Theme Thursday: Down on the Farm

Yee-Haw, and giddy up partners. Last week we hung out on the farm and learned all about the different noises that animals make and the different equipment that farmers use to make the plants grow!

Song: Good Morning Dear Earth

Poem: Baby's Fingers
Flannel: Alphabet Soup- FARM

Flannel: When Cow Gets Up in the Morning

When cow gets up in the morning she loves to say good day
When cow gets up in the morning she loves to say good day
She goes "moo moo moo moo"
That's how she says good day

cat... meow
dog... woof
duck... quack
rooster... cluck
pig... oink

Poem: 10 Little Fingers

Book: Punk Farmby Jarret Krosoczka

Song: Old MacDonald
Song: Shake the Sillies Out

Book: Tractors and Farm Vehicles (Mighty Machines)by Jean Coppendale

This was the first time I've tried a non-fiction book with my story time kids. This particular book has great pictures and pretty simple text, but it was definitely written for an older audience so I paraphrased and abbreviated heavily.

Book: Mrs. Wishy-Washyby Joy Cowley


Song: Turn Around from Hap Palmer's Getting to Know Myself

Make and Take Craft: Animal Masks

Supplies:
-Animal mask template (half a paper plate with eye holes cut out and yarn tied into hole-punch holes on the side) Prepared before hand
-Animal parts (I had things to make roosters, pigs and cows) Prepared beforehand
-Gluesticks
-Crayons

Process:
I introduced the craft before the last song and met the kids at the craft table afterwards. I spread out the animal parts on paper plates ( all the cow pieces together, all the rooster pieces together and all the pig pieces together). Unlike other crafts this one required more instruction and attention so I moved between kids and their caregivers helping them figure out where all the different pieces went. The kids colored the paper plates and enjoyed gluing the pieces on. Some made mutant animals with different pieces from all the animals and some just enjoyed gluing the pieces on so they could rip them off.

Overall I think this craft may have been a bit ambitious, and most of the kids are still too young to understand the concept of tying something to their face. But the few kids we did get into the masks looked darn cute. Until they ripped them off.

Time:
Prep took about 45-50 minutes. This was one of the more prep heavy crafts I've done and if I had had more time I may have done more, going to far as to glue the correct pieces to individual masks. I think that may have been too much effort for the end result though. The kid crafting time was about 15-20 minutes with my more hands on instruction.

Model Craft: I made a cow


And Action shot!