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ideaI made a cow out of a metal saw horse. I covered it with a heavy duty paper tablecloth (pellon type), and the children glued spots on it. I made feet out of black construction paper. I used tag board for the cow's face, and a rubber glove for the utter. You can fill the utter with milk, put a tight knot at the top, poke a few holes, and let the children "milk the cow". We took photos next to the cow for Father's day gifts. The children put on a straw hat, and a bandana around their necks. They also carried a "milk pail". Cuter than you can guess! Try this (it is easier than you think).
11-12-00During the week of "Farm" my students and I discuss some of the foods products that we get from the farm. During the day of 'milk' we make butter from whipping cream - (put a small amount of whipping cream in a clean baby food jar and shake until it forms into butter - spread on crackers and you have a delightful snack. After we make butter from cream I then let the children "Milk" the cows. These are hand drawn cows. I have used chart paper, and I draw them to be about 3ft X 3ft. Then I hang the cows onto a fence, fill a latex glove with water & milk, poke holes in the fingers of the gloves with a safety pin, attach the glove to the location of a cows utter, and the children then "milk" their cows! Kids love it, adults love it!! Enjoy!
11-5-00For harvest week I took a large piece of brown cardboard (about 4' x 5') and I taped three rows of leaf vines. I bought them at the dollar store. Then I bought a dozen small gourds and "planted" them in our garden. In between the rows I put out to wicker basket for the children to gather the harvest. I put a sign on the wall that said "Harvest Garden". I told the children they could harvest the vegetables then take them into the dramatic play area and make "stew or dinner". Then when they finished they could go back to the garden and plant the garden again. It was really neat to see them pretend to wash and cut up the vegetables.
8-21-00THE LITTLE RED HEN: We did a mini unit on the Little Red Hen. First we read the book and then talked about the consequences of not helping others. Each child colored a simple chicken picture. We then had them cut out the picture and glue a wheat stem in the beak. (I live in North Dakota - wheat is EASY to find!) We displayed our red hens on the bulletin board under the simple caption "The Little Red Hen". The kids observed different forms of wheat - kernels, wheat stems, crushed wheat, whole wheat flour and wheat straw. They also acted out the story - taking turns being the different characters. And, of course, we made whole wheat bread from scratch! It was a fun and tasty week!
7-23-00I Love Ewe (Sheep) Start by showing the children the sign for “I love you” (starting with all fingers out on one hand lower your ring finger and your middle finger). Tell the children that the name for a female sheep is ewe but is spelled different from the you in the I love you sign. Have each child make an I love you sign and place their hand on a folded piece of tag board (the fold should be near the arm just above the palm). Trace around the hand but draw the pinky longer to match the length of the pointer finger. Also erase the bumps from the knuckles and draw a curved line to form the back. Help the children cut out the hand and hold up so the children can see the I love you sign. Now turn the hand upside down and tell the children that they will be making a female sheep or ewe with their I love you sign. Help the children to glue the head and back on inside together (leave lower body and legs free). Then make small dime size cotton balls by ripping small pieces from a cotton ball and lightly rolling. Glue the outside body portion only (leave head and legs free of glue) Have the children put the dime size cotton balls on the glue. Turn the ewe over and do the same thing on the other side. Put a dot of glue on each side of the head and let the children put wiggle eyes on the dots. Spread the legs bending slightly so the ewe can stand up. My Own Idea!!!
7-18-00Make stick horses using paper bags for heads. Cut out eyes, ears, and a mane for the children to glue on. The mane goes along one of the narrow sides and the eyes go on each side of the wide sides. Draw nostrils on bottom of bag and a curved mouth at the corners of each of the wide sides below the eyes. Make the sticks with rolled up newspaper, heavy duty card board tubes (can make tubes by rolling up cardboard and taping with duct tape). Insert the stick into the bag as far as it will go and stuff bag around the stick with shredded paper leaving about 4 inches empty at top. Glue the stick where the bag will gather forming a neck. After gathering the bag around the glue, tie some yarn tightly around the neck. For a more decorative look you can cover the stick with contact paper. Help the children to think of a name for their horse and write it in large letters down the stick.
7-16-00Our preschoolers are fortunate to be able to attend the Clay County Fair for an entire day the second week of September. I always have the farm unit coincide with this. Beforehand, the theme is evident in the classroom with corn and tractors in the sensory table, a barn with accessories, and even pictures cut out by the children with what they anticipate to see at the fair. Our fair is known to have one of the largest agricultural exhibits in the country. The children are elated to view farm equipment, see a tractor pull contest, and look at and touch many domestic animals to mention a few of the things we do. At the fair the children are able to use all their senses, thereby making this a truly educational experience.
7-13-00Get ears of shell corn from a local farmer or feed store. Let each child shuck and shell an ear of grain corn. It's great fine motor and lots of fun. After each child shells an ear of corn into the sensory table, there's enough to play in. The empty cobs can be used for art projects. (In the fall grain corn is very hard and dry, not soft like sweet corn.)
2-17-00We just happened to be learning about farm animals on the same week we were doing the letter "M", so I put shaving cream and brown Biocolor paint in the Touch Table, mixing it together to make "Mud"! I added some animals, and the kids loved getting Messy in the "mud"!
