On the Farm

Everyone loves a day at the Farm, getting to see all the animals and tractors. The Farm is also a theme I could see being easily transferred to a nursery or infant setting as a longer topic. We had great fun with this theme and had we not been in complete lockdown (2020) we would have taken every opportunity to visit some of the excellent farms near us (e.g. the Museum of Rural Life, Clyde Vally Farm, Almond Vally and Briarlands Farm to name a few.) Underneath I have added The Farm mind map I used for planning and I will detail each activity and add links to helpful resources.

Farm Colouring/Sticker Books – resources: colouring/sticker books, pens/pencils/crayons

During lockdown (2020) we were given lots of great colouring and sticker books by Robbie’s Grandad as well as finding some on Amazon. They were great for some relaxed activities. We used this one as a lead into our Farm week fun. We talked about the different animals we might see on the farm, what they would look like, eat and where they would sleep.

Farm Jigsaws and Toys

This is one of Robbie’s favourite jigsaws. He loves to take all the animals out and do some imaginative play with them before putting them all back in their spaces. He loves this Noah’s ark toy too and likes to press all the buttons to make the animals sounds.

We also got all of Robbie’s plastic animals out to look at and talk about while playing imaginative games with them. He decided to line them all up and sort them into big and small.

Again while we were playing we talked about the different animals we might see on the farm, what they would look like, eat and where they would sleep.

Edible Mud Messy Play – resources: large bowls, toy animals, water, assorted utensils, edible mud (I used cocoa powder, flour and water and kept adding little bits at a time until the consistency was right)

I set out bowls with warm water, water and washing up liquid and the edible mud along with different spoons and Robbie’s animals. Robbie liked putting all the animals in the mud but wasn’t too keen to get his hands dirty so Mummy had to take them out again and give them a bath. He thought this was hilarious though and would put the animals back in the mud for me to clean again. We experimented with which animals could stand up in the mud and which would disappear under it. We also looked at the footprints different animals left after they had stepped in the mud.

Farm Yoga – Cosmic Kids on Youtube