Pre-K Farm Theme Unit

~ Pre-K & Preschool theme ideas for learning about farms, farm animals, and crops ~

Books

Fairy Tales

Pigs

Cows

Horses

Chickens/Hens

Ducks/Geese

Sheep

Farmers

Plants

More Farm Books

Rhymes

"Little Boy Blue" Rhyme

Little Boy Blue,
Come blow your horn.
The sheep's in the meadow,
The cow's in the corn.
Where is the boy
Who looks after the sheep?
He's under the haystack,
Fast asleep.

"Little Bo Peep" Rhyme

Little Bo Peep
Has lost her sheep,
And doesn't know where to find them.
Leave them alone,
And they'll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them.

"I Hop on My Horse" Fingerplay

I hop on my horse and go to town.
(pretend to ride horse)
I ride up high and I don't fall down.
(place arms high and then low)
I wear a hat so my hair won't blow.
(put hand on head)
And when I want to stop, I just say Ho!
(pull back on reins)

Songs

Amazon.com Widgets

Activities

Horses Stop & Go

[Large Motor]
The children crawl around the carpet pretending to be horses as the teacher calls out "stop" and "go". This can also be played with the children galloping.

Wheelbarrows

[Large Motor]
Children hold a partner's feet as they walk on their hands like a wheelbarrow, taking turns being the wheelbarrow. Each pair of children has about 6 beanbags to carry (on the wheelbarrow's back) one at a time to their destination.

Seed Mosaic

[Art]
Children made a picture by gluing seeds on paper in a design.

"Old MacDonald's Farm Animals" Class Book

[Literacy]
Each child made one page and we put them all together to make a class book. The children decided on a farm animal they wanted to draw and the sound that animal makes and the children dictated the words to be written in the blanks:
"Old MacDonald had a farm.
E-I-E-I-O
And on that farm he had a ______.
E-I-E-I-O
With a ___ ___ here,
And a ___ ___ there,
Here a ___, there a ___, everywhere a ___ ___.
Old MacDonald had a farm,
E-I-E-I-O."

Farm Poetry

[Literacy]
Children chose a farm animal they wanted to draw. We glued the animal and the farm poem form onto a large sheet of paper. To make the poem, children dictated the words to be written in the blanks:
I am a [type of farm animal].
I can [movement].
I can [sound].
I feel [texture].
I smell [scent].
I am [emotion].
I am [color].
I am a [repeat first line].

"The Hat" Characters

[Literacy]
After reading Jan Brett's book The Hat, we talked about what "characters" are in a story. The second time we read the story, each child was given a character mask from the story. As we came to each character's part in the story, the child with that character's mask stood. After the story was read, we named each of the characters and talked about what they did in the story and what they said. At small group time, the children cut out the characters from The Hat and made them into stick puppets. Each child described their favorite character to the group.
"The Hat" Character Masks
"The Hat" Clipart for Puppets

Story Retelling

[Literacy]
Choose a farm-themed book that you would consider good literature (good characters, plot, beginning, middle, end, etc.) Show the book to the children and tell them to think about what happened in the story, and the people (characters) and places they saw in the story. Think about what each character said. Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to draw something they remember from the story. Remind them that this should not be a picture of their cat or their friends, but only pictures of things from the book. After each child has illustrated the story, have them retell the story in their own words. Either record each child with a voice recorder or write their dictation on the page.

Farm Animal Stamping Games

[Math, Literacy]
Write a letter or numeral on each pig or cow, and make a copy for each child. Children will draw a number or letter card from a stack (or roll a die), find that letter/numeral on their mat, and stamp it out. You can use rubber stamps or bingo daubers. As an alternative, you can have children draw an "X" over the animal if stamps or bingo daubers are not available.

Cow Game
Printable

Pig Game
Printable

Farm Animal Bingo

[Math or Literacy]
Use farm animal counters to cover the letter/number/shape on the bingo cards. We use these to play alphabet bingo, number bingo, shape bingo, or rhyming bingo.

Chicken Grid Game

[Math]
To play a grid game, children roll a game die, identify the numeral and count out that amount of manipulatives. Each manipulative is placed over one picture in the grid. Children play until the whole grid is full. This grid game uses corn seed which can be found at hardware or gardening stores. Another option is to use popcorn seeds.

