Preschool children learn new concepts best when teachers provide hands-on activities for them. In this activity from the Preschool Education website, preschoolers pretend to milk a cow. With some preparation, teachers purchase or have a handy parent make a wooden sawhorse and decorate it to look like a cow. Teachers wrap many newspapers around the middle of the “cow” and drape a heavy brown blanket around it. To create the udders attach latex gloves to the underside of the cow, and poke a pinhole through the tip of each finger, or a few finger of the gloves. When students play, the gloves are filled with water so the preschoolers can “milk the cow.”
Teachers plan activities to give students a chance to pretend to be the animals they learn about during a farm unit. The Essortment website describes an activity where students can act out what they have learned about farms. Teachers set up an area of the classroom like a farm and provide students with hats, overalls and boots. If there is a real horse saddle available, students can use it on the ground to pretend riding a horse. Teachers also collect doctor items, such as stethoscopes, play medicine bottles and bandages. Students pretend to be a veterinarian and help the “injured” horses. Teachers can add to this play area with stuffed animals that can also be “patients.”
Preschoolers learn that sheep on a farm are sheared every year and their wool is taken to make sweaters and other items. The Activity Idea Place website suggest a fun way for young students to pretend to shear a sheep. In a corner of the classroom, the teachers set up an area for students to play. Items might include a pretend fence and a bale of hay. Teachers also collect a large basket of cotton balls. When partners go to the “sheep” station, Partner One gets on the floor “on all fours.” Partner Two pours the cotton balls onto the back of Partner One. If some fall off, Partner Two can replace them. Students make sure to have some of the cotton balls on their partner’s head. When it’s time to shear, Partner Two uses a classroom eraser as the means to shear the sheep. When all of the “wool” is gone, partners switch places.