Howdy! Cute Farm-Themed Calendar Numbers

Howdy! I just grabbed the cutest farm-themed calendar numbers from 3 Dinosaurs. This great mom blog contains tons of awesome printable preschool packs and much more on a variety of subjects. Be sure to head on over to grab your own!

3 Dinosaurs Blog  (Click on Calendar Printables on the homepage)

What Teaching Means to Me

During this Teacher Appreciation Week, I've thought back on one of the reasons why I became a teacher. It's definitely not for the salary, the glory or status. It's for the impact made on a child's life.

Education is one of the defining factors of a child's success in life. Unfortunately, early childhood educators are often thought of as caregivers with educational training, instead of the earliest providers of knowledge to the youngest of children. Yes, we wipe their tears and comfort them when they are fearful, but we are teachers first and foremost. We have the ability and obligation to make their very first lessons as enriching and fulfilling as humanly possible. 

Teaching is a journey that has its ups and downs. Burn out, exasperation and weariness are stepping stones which sadly have befallen teachers through the ages. Just keep in mind that one inspiring teacher that brought a smile to your face or piqued your interest in learning. They are our heroes! 

So, when the day becomes difficult, overly hectic and you feel like giving up, tune out all your frustrations and focus on a child or (children) who have blossomed due to your expertise and care. To them you are the hero! Just imagine that one day, that student may be the history maker or teacher of tomorrow.

It's Egg-cellent: Hen Sitting on a Nest Number Recognition Math Center Game and Another Egg-citing Color Matching Game

Here's an egg-cellent math center that educates children in number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, and matching numeric amounts to their correct numerals.

Items Needed
Chicken coloring page
Markers
Egg and nest clip art
Number stickers
Copier (if needed to enlarge clip art)
Laminator (optional)

How to Make Hen Sitting on a Nest Number Recognition Game 

1. Print out a chicken coloring page. Color, if necessary. 
2. Affix number stickers to hens. 
3. Laminate hens. (optional) 
4. Print out clip art eggs and nests. Enlarge the egg and nest clip art, if needed. 
5. Laminate egg clip art and nest. (optional) 

How Child Plays in Center 

1. Child views the numbered hen sitting on her nest. 
2. After recognizing the number, the child places the correct number of eggs within the nest. Example: if the hen is labeled with a number 3 the child places 3 eggs in the nest. 
3. Child continues until all nests have been completed. 

The other game enables students to practice their color matching skills. The game is made by using an empty egg carton and placing color coding labels or magic marker dots within the egg holes. The child then places a plastic egg into the matching color egg hole (ex. place a pink egg in the pink egg hole) and so on. 

Blazin' Boards: May Farm-Themed Door Display

What's moo? Chick out our newest door display that corresponds to our fabulous farm unit! The children helped develop their fine motor and sensory exploration skills by either feather painting cheeping chicks or moo-velous cows.

Great Barns of Fire!: Tabletop Barn Made From a Cardboard Box

Barn to be wild!

close-up of scrapbook paper roof. 

Plumber's tape door close-up. 

Goodness, gracious great barns of fire! Check out this bodacious barn my crafty diva mom created for our farm unit. She was so sweet and surprised me by making it when I was was lesson planning. It's nice to have the best mom in the world, right?

The Farm-nomenal Farm: Types of Farms Learning Mat

Holy cow! Who knew there were so many kinds of farms out there? From aquaculture (fish/shellfish etc. farming) to dairy farming and everything in between. Take a look and see why farming is definitely something to crow about!

Types of Farms Learning Mat 
Subject: Science (Agricultural Science): Identifying many kinds of farms and recognizing the animals and plants which are developed/farmed there.

Items Needed to Make 
Dark blue card stock
Lime green card stock
Light green printing paper
Green marker
Glue or glue runner
Scissors
Sun and cloud sticker
Pencil to draw hill shapes
Laminator (Optional)
Laminating sheets (Optional)
Clip Art from Clker.com or a Word processing program

To Make

1. Draw 2 large hill shapes and 2 small hill shapes from light green printing paper and lime green card stock. 
2. Glue the hills onto dark blue card stock with glue or a glue runner. 
3. Use a green marker to draw small lines to create grass on the mountains. 
4. Place a cloud/sun sticker in the upper left-hand corner of your dark blue card stock. 
5. Laminate. (Optional) 
6. Find clip art for various farms such as a barn and a cow for dairy farming or a chicken and a chicken coop for poultry farming etc. Cut out clip art using scissors. 
7. Laminate. (Optional)

How to Teach with  Types of Farms Learning Mat 

1. Place the Types of Farms Learning Mat in center of circle. 
2. Tell the children that you are going to be learning about many kinds of farms. Ask the children what they think a farm is. 
3. After giving them a few moments to answer, instruct the children that a farm is a place where people called farmers grow plants and raise animals for food. 
4. Continue the lesson by identifying the many types of farms. Hold up the barn and tell the children that it is a dairy farm where milk is made. Ask them if they think a chicken or a cow helped make the milk. After the correct answer is told, place the cow next to the dairy barn. Continue with all of the animals and farming types you had printed out or until the children's attention span has waned. 

Other Uses for the Types of Farms Learning Mat 

Play dough Mat: Have the children create sheep, cows, pigs and other farm animals using play dough. 

Math Mat: Use a die and have the children roll it. Have them count the dots and place the amount indicated on the die such as rolling a five and putting five chips on the mat. This helps foster one-to one correspondence skills. 

Positional Awareness Mat: Early math skills are developed through placing farm animal figurines or shapes on top of the hills, next to the hills, by the barn etc. 

Hay You! Straw to Meet You!: Creating Haystacks/Straw Out of Cardboard Boxes!

We're Down On the Farm during our latest unit! Since we're hog wild about anything related to agriculture and the country life,  I decided to create some good old-fashioned hay stacks to liven up our farmer's market dramatic play center. These haystacks are so life -like they would surely make even Old Farmer McDonald smile. See the following directions to create these haystacks that will have your children searching for a needle in the proverbial haystack too!

Items Needed

2 small cardboard boxes (I used the boxes that our hand soap came in.) 

Yellow acrylic paint 

Glue or glue runners 

Yellow card stock 

Fiskars crimping tool (Available at craft stores)

Scissors to cut various papers 

Yellow yarn

Yellow construction paper 

Light tan crayon (I used Crayola Crayon's Tumbleweed.)

Tan yarn 

To Make Haystacks

1. Paint haystacks with yellow acrylic paint. Let dry. 
2. Use Fiskars crimping tool to crimp small pieces of yellow card stock. 
3. Cut crimped card stock pieces into long strips with scissors. 
4. Glue crimped card stock onto sides of box with glue or glue runners. 
5. When finished with previous step, glue yellow yarn on random areas of the box horizontally to create a three-dimensional look. 
6. Tear yellow construction paper into strips and glue in a desired pattern onto your box. 
7. Draw zig-zag patterns on desired areas of the box to develop a more rustic haystack. 
8. Glue tan yarn in a cross shape around the entire box to finish your haystack. 

What Haystacks Teach Children About Farm Life 

Science: That hay is a crop that farmers grow and is used on the farm as feed for animals and for gardening purposes. Describe early methods of hay production and harvesting. 

Language Arts: Teaches children words such as bales, harvesting, hay loft, fodder (animal feed) and other hay-related vocabulary. 

Social Studies: Talk about the importance of hay in early American farm life and how it shaped life on the farm. 

Math: Talk about the "bale" form of measurement. 

Dramatic Play: (Language Arts/Role playing): Children create imaginative play experiences while using farm-related language. 

Gross Motor: Students pick up and stack hay barrels.