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Farm Game Ideas
Name the Animal
Make a felt/magnet animal for each child.
(There could be duplicates.)
Bring the felt magnet board and the animals to circle time.
Have the children put their hands behind their backs and then
quickly
go around and give each child one animal. Set up the felt/magnet
board for
everyone to see. Name one child. Have him/her secretly look at
his/her animal
and then walk towards the board make his/her animals noise.
The children call out what animal they think he/she has. The
child puts it on the board.
If the other children correctly named the animal, the child
says, "You guessed it."
If they don't, the child says, "Guess again." Continue until all
the animals are on the board.
Stick the Spot On the
Holstein
Prepare a poster with the outline of a cow large
enough to accommodate "spots"
from every child in your classroom. Tape the cow to a wall in an
open area.
Cut out irregular black felt "Spot" shapes, approximately 3 " in
diameter.
Have the children sit on the floor near the cow poster. Give
each child a spot
with masking tape on the back. Have each child walk up to the
cow and place
his/her spot on the cow. Comment on where each child places
his/her spot.
How Now Brown Cow
Make a different cow for each child and a
duplicate a set for yourself. Give each child a cow.
Pick one from your stack and pin it to the bulletin board. Have
the children look at their cows.
If the children think that they have a match to the one on the
board, let them bring them up
and pin them next to your cow. Have
the children examine the cows closely.
If they match, have the children say, "How now, brown cow!" If
the cows do not match,
the children should take the cow back and continue to watch for a
match.
Milk Jug Tossing Games
Recycle plastic milk jugs for a variety of
classroom uses. Simply cut a wide circle around
the spout of a clean milk jug, leaving the handle intact. Use
the jugs for tossing games,
inviting children to toss and catch bean bags or sponge balls.
Or have children try to bounce balls into the jugs.
Add A Sound
next to you and say a farm animal sound, such as "moo." That
child takes the telephone
and calls the person next to him, says the first sound and adds
another animal sound.
Continue for several more children; then have the next child say
all of the animal sounds aloud.
Everyone repeat them. Begin the game again.
Pin the Tail On the Donkey
To make
your own game, draw a picture of a donkey on the chalkboard. Have
each child cut out
a donkey tail. Stick a piece of folded tape to the back of each tail.
Blindfold one child at a time.
Gently turn the children around
once, and then see if they can "pin" their tails on the donkey.
Horsies, Horsies To The
Barn
Choose one child at a time to be
the caller and call out
"Horsies, horseies to the barn"
All the children gallop to the area designated as barn while
neighing like a horse
The caller chooses other animals.
We usually use:
Duckies
waddle to the pond
Cows
amble to the barn
Bunnies hop to the hutch
Chickens/
roosters strut to the coop
Bees fly to the hive
Duck, Duck, Goose
Invite the children
to sit in a circle. Choose one child to be "it."
That child walks around the outside of the circle and says
"Duck" as he or she
gently touches each child's head. When "it" comes to a child that
he or she wishes
to choose, he or she says "goose." The "goose" must then chase
"it" around the circle.
If "it" returns to the empty space without being tagged, the
"goose" is the next child to be
"it." A tagged child sits in the "mush pot" (space in center of
the circle) until another
child is caught and takes his or her place.
Duck, Duck, Goose II
Play 'duck, duck,
goose' except instead of running, squat and waddle like ducks.
Duck, Duck, GUESS
Play this game
similarly to the traditional Duck, Duck, Goose, but with a twist
that
will get your kiddos thinking. Before seating everyone in a
circle, put a small farm
animal picture card necklace around each child's neck so that the
card is in the
back where the child can't see it. Play the game just like Duck,
Duck, Goose
until someone lands in the center of the circle. Then have the
children in the circle
give the child in the center clues about the farm animal on her
card. When she guesses
the picture, she may leave the center of the circle and be "IT"
for the next round of play.
Disappearing Ducks
Have the children
pretend to be little ducks and line up behind you.
Lead them around the room as you say the poem below. Begin the
poem
with the number of children playing. For six players, start the
poem as follows:
Six little ducks
went out to play
Over the hill and far away.
Mother Duck said, "Quack, quack, quack, quack,"
And five little ducks came waddling back.
As you waddle around
the room, go behind a partition made up of a row of chairs, a
table,
or a long piece of furniture. Have the children at the end of the
line crouch behind
the partition while the other children continue to follow you.
