Farm Animals

This week we learned about all of the different animals that live on a farm, what they do or produce, and we learned about some of the different equipment that farmers use.  There are so many resources for this theme that we could have spent weeks on farm animals. We ended up reading a lot more books than usual, and doing less activities.  It was just one of those weeks, I guess.

Books We Read
Rosie's Walk
Farm Animals
The Big Red Barn
The Fairies' Birthday Surprise (this really does have a farm in it!)
The Jolly Barnyard
Good Morning, Farm!
Barnyard Banter
Mrs. Wishy Washy's Farm
Cows on the Farm
Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm
The Year at Maple Hill Farm

Our Activities
K and E worked on a farm animal cube puzzle from Melissa & Doug.  I love Melissa & Doug products.  Pretty much everything that I have ever seen made by that company.  I have found a few really good deals lately at Home Goods and at Michaels, so I hope to be getting a few more activities for E soon. 

I found a fun activity to go with Rosie's Walk in Themes To Grow On.   In the story, Rosie (a hen) is going for a walk around the farm, and different positional words are used on each page.  We recreated the story in our living and dining rooms, and the kids went on Rosie's walk.  A piece of blue paper became the pond, a step stool was the haystack, an archway was the mill, two chairs became our fence, and the dining room table was the beehive.  E especially loved this.  He asked to do this over and over again.  This is a great activity for a young 2 year old to reinforce around, over, under, through, and across.  It was also great for my 4 year old to practice following directions.  I need a lot more games that teach that!

Earlier in the week, we went to the farm at our local zoo to see some real farm animals.
First Field Trip