On the Farm for Preschoolers - Part 3

Well what do you know? Yet another post about our Farm Theme! As I mentioned before, there are so MANY activities that can be done with this topic. I am posting this one a bit late since we wrapped up our Farm Week last Friday but better late than ever, right?

Math - Chicken Grid Game

I had seen this activity on Counting Coconuts's blog and decided to "serve it up" to Adrian. He quite enjoyed it. He rolled the die to see how many chicken would eat "that day" and then proceeded to feed them corn kernels. He did that until no chicken was left hungry. It took "7 days" for all the chickens to be fed (which means he rolled the die 7 times). The chicken grid can be printed directly from PreKinders. You'll find many more grids too and they are just as cute.

Practical Life - Pouring Milk

A very quick activity but nonetheless liked by Adrian. A small creamer and coffee cup were used to pour the milk. And after the pouring I of course had an expected request; "Can I drink the milk now?"

Fine Motor Skills - Horsy Needs Legs

Another quick activity but one that helps develop fine motor skills. As clothespins are still a bit difficult for Adrian, I brought this horse out so legs could be pinned on. He thought it was just the funniest thing and loved that the horse stood thanks to his work. I printed the horse from Best Coloring Pages and cut off his legs myself. The idea was borrowed from Just Montessori.

Science-Zoology - Parts of a Horse

Homemade parts of the horse booklet. Features the mane, tail, neck, torso, head, legs (hind and fore). Horse picture was printed from Online Coloring Books. Adrian had to color only the body part required (one per page).

Science - Animals and their "Products"

I thought it would be nice for Adrian to see why some animals are kept on the farm and what their contributions are so I selected the sheep, chicken, pig, cow and goose and put a wool cap, an egg, a slice of deli ham, a cup of milk and a goose-feathered pillow on the table. I then asked Adrian to match animals and products together. They were all easy to match for him except for the wool cap and goose-filled pillow. I'm guessing that the transformation into a pillow and cap made it harder than if I just put the merino wool we used earlier and some fluffy feathers. 

Fine Motor Skills - Tweezing Grass and Clover

I chose three animals that are usually enjoying grass eating in the fields and picked up some grass and clover from our yard. I then put the mix in a small container and provided tweezers. Adrian's job was to tweeze some "food" for each animal with the tweezer. The clover was just hard enough to pick but the grass was simply too difficult to pick towards the end as there wasn't enough left.

Art - Pig Paper Plate

How fun this craft was. I intended to use a dessert AND a lunch paper plate but somehow couldn't find our big plates so I ended up cutting up a big construction paper circle. I precut all the shapes for Adrian. Scissors still give him a VERY touch time but he helped make the pink paint, painted the paper plate, stuck on the goggly eyes, snout, paws, and ears. He also helped punch the hole for the tail and twisted the pipe cleaner around his finger to make it curl. Please note that I had to use a pink marker for the pipe cleaner. I did not find any stores with the pink ones here but I know they are out there if you decide to go ahead and make this craft. I must thank Busy Bee Kids Crafts for the idea.

This concludes my posts on Farm activities for preschoolers. Activities for toddlers should be posted when Zahavah jumps on board with that thematic.

On The Farm for Preschoolers - Part 2

There are so many activities that can be done with a theme like "On the Farm". I tried to stay away from worksheets as much as possible this week because my son, like many kids his age, prefers to handle things. You'll find here yet another sample of what happened this week in our homechool-preschool.

Outdoor Play/ Physical Development - Hide and Seek the Farm Animals

By far the favorite activity this week. One that has been requested EVERYDAY. I brought out the tub of Learning Ressources' Jumbo Farm Animals and hid them all around the yard. I then asked Adrian to find the animals and bring them one by one, back to the tub. We did it three times the first day and each time, I made it more difficult for him to find the animals. For example, the white goose sat on the white mailbox so it blended in, the goat "climbed" one of the trees (still at eye level), rooster sat in the taller grass, etc.

Math - Roll the die and spots to that cow

I thought this was the cutest activity but Adrian didn't care about it much. He completed it and moved on basically. He had to roll the die, count the number of dots and add the number of black mini pompoms accordingly until all pompoms were used. (Free Cow printable, courtesy of www.2teachingmommies.com 's Farm Preschool Pack.)

Math & Science-Zoology - Mothers and babies puzzle

One of the many puzzles we have with a farm theme included. We practiced the names of the babies as we completed the puzzles too. This puzzle is made by Educa but has now a more recent version I believe. In case you prefer mothers and babies cards, Counting Coconuts has some for you! If you haven't checked out that blog yet, please do. It's my FAVORITE.

Math & Science-Botany- Graphing seeds

I saw this idea on Counting Coconuts' blog and thought it was a great one. www.abcteach.com provides many free printable grids for personal use so I printed mine there, accumulated a variety of seeds and let  Adrian sort the seeds and graph with them. It required quite a bit of dexterity when it came to the apple seeds and fitting some of the seeds in their boxes but he did it and was very proud of himself.

Art - 3D Handprint Sheep

I love crafting and so, I looked up several crafts with a Farm theme for this week and found this one on www.craftsbyamanda.com. It was irresistibly cute. I let Adrian paint his hand black, he then pressed it on the construction paper. While the paint dried, he washed his hands and then came back to glue on some cotton balls, a little bow and a goggly eye. He told me his sheep was called Timmy as in the Timmy Time series so I wrote that down for him. Overall, he liked his sheep but working with cotton balls seemed to be the best part about the craft.

On the Farm for Preschoolers

It's farm week here for  little Adrian and he sure is having a lot of fun with what I have prepared for him. Here is a sample of what we have done so far this week.

Science - Zoology - Animal Tracks

Science - Zoology - Making animal tracks in play-doh. It's as simple as it sounds and a lot of fun. Adrian repeated the activity several times and wanted to try it with his other jumbo animals as well. For this week, we used Learning Ressources' Jumbo Farm Animals. All their jumbo animals are great for little hands and they all get a lot of playtime in this house.

Art- Painting like a horse

At first, I asked Adrian to simply paint with a "horse tail" paintbrush. But as he never really knows what to paint and ends up simply painting the sheet just to spread the color, I let him see some pictures of horses painting to inspire him to paint like a horse (using his mouth). How fun this was. Now I wish I had used the easel for that but as it was nowhere near, the sheet was spread on the floor. To see some real horses in action, visit www.paintinghorse.com

Math & Fine Motor - Clip the right number of farm animals

Math & Fine Motor - Clip the right number of farm animals. A more traditional activity which still causes a bit of difficulty for my 4 year old. He can count just fine but making these clothespins open is a bit of a challenge at times. The counting cards were found in 2 teaching mommies' farm preschool pack at www.2teachingmommies.com

Practical Life - Weaving merino wool

Practical Life - Weaving merino wool. I couldn't resist purchasing real sheep's wool to do this one. I wanted my son to feel the wool, smell it and all. That went wonderful. The tough part was the actual weaving. I used a cooling rack for cakes and cookies and it was very difficult for Adrian. He understood the concept (it was his first time weaving) and the wool stayed together in one lump very well but I think the rack was too small for a first time. It was frustrating for him and so I think next time we weave I'll try our clothes drying rack instead. Want to use real wool as well? I purchased ours for what I consider "cheap" on Ebay from a seller named "crystalcreekfibers" after searching for raw wool. In the end, I bought this merino wool for spinning. I liked that it had no matter in it. :)