We all really enjoyed this weeks Farm Animals Themed Activities – making 2D shapes with playdough, feeding a cow, making bouncy eggs, building animal homes and measuring animals.
Farm Animals Themed Activities
Creative Space
Play dough, stamps, scissors, lacing beads and cards, puzzles and blocks are set out for the children to choose from, and get creative during this 30 minute period.
Farm Animals Themed Circle Time
Every day during Circle Time we do the morning routine, which includes the Calendar and ‘Number, Color, Shape and Letter of the week’. We then read a story, sing a few songs and do a group activity.
On every Monday we change the ‘Classroom Helpers’ Classroom Jobs. Each child has a name card on a popsicle stick, and they get to choose their job of the week.
Farm Animals Themed Circle Time Activities
Activity 1: Weekend News
Every Monday morning each child gets a chance to talk about their weekend and what they did. The children then draw a picture in the ‘weekend news’ journal, and the teacher writes down what they have said.
Activity 2: This Little Piggy Went to the Market
Print out and laminate the props from Kizclub.com. Say the rhyme while pointing to the pictures and let the children repeat after you. Repeat several times. Then mix up the cards and ask the children to put them in the correct order.
Activity 3: Sea Animals Finger Family
Listen to the song on YouTube. Then help the children to draw the farm animals on their fingers using washable markers. Sing the song again, but this time with all the farm animals drawn on the children’s fingers.
Activity 4: Fruit Salad
The children sit in a circle, with one child in the middle. Think of 4 farm animals, then walk around the circle, patting the children’s heads while giving them a farm animal name. Do this in order so that each fourth child has the same animal name. The teacher calls out a farm animal name, and all the children with that name stand up and switch places. The child in the middle tries to take an open spot.
Activity 5: Virtual Farm field-trip
Visit a farm with Farmer Ashley!
Farm Animals Themed Songs
Eighteen action songs and rhymes all about Aquatic Animals to get those bodies moving and grooving. Click on the image to head over to the post.
Farm Animals Themed Books
Twenty-two of the best story picture books that are perfect for a theme all about Aquatic Animals. Click on the image below to read what these books are about.
Farm Animals Themed Literacy Activities
Who sank the boat? Stick-Puppets Extension Activity
What you need:
- Origami paper (one per child)
- Stick-puppet pictures
- Straws cut in halves or toothpicks with the sharp sides cut off (4 per child)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Coloring Pencils
How To Use This Resource:
My kids love this fun Who Sank The Boat Extension Activity. The first step is to fold the origami paper boat after listening to the story. Most of the children in my class did a great job with this, but some might need a little extra help.
When the boats are done, the children color and cut-out the pictures of the animals. The teachers help the children to stick the straws onto the back of each picture of a character. Re-read the story while the children place each stick-puppet into the boat. their favorite part is always when the boat sinks!
Who Sank The Boat? Role-Play Activity
All kids love pretending to be animals. This activity is great for getting them to practice speaking in front of bigger groups, work on those memory skills and just to have fun!
What you need:
- Who Sank The Boat? Activity Sheet
- Scissors
- Coloring pencils/ markers or crayons
- Tape
- Skewer sticks/ chopsticks/ Straws
- A big container (anything big enough to fit 5 kids in)
How To Use This Resource:
Each child chooses an animal. Now let children color their animals and cut these out. Help them to cut the eyes out. When they are done, tape a chopstick or a skewer stick (cut off the sharp sides on these beforehand) on the back of the picture of the animal. The children now have stick puppets!
Ask 5 children (each with a mask of a different animal) to stand next to a big container (anything big enough to fit 5 children in while standing). Read the story again, while the children get into the ‘boat’ one by one. For example, when you read ‘Who sank the boat? Was it the cow who …’, the child with the cow mask gets into the ‘boat’. Continue until all the ‘animals’ are in the boat. When the mouse gets in, everyone pretends to fall out. They all love this part!
Farm Animals Themed Emergent Reader
What you need:
- Emergent Reader printed out and assembled
- Word Cards printed out, laminated and cut out
- Coloring pencils/ markers
How to complete the activity:
This activity includes a ten-page emergent reader that focuses on color words as well as farm animal words. Simply print double-sided and assemble. Cut out and laminate the word cards and stick these on the whiteboard Hand out the readers and go through it with the children, showing them the words on the board as you read along. Children copy the words into their readers.
Click on the image below to download the printable reader!
Farm Animals Themed Math Activities
Center 1: Feed the cow!
Cut out the face of the cow and paste onto an old shoebox. Cut a hole for the mouth. The children then use the addition cards to see how many counters they will need to ‘feed’ the cow.
Center 2: Write the Room
Cut out and laminate the word cards. Hide these around the room. Children find the cards and write the animal words next to the correct picture.
Center 3: 2D Shapes Playdough Center
Cut out and laminate the playdough cards. Review 2D shapes and ask the children to find examples of all the shapes around the room. During center time the children uses playdough to make the shapes.
Center 4: Measure & Compare
Children use snap-cubes to measure the length of the farm animals, then record their findings in the space provided.
Farm Animals Themed Art
Farm Animals Themed Science: Bouncy Eggs
We did not have enough time this week to try out this awesome activity, but you can head over to portdiscovery.org for detailed instructions on how to make your very own bouncy eggs 🙂
STEM: Building Animal Homes
I got the fantastic idea for this activity over at teachingideas.ca. Click on the image to head over to their blog for the full instructions.
Farm Animals Themed Snack Idea
I found the idea for this healthy sea turtle snack at kids-cooking-activities.com. You will need bread, salami, apples, olives, cheese and cream cheese. Put these all together as seen in the picture, and enjoy!
Click on the images below to download the Farm Animals Themed Math & Literacy Centers, Printables and Activities.
