend to milk. (singing to Row Row Row your Boat: Milk Milk, Milk the cow, I'm sitting on a stool, squirting squirting squirting squirting, now my bucket's full)

Fine motor: Farm Animal Puzzles

I have a large collection of farm animal peg puzzles and 2 Melissa and Doug farm themed floor puzzles. The children enjoyed working together to assemble each of them.

Math: Sorting farm animals and wild animals.
Provide children with a mixed assortment of plastic animals and encourage them to sort them into the wild animal basket and the farm animal basket. Have the class make the sound of the associated animal as each child takes a turn selecting an animal from the pile to sort.

Art: Cotton Ball Sheep

The children were given clothespins, cotton balls, and white paint. They pinched the cotton balls with the clothespins and dipped the cotton balls into the paint and stamped paper to create fluffy wooly sheep.

Science/Cooking: Homemade butter
1) Fill baby food jars 1/2 full with heavy whipping cream
2)Tighten the lids on and let the kids shake shake shake their sillies out.3) Let the kids get creative and roll the jars down the slide and across the room.
4) After awhile it will thicken
5) Give it a quick stir with a Popsicle stick. The butter will immediately separate from the liquid. Dump the liquid, add a little salt and serve on crackers

Language: add to our list of U-words

Practical Life: We need animals. Talk about where we get wool, eggs, ham, beef, and milk (and from milk, cheese, yogurt and butter)

Music and Movement: Farm Animal Songs Mr. Conway's Farm (animal sounds), Old MacDonald Finger Puppet Play, The Animals on the Farm (sung to farmer in the dell), The Animals on the Farm The Animals on the Farm Hi ho the Derry Oh The Animals on the Farm. Other verses (The cows give us milk, the chickens give us eggs, the pigs roll in the mud, etc)