Learning About Farms

Today we got a little more serious during circle time and practiced our "kindergarten behavior" by trying to sit still on our mats and raise our hands when we had something to say.  It was definitely a challenge for them (some more than others), but was good practice for their kindergarten debuts in a few months.

We had fun learning about farms today.  We found some cut-out animals and people from a farm in our counting box (which apparently has been lost) and then made sure that we sang B-I-N-G-O and Old MacDonald during singing time.  The kids each held up their animal (or person) during Old MacDonald. 

We had fun with the letter, "F" and thought of lots of great words that began with "F".  Then we let everyone say what their name would be if it began with "F".  Favin and Faylie thought that was particularly funny.  Then we read a couple of silly books about life on a farm.  

"A Guest is a Guest" is a silly book about the Beanbucket family that lets the animals take over their house, while they timidly proclaim, "A guest is a guest, and we must show them our best."  Eventually they reclaim their house and live as a happy farm family.    I made sure the kids knew that this was a fiction book. 

"When the Rooster Crowed" was a little more realistic than " A Guest is a Guest", but still ranked pretty high on the silliness level as the farmer would not get out of bed until all the animals and his wife called for him at the same time. 

Next time I would probably just read one of the silly books and then this one.    This one was great and featured actual photos of all the animals and shared interesting facts about each one.  It's still very simplistic and perfect for this age level, but the kids were getting pretty restless by the time I got to it. 

Next we decided to try some of our own farm work and went to milk a cow.  I poked tiny holes into the bottom of each finger of a cheap rubber glove, filled it with water, tied the top close and had it poke out of the shoebox (with the cow picture attached) and let the kids "milk the cows" into a bucket. 

It was a little bit messy, but very worth it.  The kids thought it was super cool doing their own farm work like that. (I couldn't get a good picture of them in action, since I had to hold the cow (and "udder") into place with one hand so it wouldn't fall.  I later figured out a way to attach the glove to the shoebox better with a little packing tape, but that discovery came a little too late for good pictures). 

Then the kids eagerly went to work at making their own farms.  They cut out animals and glued them onto their barns. 

That cutting practice is so good for their development and most of them thoroughly enjoyed the free reign with scissors and glue. 

Then they did this great matching worksheet from Enchanted Learning where they matched the animal up with the product they give. 

It was a bit cold and wet outside, but it didn't stop us from going outside to pretend to be farm animals.  The kids had great fun galloping like horses, waddling and quacking like ducks, crawling and barking like dogs....

 and mostly just running around and chasing each other!

All in all, I thought it was a fun and successful day at preschool.  I can't believe the year is almost done!