Farm Theme...Need Some Ideas

[melskids]

i'm looking for some farm ideas to use with my kiddos....anyone have some really great ideas to throw at me?!?!?!


i have a dishwasher size box we are going to paint and turn into a barn on monday. we'll be making butter and painting with wheat too!!!

any other cool ideas?

thanks!!!

[kendallina]

Milking a cow-
Use a latex or rubber glove to be a cow's udder. Poke very small holes in the fingertips. Fill it with water. I draw a large cow and tape it to the wall then tape the glove upside down right where the cow's udder is supposed to be. I put a trash can underneath and allow the children to 'milk the cow'. They LOVE it!

Apple taste test-
Get yellow, red and green apples and have children taste each one. Chart the results. Then we plant the apple seeds.

Rainbow Toast-
This makes a good snack for the same day that you do the cow milking. I put a small amount of food coloring in cups of milk and have the children use clean, new paintbrushes to paint their bread. When you toast the bread, the colors really come out!

I'll try to think of more later...

[kendallina]

This past fall my daughter and I went to a sunflower farm and I got tons of flowers which I brought back and had the children take apart and explore using magnifying glasses. We looked at sunflower books and talked about all the parts of a sunflower. Then, on posterboard we glued each of the pieces of a sunflower and labeled them. Then they used the leftover pieces to make collages and planted the seeds. You could do this with any type of flower, obviously.

Are the kiddos more interested in farm animals or plants?

We also do a lot of pretending to be farm animals and pretend to be growing flowers.

ETA: I love to make butter! Yum yum!

[ammama]

Last year I rented an incubator and hatched chicks in the living room. It was AWESOME!

I put an add up on Kijiji that I was looking for an incubator with egg turner to rent, and eggs, and found a lady who rents out her 40 egg incubator with a big viewing window, egg turner and all necessary equipment, fertilized eggs, and even gave me chick feed and a heat lamp for the babies. We hatched 29 chicks!!

We're doing it again in 2 weeks

[kendallina]

Last year I rented an incubator and hatched chicks in the living room. It was AWESOME!

I put an add up on Kijiji that I was looking for an incubator with egg turner to rent, and eggs, and found a lady who rents out her 40 egg incubator with a big viewing window, egg turner and all necessary equipment, fertilized eggs, and even gave me chick feed and a heat lamp for the babies. We hatched 29 chicks!!

We're doing it again in 2 weeks

Holy cow! That's awesome! What did you do with the chicks??

[daycare]

I have a whole book from Mother goose time on farms, I can scan some of the fun ones that we did if you would like and email them to you.

[ammama]

Holy cow! That's awesome! What did you do with the chicks??

The woman who rented me the incubator gave them to me. It was a really great deal actually - incubator with egg turner (you DON"T want to have to turn your own eggs!), thermometer, candler (to see chicks moving around inside egg), heat lamp and food for babies and 42 eggs for $50. She offered to take the chicks back, but I ended up giving them to friend of mine who wanted chickens. I kept 4 that we have raised in the backyard since

[SilverSabre25]

Holy cow! That's awesome! What did you do with the chicks??

NO no no, holy chicks!! ::

That is pretty awesome though, I'd love to do something like that.

[kendallina]

NO no no, holy chicks!! ::

::::::

[melskids]

This past fall my daughter and I went to a sunflower farm and I got tons of flowers which I brought back and had the children take apart and explore using magnifying glasses. We looked at sunflower books and talked about all the parts of a sunflower. Then, on posterboard we glued each of the pieces of a sunflower and labeled them. Then they used the leftover pieces to make collages and planted the seeds. You could do this with any type of flower, obviously.

Are the kiddos more interested in farm animals or plants?

We also do a lot of pretending to be farm animals and pretend to be growing flowers.

ETA: I love to make butter! Yum yum!

well, right now, its just tractors and barns....

but i'm hoping to go in both directions, animals and plants.

we still have a foot or so of snow, but in the next couple of weeks the farmers will be turning over their fields, so i'm hoping to take a trip to a farm to see that. if they are really into this topic, i'm hoping to stretch it out through the spring and into the begining of summer so we can do some planting. which we always do, but i'm just trying to plan it all out to transition together. (for all i know, they could give up on the farm theme by next week....we'll see.)

since theyre more into the tractors now, i thought i'd start there, then move more towards the animals, and then plants.

[melskids]

Last year I rented an incubator and hatched chicks in the living room. It was AWESOME!

I put an add up on Kijiji that I was looking for an incubator with egg turner to rent, and eggs, and found a lady who rents out her 40 egg incubator with a big viewing window, egg turner and all necessary equipment, fertilized eggs, and even gave me chick feed and a heat lamp for the babies. We hatched 29 chicks!!

We're doing it again in 2 weeks

my FIL does this every year, and he lives walking distance away, so we go over there to watch. we get to enjoy the experience, while he does all the work

the kids love watching the chicks hatch and grow. we visit them all summer too, to help feed them and gather the eggs.

so much fun!!!!

i'm actually thinking of getting a pig, but my hubby's not to keen on the idea yet. my neighbor had one and it was even housebroken. it used a kitty litter box. it was quite a sight!!!!!

[melskids]

I have a whole book from Mother goose time on farms, I can scan some of the fun ones that we did if you would like and email them to you.

that would be cool! i'd love to check them out! thanks! i pm'd you my email......

[Candyland]

since theyre more into the tractors now, i thought i'd start there, then move more towards the animals, and then plants.

Don't forget to use your tractor to create art! Roll the tractor wheels into some paint and let them "zoom" across a sheet of paper or newspaper.

Animals: make farm animals using child's handprints.

[SilverSabre25]

Sensory box of corn with animals, tractors, and other farmy type things (and some cups and funnels for scooping and pouring)