Preschool

The farm theme is one of the most fun themes in preschool! There are so many aspects of the farm – animals, foods, types of machines and work that takes place, it’s great way to learn preschool concepts. See some of our farm activities including fill the silo farm sensory bin, silo shakers and feed the animals game from the Down on the Farm preschool curriculum.

Fill the Silo Farm Sensory Activity

Here is our October calendar – we practice counting, number recognition, patterns and anticipate special days daily at circle time.

It’s always fun and exciting to start a new calendar and month of learning with Experience Preschool (formerly Mother Goose Time).

Make & Play Silo Shakers

Making musical instruments with children is an important learning experience. We can make music with a large variety of materials! Kids love shakers to make a lot of noise while they sing and dance. The silo shakers are adorable – just a red cardboard tube with corn placed inside. I hot glue the ends on after the kids decorate and fill them so they last a long time.

We filled our silos with corn but you can also use dried beans or beads.

Fill the Silo Farm Sensory Bin

Corn is a lovely material for a sensory bin. I find it in a big bag at our local farm supply store. A big bag lasts a long time! I found some wooden scoops at Hobby Lobby in the wedding department which are nice for sensory bins.

Earlier in the month, we used a variety of wood bowls and scoops for scooping corn. The sound of the corn in the bowls is another wonderful aspect to this sensory bin.

Two of the bowls are Bambook Mortar and Pestle sets, which are super fun to use in the preschool classroom for a variety of sensory, science/nature and fine motor work activities.

I made a silo from an oatmeal canister and a paper bowl. I cover the canister with red construction paper. Then I glued a paper bowl on top (after cutting out the bottom for an opening).

I used hot glue so it holds together well. It held up well during play and I can save it and use it again another time.

Filling the silo was a hit!

My group worked well together filling the silo. Often one child would visit the center and work on it alone. Either way works.

Using hands is effective too.

How fast can we fill the silo?

Here’s a video of the fill the silo sensory bin in action:

Pig Positional Words

Using a cup for a silo, we practiced some positional words with a little pig counter. Here the pig is “on top” of the silo. Put the pig next to the silo. Can you put the pig under the silo?

Feed the Animals Game

The Feed the Animals game was a hit too. We used the corn from the sensory bin for feeding the animals.

First, the child spins the spinner. Then scoops some corn into that animal’s cup. Which has more? Which has less? Who is still hungry?

This game goes along with an adorable book from Experience Early Learning called, Old MacDonald Has a Farm. This farm unexpectedly has a few creatures you don’t usually find on a farm, but Old MacDonald says: “That’s okay, you can stay.” A very cute book with amazing images and colors that includes a message of inclusion.

Farm Books for Preschoolers

Looking for more farm books for preschoolers? Here are a few I like:

• Mrs. Wishy Washy’s Farm
• Big Red Barn
• Goodnight Tractor
• Plants on the Farm
• Driving My Tractor
• Down on the Farm

This Berenstain Bears Down on the Farm book specifically talks about silos. I like this book about farming. It’s a realistic look at how farms work.

MORE FARM ACTIVITIES

• Chicken Coop Dramatic Play
• Tractor Wheel Prints
• Nature Mud Pies

Our first week of Community Helpers was Health and Safety themed – firefighters, doctors, police officers, dentists, and bus drivers. The rest of the month of Community Helpers with Experience Preschool (formerly Mother Goose Time) preschool curriculum, continues with helpers In the Neighborhood, Downtown, and Creative Careers. Here are our fun preschool dental health activities.

Community Helpers Dentist Preschool Dental Health Activities

Community helpers are essential for a strong and thriving community. They are professionals who help improve a community’s overall health and well-being.

Experience Preschool Teacher Guide Experience Preschoool Curriculum

We know children begin to learn about their community and these helpers by exploring their own neighborhoods and talking to dentists directly when they go to their appointments. It’s always a big deal when someone is going or the doctor or dentist!

I Spy Letter D

One of our three letters this month is letter Dd which is perfect for our dentist topic. Toothbrushes were included for painting letter Dd and the objects that start with letter Dd but I don’t have pictures of that in action.

D is for Dentist

We painted letter D is for Dentist with Kwik Stix Tempera Paint. A letter Dd page connects literacy with our preschool dental health activities.

