Little Ones Learning: The Farm Unit

The Farm Introduction

Visit the library to get books.

• picture books that take place at farms and/or have farm animals
• nonfiction farm books 

Set out farm-themed toys, games, and puzzles.

This Little People farm has always been a popular toy with my girls.  I love that it makes the animal noises. 

Here are some examples of farm puzzles.  The other toy is a Melissa and Doug Sort and Snap Color Match.  There are a variety of animal picture cards, but the rooster fit our theme.  The kids use the snap cubes to color in the picture.  It helps with fine motor skills and color matching.  

Watch farm-themed videos, like Baby MacDonald.

It's good to provide kids a variety of ways to learn about a topic.  Videos provide information in a different format and engages them in a different way.

I found a Baby Einstein video on YouTube that the kids LOVED!  Baby MacDonald - A Day On the Farm.

As we read, watch, and play, I encourage the use of animal and object names and animal sounds.

Explore with a sensory bin.

Here are some really great farm related sensory bins from Living Montessori Now:

Photo from Living Montessori Now

This was our farm sensory bin with  some paper shreds from Easter, rice, pom poms, and leaves.  We also put out some measuring spoons.

I

Do some farm-themed art!

Here are a few farm-themed art ideas:

Farm Painting (Photo from Two-Daloo)

Farm Painting from Two-Daloo

Garden Vegetable Printing from No Time for Flashcards

Garden Vegetable Painting from No Time for Flashcards

Veggie Paint Brush (Photo from Creative with Kids)

Veggie Paint Brush from Creative with Kids

For our farm stamping and painting art, these are the supplies we used:

Here are the finished paintings:

By Ada

By Lucas

By Grace

Plan a visit to a farm by creating a scavenger hunt.

The best part of learning about the farm is GOING to the farm, of course!  Creating a scavenger hunt before hand helps kids focus on the topic.  It also helped my preschooler notice new things at the farm.

Before heading to the park, Grace (4) and I sat down and made a list of things to look for at the farm.  The first one shown below is the one we used on our trip.  I left two boxes blank so Grace could add her own ideas.

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Here are a couple of other examples of scavenger hunts:

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Below are some blank scavenger hunt sheets that you can fill out any way you want.  For younger kids (8 and under), pictures are really important, unless you plan on reading the items off for them.  

You could also use the one on the left with boxes to create a bingo game with older kids.  For bingo, each child should get their own blank chart.  Then, they fill in different boxes with various items they might find at the farm.  As they cross them off, they can aim for 4 in a row, 4 corners, etc..  I could totally have used this on a field trip in school!

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Of course, visit a farm!!!

Draw and write about the farm.

As a culminating activity, preschoolers and older toddlers can draw and write about the farm.  It's good to give them the flexibility to express what they find interesting.  For those who can't write, write down their ideas verbatim for them.  They will like seeing their ideas on paper.  For preschoolers, write their ideas with a highlighter, and they can trace over it with a pen or pencil.  

Here's a page I made for to draw and write about the farm:

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Do you have other ideas for teaching little ones about the farm?  Let me know below!