Pre-K Farm Theme

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

Sections for this Theme:

Books
Rhymes
Songs
Activities
Printables
Links
Resources

Books

View Farm Theme Books & Classroom Resources Amazon store here.

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)

Little Boy Blue

Little Bo Peep

I Hop on My Horse

Songs

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 make a picture by gluing seeds on paper in a design.

“Old MacDonald’s Farm Animals” Class Book

[Literacy]
Each child makes one page and we put them all together to make a class book. The children decide on a farm animal they want to draw and the sound that animal makes and the children dictate 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 choose a farm animal they want to draw. We glue the animal and the farm poem form onto a large sheet of paper. To make the poem, children dictate 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 talk about what “characters” are in a story. The second time we read the story, each child is given a character mask from the story. As we come to each character’s part in the story, the child with that character’s mask stands. After the story is read, we name each of the characters and talk 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 make them into stick puppets. Each child describes 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 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.

Piggy Banks

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

Milk Graph

[Math]
Children first mix and then taste-test three kinds of milk: vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. Children decide on their favorite kind of milk, and put their name on the graph. We count to see which had the most/least/same.

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 dot markers. As an alternative, you can have children draw an “X” over the animal if stamps or bingo dot markers are not available.

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.

Grid Game 10 Spaces

Grid Game 20 Spaces

Corn Seeds

Seed Sorting

[Math, Science]
Children are given a paper divided into 4 sections. They sort a bag of 4 types of seeds and glue them onto the paper, with each seed in it’s own section.

Making Butter

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

Planting Seeds

[Science]
Children plant 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.

Seed Sorting at the Science Center

[Science]
The wooden bowl contains four types of seeds. Children pick up the seeds with the tweezers or their fingers and sort 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 make 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 bring empty food packages or pictures of food from home. The children take turns showing the class what they brought. We discuss where the food comes from, and how a farm was involved in producing the food.

United Streaming Videos

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

Printables

Directions for printables are given in the Activities section above.

Cow Bingo Game

Pig Bingo Game