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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.
Fieldtrip
Worksheet Learning
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!
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.
Sensory Learning
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 =-)
Early Math Fun (PreK/K)
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.
Good Books
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:
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 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!!)
Crafts
What’s a good farm week without some fun farm crafts? These are great for creativity and developing motor skills.
- 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.
- Cow from Milk Jug (idea from Honey Bee Books Blog)
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!
- 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
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 Resources:
- Reading the Easy Way (Dolch Sight Word Based 12 week program – use promo code HOMESCHOOL to save 10%)
- {free} Weather Unit (ages 3-9)
- Hatching Butterflies Experiment with {free} printable
What a wonderful unit! I love how the cow turned out. Your daughter looks so proud of her creation. The hand prints are wonderful too. I will definitely have to make butter with my son. He would love this and so would I for that matter - it has been a while since I've done it!
ReplyDeleteWow! You did so many wonderful activities.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great week! The farm trip sounds like a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a fun lesson!! Thank you for sharing it at our Sharing Saturday on Crafty Moms Share.
ReplyDeleteGreat unit on Cows and way to go to include a farm trip:) My neighbors has chickens and we pet sit whenever they are out of town. I want chickens too:) Thanks for linking up to the Field trip hop and welcome:)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great experience for your kids!
ReplyDeleteYou really had a lot of great activities in your farm unit! And thanks so much for the free printables! I love that your barnyard counting clip-ons help with eye-hand coordination, too! Deb @ LivingMontessoriNow.com
ReplyDeleteI love the milk carton cow! Lots of great activities. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love all the COW fun!
ReplyDeleteYour a great mom!
Wow! What a great week with a lot of hands-on experiences. I love your crafts!
ReplyDeleteYou were right about the eggs. We have our own chickens, and their eggs do taste better!
So much fun! I love the hand art farm! I will definitely be trying that one out.
ReplyDeleteI love the handprint farm art! And the farm classes sounds fantastic - what a wonderful opportunity!
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic! Love the week of immersion in the study.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard work to milk a cow, and I remember that from a field trip I took as a kid.
ReplyDeleteAwesome unit - how nice that it also included a field trip! Visiting from Afterschool.
ReplyDeleteI love it! Isn't milking cows great?!?!? We want a chicken coup here too! Thanks for linking up with Brag Time Thursday!!!
ReplyDeletelove it! thanks for linking up! we did farms a few weeks ago, always a fun unit!!
ReplyDeletelove your cow! I've never made butter - should try it! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing on the Sunday Showcase.
http://momto2poshlildivas.blogspot.com/search/label/Sunday%20Showcase
Bern
What fun! Love the printables!
ReplyDelete