Date: 1-7-00I put a toy barn in my sensory table, complete with tractors, farm animals and farmers. Then I add cracked corn and hay. The kids love pulling the corn in the tractors, and hiding the animals in the hay! Date: 12-28-99Toilet Paper Chickens I use the toilet paper rolls, cut them into two pieces; one smaller than the other by about half. I had pre-cut diamond shapes for beaks and a small tray of google eyes available. The children painted the tp rolls, and glued the two pieces together, I used 2 large paperclips to hold them in place while they finished the chickens. They added eyes, beak and feathers to the chickens. They dried and looked really cute. I had some yellow Easter grass on hand and we stuck the chickens everywhere. We took them to the office and would place them in the secretary's desk, in the media center, the computer lab. We had a good time and the school shared our theme with us. Fun! ideaIf you are doing a unit on farms, try putting cracked corn and hay in the sensory table. Add a toy barn, some farm animals and a tractor, and you have your own miniature farm in your classroom! Date: 11-21-99Name: Karin
Date: 5-25-99Farm Bulletin board: Give the children cows cut out of white construction paper. Have them sponge paint black spots onto their cows. Let them dry, when they are dry take a photo of the child's face and glue it to the cows face. Place onto the B.B. with the caption " You Look Moovelous!" This is so Cute! 10-23-98 Name: Linda 10-7-98 Name: Leah 7-22-98 Name: Sandy E-Mail: misssandyd@hotmail.com When I do my unit on farm or zoo animals, I put shredded yellow paper in the block area for the children to use as hay. You can purchase the paper at a party store. 6-14-98 Name: Adrienne E-Mail: GloryLight@AOL.com Cotton Ball Sheep - Have each shild trace their hand in white crayon onto a piece of balck construction paper and cut it out. Turning the fingertips downward have children glue cotton balls onto the hand's palm, leaving the finger tips and thumb uncovered. Then have the children glue a wiggly eye to the thumb to create a "wooly" neat sheep! 4-10-98 Name: Kristen E-Mail: mzkris227@aol.com At the end of our Farm Unit we have a Farm Day. Everyone dresses like farmers (ex: overalls, boots, hats, etc) and it takes place outside. We set up different centers that children are free to choose what they want to do. Some of the activites are: Find the milk caps in the hay, shucking corn that is later cooked for the picnic, milk the cow (homemade cow) shoo fly (paddles made from hangers and pantyhose and you swat small balloons), hayrides, bean bag toss at milk cartons, rope the cow head, egg toss, various farm animals visit, and various farm/country music playing. The whole atmosphere is farm. We end the morning with a picnic. This is planned for our pre-schoolers (3-5 year olds) but our infants and toddlers participate also. 4-10-98 Name: Sue E-Mail: kup@ewol.com Let children use funnel to put seeds in plastic bottles. Glue the bottlecaps on. When dry have a musical parade with your seed shakers to farm music. 4-10-98 Name: Sue E-Mail: kup@ewol.com After talking about corn, painting with corncobs, have a plastic box(I use a kittylitter box bought just for this) filled with cornmeal instead of sand. Add farm animals, etc. and set outside for play. 4-10-98 Name: Jean E-Mail: JEng468066@aol.com Ten Little Pigs (felt board activity) Ten little pigs rolled in the mud, Squishy, squashy, felt so good. The farmer took one pig out. Oink, Oink, Oink, the pig did shout. Count with 9,8,7, and so forth...then No little pigs rolled in the mud, They all looked clean and good. The farmer turned his back and then, Those pigs rolled in the mud again! 4-10-98 Name: Jean E-Mail: JEng468066@aol.com Popcorn Sheep You will need: 6" oval 2" oval popped popcorn clothes pins (optional) wiggle eyes Have the children cut out their ovals and glue them together. The large oval will be the body and the small oval will be the head. Glue popcorn all over to be the wool. Add a wiggle eye. Use the spring type clothespins for the legs and they will stand up. (if you choose no to use the clothes pins you will have to make legs). HINT: We have started to use a hot air popper for popcorn to be used for an art activity. When I used microwave popcorn the children were too involved in eating to care about the art. We use a sheet and let the popcorn pop in the air and land on the sheet. 4-2-98 Name: Sue E-Mail: kup@ewol.com Let children use funnel to put seeds in plastic bottles. Glue the bottlecaps on. When dry have a musical parade with your seed shakers to farm music. 4-2-98 Name: Sue E-Mail: kup@ewol.com After talking about corn and painting with corncobs, have a plastic box (I use a kittylitter box bought just for this) filled with cornmeal instead of sand. Add farm animals, etc. and set outside for play. 3-29-98 Name: Dolores E-Mail: Dmrkids@aol.com You can make a horse using an old sock stuffed with newspaper and rubberband around the end of a yardstick. Add short yarn pieces to represent a mane and facial features. 3-29-98 Name: Tammy Riche E-Mail: tamsmail@kaplantel.net Find pictures of the farm animals from Old MacDonald's Farm. Make an overhead transparency of each and enlarge each to fit on a posterboard. Color each animal and cut it out. Then, cut out a hole on the animals face so that a child can stick his or her face in the place of the animals face. The class can now act out the story/song about this famous farmer. 3-17-98 Name: Linda E-Mail: LGr4654848@aol.com During our farm week my four year olds got to milk a cow. We did not have access to a real cow so we made one. We used poster board and drew a cow on it. Then we cut it out and attached it to a broom handle. We put the broom between two chairs to hold it. I then attached a latex glove with milk in it on the cow. I put a pin hole in the glove and the kids had a great time milking the cow. 3-9-98 Name: Cathy E-Mail: tcsons@netins.net After reading Rosie's Walk with my class, each student makes their own copy. I draw simple illustrations of each of Rosie's adventures on a half sheet of paper and write the text at the bottom. These pages are then made into a book. Each student is given a picture of a chicken to color and cut out. The chicken is attached to the book with a piece of yarn. The children are then able to "read" their own copy of Rosie's Walk. This is great for reinforcing concepts such as over, under, etc.
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