Spring is full of opportunities to teach fascinating facts about nature! Exploring farm animals is a popular topic and many young children are familiar with some animals. Even if you live miles from grazing cows and quaking ducks, young children have probably seen or heard about farm animals. Many books as well as songs for toddlers feature animals living on farms. Learning the names and vocabulary at a young age helps kids to develop important skills such as categorizing things in the world. A young child might begin sorting animals by putting brown cows and black-and-white cows in the same category.
Learning about farm animals is fun! Using fact booklets help children to build their vocabulary and knowledge about animals living on farms, for example, sheep, goats, horses, cows, chickens, ducks and pigs. Talk about the baby names for farm animals and discover the fun of using onomatopoeia to describe different sounds that farm animals make such as the clip-clop of horses’ hooves. Let kids explore the range of products we get from farm animals. You can make a display in the classroom with empty packaging and photos of products.
You can start the project by letting your kids tell you what animals they already know. Ask your kids to identify which animals can be found on a farm. Ask them if they know of any other animals that might live on a farm. Show your kids real photos or videos of the animals that they are interested in learning more about. Encourage creative thinking by using open-ended questions and use story-writing prompts about farm animals.
With a combination of independent learning and reading and hands-on activities such as craftivities and visits from local farmers young learners can develop various skills. Small-world sensory play is an amazing way to explore the farm animal theme deeper and to solidify learning as well as further develop their imagination and creative thinking.
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