down on the farm

the kids have been into everything farm

we even made up a farm song today

(because i can't sing old mac donald one more time)

title of our song is

Down on the farm

(tune of the song, down by the bay)

Down on the Farm

where the corn grows tall

i want to go

and see it all

for when i do

my grandpa would say

(the kids are also obsessed with their grandpas)

did you ever see a goat, riding in a boat

DOWN ON THE FARM!

other options for the 2nd to last line

did you ever see a snake dragging a rake

sheep riding in a jeep

pig wearing a wig

cow taking a bow

horse playing a piano of course

hen writing with a pen
a duck riding in a truck
rooster sitting in a booster (i couldn't think of anything better)

(i can't think of any other farm animals)

let me tell ya, the giggles that i got singing this song was amazing!!

now of course we needed to do some farm projects!

we milked a "cow"

rubber glove, and paint and something to pike holes with

 i poked small holes in the tips of the glove
then filled the glove with paint!

the kids then squeezed the "utters" and milked our cow!

i have a cd called "smile at your neighbor" (AWESOME CD)

and there is a song about milking a cow

so we sang part of it

"how did you milk her?"

"squirt, squirt, squirt!"

this activity was SUPER FUN!  the kids could have done this all morning!

i just had the kids milk the cow into a cup and then would refill the glove and do it again!

it was hard to take pictures since i needed to be there to hold the "utter"

we made a graph
"what is your favorite farm animal?"

we had a cow, duck, chicken, rooster, pig, and sheep

i got the animals from the link below!

it was a great link with lots of farm ideas!

i put one animal on each section so the kids could also do a little matching

since not all the kiddos are able to read!

we figured out the pigs had the most after we counted each animal!

one to one correspondence is something that we need to work on around here!

(which means for each object its given a number, some of the kids would skip, or say one number and point twice)

 we matched the the farm animals

(this can be found in the link below)

a little memory game for the younger kiddos!

we also tried figuring out what each farm animal does
i had a picture of the animals from "whats your favorite farm animal"
and asked the kids questions like:
"which animal swims in the pond?"
or
"which animal makes milk?"
it was fun talking about all the different farm animals and what each one does!

lots of farm animal printables

and finally we helped out a pink big by letting them play in the mud

some of the kiddos were here early and painted their pigs pink

 and then we set them aside to let them dry!

when another group of kiddos arrived (i printed those kids pigs on pink paper)

we got out the brown paint and let the pigs play in the mudd!

the kids got a huge kick out of this and we did lots of body part naming!

the kids would say what part of the pig would get muddy!

snouts, tummys, feet, eats, curly pig tails, ect!

 here is the pig we used
pig printable

Be sure to come back tomorrow for more farm fun!!

linking up with
Mingle with Us
Weekly Kids Co-op
and
Its Play Time

make sure to check out all these WONDERFUL blogs that are full of awesomeness!

finally i leave you with babies and mo hawks!
they make me happy!

growing like weeds...

or maybe i should say they are growing like flowers because it sounds nicer

but really these kids are growing like CRAZY!!

i have been doing daycare for almost 4 years 

have added 2 families 

lost 1 family (kid had to go and grow up!)

otherwise i have had the same families

and they just keep having babies to keep me in busy!

we hung up a flower to see everyone growing!

one of these days I am going to get one of those giant rulers so i can keep their little marks 

forever, FOREVER (insert sandlot voice)

the kids LOVE to be measured! 

we are talking ME FIRST, OUT OF MY WAY

LOVE to be measured!

waiting for his "mark"

i always have to explain to the boys

when they are almost in tears because a girl is taller than them

that girls grow faster than boys at first but eventually

you will be taller.

After we got our "marks" on the flower

we took leftover easter grass

some popsicle sticks and pom poms

glue, paint and paper

and let the kids create what they wanted to with these items!

i love to set up a table and let the kids work where they want 

and move freely from the table to their work area!

they always enjoy this method as well!!

babies stayed busy with throwing easter grass everywhere!

little boys stayed busy with pouring a bottle of glue to one piece of grass!

squeezing glue is a great fine motor skill

so even though it pains me to see the glue be "wasted"

i know that eventually they will learn!

"jill, look i did it!"

way to go buddy! you did a great job pouring glue all over your paper 

and then setting some easter grass on top!

you are a rock star!

some of the kids made lorax trees!

some of the kids made flowers planted in pink grass!

some made a beautiful garden!!

Linking up with 

Show and Tell #96

and

Sunday Showcase

budding artist

yet again, 

i get caught up in stressing out about finding a really cool project to do

when really all the kids want to do is 

anything that involves 

painting

cutting

gluing

coloring

making a mess

so today 

it was paper plates

paint

and paint brushes

these kids are creative and just went to town 

painting a million 30 paper plates.

they had fun

they used some great language

mixed up some great colors

and created some amazing things

i sometimes need a reminder that the things we do are for the kids

not me, the parents, or the blog...THE KIDS!

can you find the plate that was named

"a pink snowman in a purple blizzard"

i tell ya these kids are talented, creative, and smart!