Keep repeating the poem,
each time leaving a child behind. When all the children are
behind the partition,
change the last line of the poem to read:
And no little ducks
cam waddling back."
Then recite the
verse below and have all the children come waddling out.
No little ducks came
out to play,
Over the hill and far away.
Mother Duck said, "Quack, quack, quack, quack!"
And six little ducks came waddling back.
Ducky Movements
Ask the children to
show you different ducky movements such as waddling, swimming,
wing-flapping, splashing, bug catching, etc. Have them form a
line. Ask the child at
the front of the line to demonstrate one of the movements. The
other children imitate
the movement and follow behind the leader. Then have the leader
move to the end
of the line and the next child takes a turn being the leader and
choosing a ducky
movement for the others to do. Be sure everyone has a turn being
the lead duck.
Animal Sorting
Mount
pictures of animals on tag board. Encourage the children to sort
the pictures into farm,
pet, and zoo categories. Encourage discussion! You might add other
familiar pictures and invite
the children to sort the picture
cards into simpler categories, such as "Animal" and "Not Animal."
Horseshoes
Invite the children
to play horseshoes. Use a plastic commercial set of horseshoes
or cut a set from plastic lids and throw them around weighted
plastic bottles.
Then sponsor a "Horseshoe - Pitching Contest."
Ride A Little Horsey
Have the
children pretend to ride a horse.
Have them hold onto the reins and recite the following poem:
Ride a little horsey,
Down to town.
You'd better be careful,
So you don't fall down.
Everyone falls down on the last line. You can repeat the poem very
slowly and very fast.
Horse Color Game
Cut 5 horse body
shapes out of poster board. Paint each body a different color.
Paint two spring-type clothespins to match each body color.
children
match and clip the clothespins "legs" to the corresponding
horse.
Pin The Tail On The Horse
Similar to the game
"Pin the tail on the donkey".
Lasso A Horse
Throw hoops onto a
rocking horse (or make one out of 2 chairs).
Stickhorse Races
Let the children
create their own stick horses (you'll find this activity in the
Pre-K Fun art section). Then have stick horse races. You can
also purchase
some really cute stick horses at Wal-Mart or local toy store.
Pin the Tail on the Pig
This is another way to do "Pin the Tail on the Donkey". Make a
large pig
out of pig paper.
For the tail, use pink ribbon and pin the tail
on the pig
using a push pin.
Egg Rolling
Mark a starting line and a finishing line. Children must roll
their eggs from one line to the next
using a spoon or similar
object to push the eggs. If a player touches their egg or breaks
their
egg they are out of the race. The first person to get their
egg across the finish line wins.
For an added twist, roll the eggs
down a hill!
Spoon Races With Eggs
Designate a starting line and a finishing line. Every person gets
an egg and a spoon
(larger, soup spoons work best). All
contestants line up on the starting line and
put their eggs in
their spoons. At the word go, everyone races to the finish line;
the first person to cross wins. If your egg falls of your spoon,
you must go back
to the starting line and begin again. For a bit
of variety, make this a relay race
or make the contestants run an obstacle course! If you really want to get tricky,
have the races
hold the end of the spoon in their mouths.
Yard Bowling with Eggs
Place one egg in the center of a large circle. Have all players
stand just outside the circle.
Everyone should have one egg.
Everyone takes turns rolling their egg towards the egg in
the
center of the circle. The object of the game is to get as close to
the center egg as
possible without touching it. If you touch the
center egg, or break your egg, you are out!
Farm Animal Bingo
Teach
the kids the song bingo. Get stickers of farm animals and
make up bingo cards with the stickers.
Use smarties candies as the markers so the kids
can have a fun treat at the end whether they win or not.
For prizes buy a cheap bag of plastic animals from the toy store
and they can pick an animal for their prize.
Variation:
One thing our younger group likes is a Bingo game.
I have made up simple Bingo cards
with farm animal pictures and laminated them. I have a cd with farm
animal sounds.
They get to mark off the animals as its sound is heard.
There are no winners or losers, they just all enjoy the playing of
the game
Milk Jug Lid Memory Match Game
Create a memory matching game
with milk jug lids and farm animal stickers.
Pre-K Fun Theme Pages are
for educational reference only!
No copyright infringement is intended.
I do not claim any of these as my own ideas.
They are shared from friends and fellow group
members.
Thanks for sharing all your great ideas!
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