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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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