Apr 3, 2011

F is for Farm - Tot School

Last week we had a blast with our farm activities! We were even able to finish the week with a visit to a farm which was super fun!!

One of John's favorite activities this week was playing with Animal Command Cards that I created. We actually did this for the first time after dinner one night with Daddy. John had so much fun with Brad! He would take a card, then lay it on a letter on the mat, then do the action. Over and over again! Too cute! Sometimes during the week I would be sitting in the living room and John would come running in saying 'Mommy! I roll like a pig! and stomp like a cow!'. So, this one was a hit.

reading the cards with Daddy...


strutting like a rooster...


rolling like a pig...




He enjoyed using the heads/tails puzzle from a tot pack I found online (and I can't remember where I found it!!) He didn't need my help with any of these and did the puzzle several times this week.



I found an animal sorting activity from File Folder Fun and modified it to sort farm/non farm animals. This was another well liked activity for John. He would lay out all the animals and say 'Mommy, will you sort with me?' which meant I had to say 'Does the ___ live on a farm?!' for each card. For some reason he really wanted me to ask for each card EVERY TIME. :)



We played with the farm flannel board that I posted about HERE. John LOVED the cow pieces and wanted to carry them around with him all the time. It is so funny what they get attached to!

We read TONS of farm books!! We had several at the house and I checked out a bunch from the library. John LOVES to read. He will quickly memorize books and then 'read' to himself. It is just too cute! (it is also handy that he can read to himself because I get really tired of reading the same book 20 times in one day! haha!)



John helped me put the tractors (also from the tot pack that I can't find again) in order from biggest to smallest. I would ask 'which is the biggest tractor?' and he could pick that out. I would take it and then ask him to find the biggest from the remaining pile until we got them all in order. He can't really do it all on his own yet!



I gathered a bunch of farm animal toys and a foam letter F for Matthew to play with while we were doing our tot school time.





John 'helped' Matthew complete a wooden farm puzzle. I was even a good mommy and put the batteries in this puzzle. Is it just me, or are some toys just SO annoying with their sounds????



Matthew LOVED LOVED LOVED when John played with a stick horse. He was laughing and was so excited every time John galloped near him. So I was able to get John to stop at each lap around the dining room so Matthew could 'kiss' the horse. We even let the horse 'lay in the hay where her little one lay' (from the book Barn Dance that we read a million times!) so Matthew could have a chance to play with the horse a little.







We did two art projects: a fluffy lamb and a 'muddy' pig. John did GREAT with these!
(I don't have a pic of the lamb, but we just glued cotton balls to a picture of a lamb!)



Lastly, we made some cupcakes because I had some cow sprinkles in the pantry. As usual, John loved the icing (and ate a bunch of it while we made it!) and didn't even try one bite of the cupcake. He even destroyed the cupcakes as he was decorating them because he wanted to eat the icing off of them. Matthew was our big helper too! :)









We ended the week by visiting a spring event at a local farm. Check back later this week for pictures...I think this post is long enough! haha!

I link up to these parties!

5 comments:

  1. Another fun week for John and Matthew. Great job, Jen.

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  2. I see Matthew is in "What that tastes like?" faze! LOL So cute!

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  3. Love the Animal Command Cards. My kids really enjoy anything that lets them walk around and be goofy. :) Thanks for sharing!

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  4. So fun!! I never put batteries in any toys either. My girls are always shocked to find out toys make noise when they come across those toys at friends' homes. So funny! These activities look like so much fun!

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  5. What a fun week! I am with you on the annoying sounds and toys. I ALWAYS take out the batteries!

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