DETAILS
I decided to do multiple weeks of F is for Farm learning activities & play before doing the Letter F Unit from The Peaceful Preschool because it worked out that we could attend the Indiana State Fair during this time frame. Below is a detailed account all of the activities & resources from our F is for Farm unit with referral links. Hope you find something useful!
FARM TOYS
I’m providing a list of farm toys you’ll be seeing in the pictures but please know that I do NOT advocate for spending lots of money on toys! Less is more. Don’t feel like you need the “perfect” item to tell a specific story: kids are so open and creative. Reading books, looking at real-life pictures & interacting with things in person is just as (if not more) meaningful as having the perfect toy or learning resource.
- Melissa & Doug Fold & Go Barn (includes cow, pig, goat, turkey, dog, sheep)
- Schleich Chicken Coop (includes rooster, hen, baby chicks, and a female farmer)
- Animals to supplement the Melissa & Doug set: baby goat, baby pig, baby horse, baby cow, baby sheep, duck, goose, barn cat)
- The Little Farm vintage Association Dominoes — search eBay if interested
- Melissa & Doug food groups wood food play set
- Wooden On the Farm magnet set
BOOKS
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SONGS & GAMES
SONGS & GAMESSinging and Movement games from Games Children Sing and Play. I got this recently but it is now our our list of books we use every week. I love it so much!
- “Hunt the Cows”
- “Here We Come On Our Ponies”
Finger Puppet Song: “When Cows Wake Up In the Morning”
- You can find a video example of this via YouTube. We do this song at our library story time so I got out some farm animals and had the kids pick which animal would wake up next. You could also use farm finger puppets
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.Wee Sing Mother Goose
- Mary Had a Little Lamb
- A Boy in the Barn
- Hickety, Pickety, My Black Hen
- Donkey, Donkey
- To Market, to Market
- This Little Pig Went to Market
- Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
- Little Bo-peep
Of course “Farmer In the Dell” and “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” are other favorites.
PHONICS
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Sensory tray letter formation. I first demonstrated how to write letter F using our Didax Educational Resources sandpaper cards and then I placed oats in a wood tray and had my son form the letters using his finger. Little sister got a tray of oats just to play with. |
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Letter F out of grains. I have both my kids spread glue with a Q-tip (holding it like a pencil) on to the letter before adding “grain” materials. They either sprinkle & spread the material with their hands, or place it in the sensory tray and shake the tray of materials over the glue-covered paper. |
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A to Z Farm-related items scavenger hunt. Super simple: Lay out A-Z cards and go on a scavenger hunt to find items that begin with each letter. We used this book and this book as guides. |
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Farm animal letter match. The cards are a free printable you can get here. I had my son first match the animal toy to the card and then use our movable alphabet to make the farm animal word. |
COUNTING ACTIVITIES
I will also note that the book 1001 Things to Spot on the Farm has SO MANY excellent counting opportunities!
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Kitchen Scale Weighing Grains Measure & weight out various “grains”: whatever you have around the house (In our case–oats, popcorn kernels, lentils, rice). This is our kitchen scale |
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Red Barn Window Matching Game Red barn counting and numeral match activity: matching the number of items to the corresponding numeral. I cut up pieces of a cardboard box into the barn shapes, painted them red and then used my Uni-posca medium paint pens to do the white part. The number cards pictured are via The Peaceful Preschool. |
. I had my son measure out 2 Tbsp of each item into the bowl on the scale. We read the number together & wrote it down. I had my son pour the item into one cavity of a SENSORY PLAY & ART
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Farm animal feeding station using hay and various grains |
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Little Blue Truck themed farm animal washing station |
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Corn print painting. Roll some corn in some paint, and roll it across paper. We did this on the floor. And then painted with our feet! |
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Corn husk scarecrow: follow the instructions on making a corn husk doll in Farm Anatomy, except add a stick after you put the arms under the husks and hot glue that stick to a base at the end. |
NATURE STUDY & PRACTICAL LIFE ACTIVITIES
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Farm animal products sorting activity Make separate squares on a large sheet of paper (or 4 separate sheets) for cow, pig, sheep, and chicken. Free printable here for the farm animal product cards (print on cardstock & laminate). Book: The Farm by Alain Gree |
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Fruits & vegetables sorting activity Simply sorting activity. Free printable here for the fruits and vegetables (print on cardstock & laminate). Book: The Farm. |
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Baby Farm animals matching & naming Farm families free printable from The Pinay Homeschooler The book Baby Farm Animals is also helpful |
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Food, Animal, Tool sorting activity I cut in half our The Little Farm vintage Association Dominoes for this activity. Try eBay for the game or you could make your own flashcards. |
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Chicken Study: Lifecycle, terms, & egg sampler Chicken lifecycle free printable from Treehouse Schoolhouse. Toys: Schleich chicken coop. We also cooked eggs for a sampler: fried, scrambled, hard-boiled (I had my son peel & crack the various eggs). Books: Farm Anatomy & Food Anatomy. |
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Cow study: Dairy products We put heavy cream in a small jar & took turns shaking it to make whipped cream, then did it again to make butter. Book: The Farm by Alain Gree |
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Practical life: making seasonal-ingredient ice cream
Sweet corn flavored ice cream with a blackberry swirl Recipe found in Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home |
FIELD TRIPS
The following are some real-world experiences we had during this unit:
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Farmer’s Market
Interact with farmers, observe what produce is in season. |
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Orchard
Observe what fruit is in season & see fruit trees. |
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Indiana State Fair
Pretend to farm, interact with a wide variety of animals, pretend to drive tractors, visit a Pioneer Village and see farming without modern technology. |
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Horse Barn
To see live horses and how they are kept. The picture is of a 150+ year old corn crib on the camp property where we live. |
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Homestead
To pair with our visit to the Pioneer Village at the Indiana State Fair — witness how farmer’s in the 19th century lived & worked. |
THE SILVAN REVERIE 
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