A farm animals unit is great for early elementary and preschool kids, and I’ll freely admit most of these posts are geared for that age range. We studied many of these animals in kindergarten and preschool, but some of these were also studied during second grade.
Cows and Horses
My daughter is a horse fanatic, and I have to admit I was a horse fanatic as a child too. We took a couple of weeks to learn about horses, with some hands on horse activities looking at our model horses.
By contrast my son loves cows, so it was natural when we learned about cows, we had to take some time to learn about a cow stomach and how complicated it is.
General Farm Animals
Most animals you’ll find in a farm animals unit are ungulates, or hooved creatures. Ungulates are organized in an interesting way, so an ungulate animal sort is a fun activity.
An important activity for any farmer is to know what animals are on his land, so identifying the animal footprint is very important.
My kids’ favorite farm animal activity was our farm animal sort, I think because they got to play with toys and call it school. This was back when they were in kindergarten, so this is a great activity for younger kids.
After you’ve had fun playing and learning about farm animals, when you’re ready to settle down, grab some of these farm animal books.
And as a side note, it’s my birthday today, so Happy Birthday to me! We celebrated last night going to Zilker, because tomorrow we head out of town yet again for a mission trip to the Navajo nation and helping build a church in New Mexico.
My kids would definitely enjoy that farm animals sort!
It’s a terrific series. I remember many of those posts. Since both my husband and I both come from big cities, neither of us is a horse fanatic. In fact, I rode a horse only once in my life so far. Perhaps more one day.
This is bringing back memories of Apologia Zoology about five years ago. Sigh. Where does the time go? Oh well, I’ll be doing it again with my younger set soon.