Farm and domestic animals are such an easy and fun theme! Babies and toddlers learn a lot of these animals very quickly because they almost all make sounds that can be replicated!
Language/Literacy:
Little Man’s Recommendations:
Old MacDonald by Jill Ackerman
Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin or any of her other books
Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley
Little Kitten by L. Rigo
Touch and Feel: Puppy by DK
Spot book series by Eric Hill
Clifford book series by Norman Bridwell
The Fuzzy Duckling by Jane Werner Watson
The Little Red Hen by J.P. Miller
Goodnight My Duckling and Have You Seen My Duckling by Nancy Tafuri
Bright Baby: On the Farm; Baby Animals; and Perfect Pets by Roger Priddy
Baby Touch and Feel: Animals by DK
Mathematic/Cognitive Skills:
Puzzles – Little man is still too small to do a puzzle on his own, but we have a farm animal puzzle that makes a sound for each animal. We talk about the animals and the noises they make as I complete the puzzle. Little man seems to enjoy the sounds!
We also have the activity box shown below. It was given to us by a friend, so I don’t know where to find it. I tried looking for it online, but haven’t been successful. If you would find it, leave a comment, and I’ll add the link! 🙂 I think it’s great! Little man isn’t able to do much with it yet, but I think he will really enjoy it when he’s older. The box has farm animals on the front with spaces to match shapes. As you can see, little man is definitely interested in the shapes. It also has matching animal blocks (pictured below). I showed him the rooster, cat, and dog since they were related to this theme!
If you don’t have any puzzles or blocks, a simple activity would be to print out pictures of real animals to use when singing five little ducks and five little speckled frogs. Then you can move and count them as you sing.
Science/Sensory:
The best thing for a science activity would be to visit an actual farm. Unfortunately, this isn’t something we are able to do right now, so I printed out pictures of real farm animals for little man to see. I also printed out some animal homes – barn, stable, pond, house – and then I showed little man where each animal belonged. He did not really understand what I was doing, but showing him and talking to him about these things will help with his language development, and he did enjoy looking at all the animals!
Motor:
Milking a cow! Mrsplemonskindergarten had the great idea to fill a latex glove with water, tie it off, poke tiny holes in the fingertips, and then squeeze the fingers! Just like you’re milking a cow! Little man loves water, and really enjoyed squirting it everywhere!
Art:
We made a pig in the mud picture. I tossed some brown paint and marbles in a Ziploc bag and let little man go to town. You don’t need the marbles, but it is fun to give your child different things to touch and feel as they paint. When the paint dried, I added a picture of a pig to it.
Music:
Old MacDonald
BINGO
Five Little Ducks
Five Little Speckled Frogs
Three Blind Mice
Baa Baa Black Sheep
The Farmer in the Dell
Mary Had a Little Lamb
*Like what you read about and saw? Find where I got some of little man’s favorite things.*
*Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.*