Farm Themed Tot School: Part III
It’s Friday, and that means the end of another fantastic week of Tot School. This is the final post of my Farm themed tot school unit. If you missed the first 2 parts, you can find them here, and here.
“Feed The Chickens” Tot Tray
This is a fantastic Montessori-based activity that focuses on spooning. Spooning is a fantastic way to develop hand strength and muscle control which is vital when children begin learning to write. To present this activity I placed a tray on our learning center with 3 small ceramic ramekins, one larger ceramic ramekin, and a spoon. Inside the larger ramekin I poured about 1/2 Cup dried split peas. The 3 smaller ramekins each contained a chicken figurine from our Battat Farm Animal Set
I then demonstrated for goose how to carefully scoop up one spoonful of peas and pour it into a ramekin. He up the necessary motions quickly and was soon rotating out his chickens so that all of our farm animals could be fed.
It’s important to note that no matter how careful your child is, you will ultimately end up with peas on your floor. However, presenting this activity on a tray does help keep the mess contained.
Animal Sorting Activity
I came up with the idea for this activity when I noticed that Nugget was having a hard time distinguishing between the animals in our Battat Farm Animal Set
I purchased these wooden trays several years ago at Target, but this one is very similar. Inside each tray I adhered a set of 4 Velcro tabs. The opposite side of the Velcro tabs was attached to a laminated image of each type of animal. This provided a great deal of variety in the sorting, because I could group up to 4 types of animal within each ‘fence’.
Once the activity was prepared, I gave a lesson to both Nugget and Goose. I showed them how to sort through the animals to find the ones that match the picture within each tray. For Nugget, I kept the activity very simple. I began with only a single, easily identifiable animal in each pen. Then I gradually increased the difficulty.
For Goose, I focused on the animals that looked the most alike. Then I encouraged him to carefully examine the animals to find characteristics that make them easier to identify. I.e. the goat and the dog figures are very similar so I helped him check for horns to tell the two apart.
Farm Animal Alphabet Clip Cards
I designed this set of clip cards to help children begin to recognize the sound that words start with, and then associate that sound with the corresponding letter. We love to play “the sound game” with Goose when we’re driving in the car. I pick an object and ask him to tell me what sound it starts with. Then we take turns trying to think of other words that start with the same sound. This is particularly great because I often come up with words that Goose isn’t familiar with so he is building vocabulary as I explain what the words mean.
The sound game can easily be adjusted to accommodate older children. Ask them to identify the sound that a word ends with or even a middle sound. As children become more accustomed to this game, you can begin to introduce clip cards like these. The idea is for the child to name the animal shown, then identify the sound that it starts with. Finally, have them point out the letter that makes that sound. They are called ‘clip cards’ because parents often have the child use a clip or clothespin to mark their letter selection.
I like to present the cards on a metal tray or cookie sheet along with a set of small magnets. (As always, keep small magnets away from young children for whom they could present a choking hazard.) To get your free set of printable clip cards sign up below. You will receive your link and access code for my Free Digital Resource Library. Hint: There’s a lot more there than just clip cards!
What do you think? Did you enjoy this week’s farm unit? Let me know how it went, and what unit themes you would like to see next in the comments below.