Hard Work: Little Red Hen

I was a little nervous about teaching preschool kids the value of hard work, but it definitely ended up being a fun day, and they may have actually learned something in the process.  First we started off by reading this book: 

This is a funny, kid-friendly book about Bear and Bunny, who both decide to grow tomatoes.  Bunny is lazy and doesn't do anything to take care of them, while Bear works hard and does his best to help them grow.  Of course, in the end Bear has a bumper crop of tomatoes and Bunny isn't quite sure what happened to his.  It was a perfect way to introduce the concept.

Next we did a hands-on activity with cans (from the FHE lesson attached at the end of this blogpost).  We (the kids and I) thought of lots of different chores that need to be done in a house.  Then we took turns taping little labels listing the chores onto cans of food, like this: 

After all the cans were labeled we put them all into a laundry basket.  The kids took turns trying to lift the heavy basket and carry it across the room.  While the kids were strong enough to lift it....barely...we all agreed that it was too heavy to carry for very long.  We related this to how a mom would feel when she doesn't have any help with all those things to do.  It's possible, but it makes her really tired and makes it so she doesn't have enough time to do fun things with the kids. 

Then we tried distributing the cans to each person.  We all decided that it was MUCH easier to lift our two cans (chores) than it was to try to hold all of them at the same time.  We then related it to how we can help our mommies and daddies by all doing our part to help.

It's a cool object lesson, but I think a couple of the kids took it a little too literally, in that they thought we were actually talking about carrying cans, rather than helping with chores.  Oh well, maybe they'll help you carry in a few bags of groceries next time.  :)

Next we read the story of the Little Red Hen (also included in the lesson below) with the flannel board figures.  The kids had fun holding up their characters and saying, "Not I," whenever I said their name. 

Then we re-enacted the Little Red Hen (without the refusals to help) and made our own bread, starting with grinding our own wheat by hand. 

Then we headed into the kitchen where all the kids took turn adding their own ingredients to the bread. 

Then they kneaded it and formed it into shapes (I had made some bread dough earlier that had already risen, so they could get straight to the forming). 

Then we put them all into our cute little loaf pans. 

...and let them raise.

And while the bread was rising (and baking), we did a little sequencing activity.  First we glued the numbers on in order, then we glued the different scenes from the Little Red Hen on in the right order as well.  I felt like it was a very good activity for them. 

By the time we finished with the sequencing activity, our bread was coming out of the oven. 

Some of the kids started nibbling right away, others just wanted to hold it, and still others were adamant that they save theirs for later. 

After lunch, we headed outside to enjoy the beautiful day! 

Here is the lesson where I got several of the ideas from.  It's easiest to download the file as a PDF (you'll need a free account with Scribd) before printing. 
"Work:  I Can Do My Part" FHE Lesson

It was another fun day of preschool.  It's hard to believe this year is almost done!