Brushing Letters

This activity, we call brushing letters, was such fun. I wrote each child’s name on single-row ice cube trays with dry-erase markers.

The kids brushed the “cavities” off the “teeth”. They did this over and over and practiced writing their own letters. The preschool curriculum suggested using shaving cream for toothpaste which would be fun too!

Single row trays aren’t always easy to find but keep your eyes open – I’ve found them at thrift stores.

Writing, fine motor, dental health — all sorts of fun!

Brushing letters was a big hit.

Pulling Teeth

The pulling teeth STEAM Station was the most fun! This is a quick set up and a fun sensory and fine motor activity.

All you need is some red playdough and white beads, stones and some tweezers. We used some little rocks from our fairy garden supplies.

They strangely a lot like teeth once they are pulled out and put in the cup!

Super fun

Flossing Practice

We used strings of floss to pretend to floss our “big teeth”. I also gave everyone a flosser to try cleaning out in between their teeth.

Don’t forget to brush and floss!

Dental Books

More Community Helpers

• What’s in the Box? Community Helpers
• Community Helpers Firefighters
• Waiter, Waiter! Preschool Restaurant Dramatic Play
• Preschool Community Helpers Construction Worker

This week we’ve been learning about things In the Barn with Experience Preschool (formerly known as Mother Goose Time). The preschool curriculum this week includes these topics: barn, silo, tractor, hay & straw, and mud. One of our the farm process art activities was tractor wheel prints.

Every day we start with circle time. Just a short time where we identify the day of the week, add the number to our calendar, count the day, talk about the weather and a little on our topic of the day. The daily topic poster clearly shows everyone what we’re learning about today. Putting the poster up early in the day builds excitement for our day’s activities.

Tractor Wheel Prints

The tractor wheel prints Invitation to Create involves making a wheel with a cardboard tube and adhesive foam squares. Look at the inspiration photo and see the texture on the tractor’s wheels. That is what we are trying to create.

I like to use the Invitation to Create title and inspiration photo while we are working on our art as a reference, and then include them in our displays around the room.

Making tractor wheel prints.

Exploring texture, rolling, feeling the paint, and attempting to make tractor wheel prints through trial and error.

Painting with Tractors

After we painted with our homemade tractor wheels, we decided to try painting with our farm toys. Painting with tractors is so much fun! I felt the children were even more engaged in this version because it involved pretend play.

We have some of these John Deere farm toys from a local farm store, but you can find similar tractor toys on Amazon.

I didn’t lead with painting with tractors because I believe there’s value in creating our own tool for painting as we did with the cardboard tubes and foam stickers. The process of creating and exploring helps us grow.

I also have little ones that really don’t like getting their hands dirty. Even though they are quick to say “I’m done” it’s an opportunity for them to get the sensory experiences.

The different wheel marks were fun to make as well as play with the tractors while painting.

Tractor wheel prints and tire tracks art – looks like a muddy field.

Our display of tractor wheel art.

We Go to the Barn Sight Word Books

The I Can Read Books from Experience Preschool are awesome in so many ways. First, everyone gets a book, which the kids love. We want children to see themselves as readers so it’s important that we put books in their hands.

Teaching children to enjoy books and that words have meaning is so important. Books offer so many little lessons such as, how to turn pages. Little ones can practice turning their pages and following along while I read or while they look at the pages on their own.

Children learn that letters make up words and that words have meaning. We often look for specific letters in our books. Or I ask each child to show me a letter they know. I always read through the books with them as a group. Pointing to individual words helps children to follow along and they learn that text reads from left to right.

Tractor Math Game

The tractor game is very simple. Roll the pocket cube and put that amount of pigs in the cart.

I always play a couple of rounds of the game with my group and then put it out for independent play.

To make it more challenging, those who are ready can roll the cube twice and add the total amount of pigs together.

Or even for those who are not very interested in counting or numbers yet, it sure is a fun set to play with!

Tractor Books

Here are the three books we’ve read about tractors this week:

• Goodnight Tractor: Cute illustrations and great for bedtime (or any time), rhyming words
• Driving My Tractor: Awesome pictures, repetition, a song, and video can be found on YouTube
• Scholastic Farm: Beautiful hardcover book, many real farm photos besides tractors including, plows, balers, and trailers

More Preschool Farm Activities

• Chicken Coop Dramatic Play
• Nature Play Mud Pies
• Muddy Pigs Painting