15 Ideas for a Preschool Farm Theme

My preschoolers always seem to enjoy learning about the farm! It can be about the crops being harvested, about planting seeds, about farm machines, and about baby farm animals being born. Any season of the year is a good one for a farm theme in preschool! Below are some ideas we’ve enjoyed while learning about the farm:

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“Put the Mud on the Pig” Dice Game
Our students love any games that involve dice, so Mary Poppins and I try to include them often. The silly title makes it even more fun for the children to play while exploring math concepts. The post includes a link for a free printable.

“On the Farm” Book-Making
With me at the literacy center, our students made a book about some animals that live on the farm. Each page had typed words, but the kiddos created the art work and assembled each page with a little help from me. I love making books with the children, as it makes literacy so much more meaningful to them!

Paint with Produce
Letting children paint with corn cobs, apples, pumpkins, and other farm products is such a fun experience for them!! It lets the kids get their hands on real farm products, and it also allows the children to explore art without paint brushes.

I love this picture! Can you tell he LOVED painting with the corn cobs? You can see his artwork in the corner there, and I’m sure you can tell he really got INTO the paint!

Hatch Chicks
Our Music/Resource teacher brought in eggs from a local farm last year. The children (ages 1 to 30+) enjoyed watching the chicks hatch. It brought a real piece of the farm into school for a few weeks!

Pretend Play in the Home Center
Straw hats, gloves for the “farmers”, pretend fruits and vegetables, plaid shirts, and baskets made for a great pretend farm! Some of the kiddos even pretended to be scarecrows protecting the farmers’ crops. Fantastic Fun and Learning has an awesome Vegetable Stand Pretend Play that would be a hit with kiddos too!

Barn Art
At the free art center, our students designed their own barns. Nothing fancy-schmancy, but free art doesn’t need to be! I loved seeing what the kids come up with using markers, glue, and construction paper. Some of them really got into it, while others went with basic squares with windows. Either way, I was impressed with how each of the students did his best in his own way.

Oats Sensory Play
Something as simple as oats is a great sensory experience for kids of all ages! In the past, preschoolers have turned the oats into a bakery shop, a breakfast for the three bears, and a variety of other pretend-play experiences. On top of that, there’s so much sensory and science learning while they’re “just playing” with the oats!

Building Barns
The kiddos had fun in our building center this week. They used a variety of blocks to build barns and farms for the plastic animals. Some were incredibly focused on the creation of the structure, while others had more fun with the small world play. Listening to the conversations as they ran their farms was hysterical!

Duck Hand Print Art
To go along with David Shannon’s fun book Duck on a Bike, the kiddos had fun making their own duck hand prints. I had even more fun watching them design bikes for their ducks!

Baby Chicks Craft
Mary Poppins did a fun baby chick craft with the kiddos! We couldn’t remember if this was inspired by something else, though. If it was, I will come back and cite the source here. Mary Poppins gave each child a sponge paint wand to dip in yellow paint and create a chick shape. Once the paint was dried, the children added self-adhesive wiggly eyes and yellow feathers.