Chicken Grid Game
10 Spaces

Chicken Grid Game
20 Spaces

Counters: Corn Seeds

Farmer Grid Game

[Math]
Children rolled the die and counted out that amount of game pieces to place on a square in the grid. The object of the game is to fill the grid. Children can play alone or with other players. This game was made with stickers bought at Michael's.

Piggy Banks

[Math]
Each child used a mat with a piggy bank on it and 12 pennies. Children rolled a die, counted the amount of dots on the die, and counted out the same amount of pennies onto the mat.

Milk Graph

[Math]
Children first mixed and taste-tested three kinds of milk: vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. Children decided on their favorite kind of milk, and put their name on the graph. We counted to see which had the most/least/same.

Growth Graph

[Math]
The title of the graph was: "How do you think [watermelons] grow?" (You can do any fruit or vegetable.) The children made a guess and placed their name on the graph in one of these columns: On a tree, On a bush, Under ground, On a vine. We checked our answers by reading a book about how they grow.

In the Barnyard Story Mats

[Math, Literacy]
Each child had a farm yard story mat and a bowl of colored counting chips to use. They listened to a math story about farm animals, and placed counters in different areas of the barnyard on the mats as they listened. For example, there were three yellow ducks on the pond, there were five blue horses by the fence. This helped children practice listening skills, counting skills, and position words.

Seed Sorting

[Math, Science]
Children were given a paper divided into 4 sections. They sorted a bag of 4 types of seeds and glued them onto the paper, with each seed in it's own section.

Making Butter

[Science]
We poured whipping cream into baby food jars. Children shook the jars until a ball of butter formed in the jar. (Liquid and solid will separate). Then we spread the butter on bread to eat.

Planting Seeds

[Science]
Children planted a variety of seeds in a seed sprouter. We planted 3 each of 4 different types, and later transferred them to clay pots. These were to stay in our classroom, and the children planted another seed of their choice in a clear cup that they could take home after it sprouted. We watched the growth of the plants, which encouraged lots of observation and discussion skills. The photo shows the seedlings of four types of seeds we planted: bean, corn, tomato, and watermelon. By planting four different types, children were able to observe which seeds germinate for shorter or longer periods of time. The bean and corn were the fastest to sprout, while the tomato came in third, and the watermelon took the longest to sprout.

Layers of Soil

[Science]
For this experiment, we had bowls of potting soil, sand, small bits of leaves, and natural aquarium rocks set out for the children to scoop some of each onto their plate. The children poured the sediment into a plastic bottle using a funnel, and poured some water into the bottle. We closed the bottle tightly and taped it, and the children shook it to stir the sediment and water. Then, we put the bottles on a shelf and left them alone to let the soil settle. Later, we went back to take a look at the bottles (without touching them) to see if the soil and rocks had settled into layers.

Seed Sorting at the Science Center

[Science]
The wooden bowl contained four types of seeds. Children picked up the seeds with the tweezers or their fingers and sorted them into the four clear bowls.

Peanuts to Peanut Butter

[Cooking]
We read a book called From Peanuts to Peanut Butter [published by Newbridge] to learn how peanut butter is made from peanuts. We made our own peanut butter by grinding peanuts in a heavy-duty blender. (Check for peanut allergies before doing this activity).

Peanut Butter Fudge

[Cooking]
Stir one part peanut butter and one part vanilla or chocolate frosting until blended. Spread (or roll into ball) and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (Skip this activity if any child has a peanut allergy.)

Garden Prop Box

[Dramatic Play Center]
Include: Garden gloves, Trowels, Watering can, Flower pots, Artificial plants & flowers, Bird feeder, Wind socks, Knee pads, Aprons, Straw hats, Plastic vegetables

Farm Food

[Social Studies]
The children brought empty food packages or pictures of food from home. The children took turns showing the class what they brought. We discussed where the food came from, and how a farm was involved in producing the food.

United Streaming Videos

[Technology]
"Big Red Barn"
"A First Look at Farm Animals"

Resources