At the Farm! {Preschool Thematic Unit}

Sponge Print Farm
You can find already shaped sponges at most arts and craft stores, or you can make your own. Obtain sponges shaped as cows, pigs, farm houses, fences, barns, clouds, etc. Have your child dip the sponges into paint and press onto a piece of paper to create a farm scene.

Pig Painting
Cut a pig shape from pink construction paper. (Print a template here.) Let your child paint "mud" with black, brown, or gray tempera paint.

Cows Eat Grass
Cut out cow shapes. (Print an A4 template here.) Explain to your child that cows like to eat grass. Go outside and have your child pick some blades of grass. Have them glue the cows and the blades of grass onto a piece of blue paper.

Cow Spots
Supply each child with a piece of white paper and black non-toxic (washable) stamp pads. Show the child how to make fingerprints on the paper, using only one finger at a time.

Nesting Hen
Place some plastic eggs under a pillow. Have your child sit on the pillow and guess how many eggs are under it. Count the eggs.

Lacing Cards
Cut colored poster board or foam sheets into farm animal shapes and punch holes around the edges. Let your child lace yarn or a shoestring into the cards.

Cheese Tasting
Allow your child to taste and sample many kinds of cheeses. (Can also do kinds of milk.)

Making Butter
Put whipping cream into a jar with a tight lid (as well as a pinch of salt), then add a clean marble. Let your children take turns shaking the jar. Soon the cream will turn into butter. Have the butter on bread for a snack.

Visit a Farm
Check your local yellow pages. Call to ask about free tours.

Tractor Prints
Let your children paint with toy tractors. They can run the tractors through the paint and then all over paper. This makes really neat designs.

Make a Cardboard Farm
Make milk carton barns and oatmeal canister silos. (Directions here.)

Play Horseshoes

Milk a Cow (Sort of!)
Talk to your children about where milk comes from. Fill a latex glove full of milk and poke holes in one or two of the fingertips. They can squeeze the glove like an udder and try to fill a cup.

Cotton Ball Sheep
Let your child glue cotton balls onto a cutout of a paper sheep (like this one).

Sorting Animals
Have clipart cutouts of animals and let the child sort them according to whether they live in a zoo or on a farm.

3D Farm Scenes
Materials: Meat trays (styrofoam or cardboard), clean milk cartons, liquid dish soap, red tempera paint, green construction paper, brown construction paper, raffia, glue, and small plastic farm animals.
Directions: Mix the red paint with a bit of liquid dish soap and paint the barn (milk carton) red. Cut the green paper to fit the surface of the meat tray and glue it down for grass. When the barn is dry, glue it to the tray. Cut out a brown circle and glue it near the barn to resemble mud for pigs. Glue some raffia around the barn to resemble hay. Add some animals to complete the scene.

Folded Barn
Take a regular 9x12" sheet of red construction paper and fold the left and right sides to meet in the middle. Next, take your scissors and cut the right and left sides to shape the "roof" of the barn. Have the students use crayons to decorate the outside of the barn, then open the "doors" and let them drawn animals inside.

Eat Hard-Boiled Eggs for Snack

Pig Slop
Explain how farmers will feed their pigs a mixture of leftover foods. To make your own edible slop, give each child a bowl of chocolate pudding. Let them add in various things (M&Ms, sprinkles, nuts, chopped bananas and strawberries, etc.) -- then eat and enjoy!

Chicken Feed Snack
Set out bowls of sunflower seeds, popcorn, raisins, cereal, and M&Ms. The children take a little of whatever they like and mix it in a bowl for "chicken feed."

Footprint Chicks
Take off your child's shoes and socks. Put one foot in yellow paint and make a yellow print on art paper. The heel is the chick's head. Use orange paint to add a beak and feet, and a black thumbprint for an eye.

Pattern Paint with Corn Cobs