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Farm Math Ideas
Egg Carton Math
Explain to the children what a dozen is and discuss things sold by
the dozen.
Then have each child bring in an empty egg carton and label the egg carton cups 1 - 12.
Pass
out egg shapes with number words or pictures on them and have
children
put them in the correct cups. You may want to use plastic
eggs with this activity.
Counting Eggs Match
Draw and cut out a dozen eggs on poster board. Eggs should be
approximately six inches high.
Next, cut the eggs in two in a zig-zag fashion, as if they've cracked. Paper clip the two egg
halves
together as you cut them out. On one half of each egg,
write one of the numbers from 1 to 12.
On the other half of each
egg, draw the corresponding number of dots. Laminate them if
possible
for longevity. You are now ready to introduce the
matching game to the children. Gather the
children around you. Lay
the cracked eggs out randomly. Ask the children, "When we count,
what number do we begin with ? (one) Find the eggshell with the
number one written on it."
Next, "Find the half egg with one dot."
Show the children how the eggs fit together. Continue
with the
number two, and so on. Discuss the meaning of one dozen.
Allow the
children to work in pairs or as individuals with the game.
Nesting Hen
Place some plastic eggs under a pillow. Have each child take turns
sitting on the
pillow and guess how many eggs are under the
pillow. Count the eggs with the children.
Whose Nest?
Cut five mother hen shapes, five nest shapes and fifteen egg
shapes out of felt.
Number the hens from 1 to 5. Glue a different
number of eggs (from 1 to 5) on each
nest shape. Place the nests
and the mother hens on a flannel board. Let the children help the
mother hens find their nests by counting the eggs and matching
each hen to the appropriate nest.
A Dozen Eggs
Number twelve eggs or Ping Pong balls 1 through 12 with paint or a
marking pen.
Have the child place the eggs in numerical order in
an egg carton. To make the
activity easier for younger children,
write the appropriate numeral in the bottom of each
section of the
egg carton. Talk about the word "dozen." What other items are sold
by the dozen?
Egg Toss
Number the sections of an egg carton with a marking pen. Choose
the numbers 1 through 12,
or any other numbers you wish to teach.
If teaching very young children, use only a few numbers
and repeat
them two or three times. Pretend a Ping Pong ball is an egg. Ask
the child to toss the egg
into any section of the egg carton, and
have the child call out the number of the section in which the egg
lands.
Milk Venn Diagram
Make a Venn Diagram asking the question - Which
do you like better: white milk
or chocolate milk? Let kids drink dixie cup of each and put a pic
of a die-cut white
cow in white milk circle or brown cow in choc. milk circle to
answer the question.
Measure Your Milk
Gather milk containers in the following sizes:
one cup, one quart, four quarts,
two half gallons, one gallon. Plastic containers will allow
children to see th
e colored water as it is added one cup at a time to demonstrate
the relationship
between a cup, quart, half gallon, and gallon. Set up this
experiment outdoors.
Help the children chart their findings and observations.
Counting Cows
Make a fence from tagboard using 10 squares
measuring 6 x 6.
Color fences on them, attach accordion style and label each with
a #1
through #10. Color spots on cows, one spot goes by the #1 fence,
etc.
Milk Carton Match Up
Cut bottoms (2) of 1/2 gallon milk cartons.
Using contact paper put pictures
of farm animals on each of the four sides of one carton. In a
different order,
put copies of the first set of pictures on the other carton.
Fasten at bottoms
with brad fastener. Spin the two cartons to match animals.
Cow Counting
Make a construction paper cow for each child to
color and cut out.
Have the children clip their paper cows to a piece of
clothesline suspended
between two chairs using clothespins. Then have the children
observe
the cows and count how many cows are in the herd.
Teach the children the poem below. Clap to establish a rhythm.
I went to the market to buy some brown cows.
I looked at the chickens, I looked at the sows.
I looked at the piglets and almost forgot
Those brown spotted cows that needed to be bought!
Ask a child the following question" "How many
cows are you going to buy?"
This child can roll a dice and move that number of cows into a
separate group
on the line. Ask the question, "How many cows did you leave
behind?"
The children can count the number of cows that were not bought.
Repeat the above cow jingle. Continue until all the children
have had a turn to buy cows.
Horse Measurement
Horses are measured with hands from the ground
to the ridge between
its shoulders called withers. Make a set of laminated kids hands
that kids can use to measure each other and the things in the
room.
Counting Sheep
Cut out a simple shape for a sheep. Have the
children decorate with cotton balls, black felt for ears,
plastic jewels for eyes, and a cute blue or pink ribbon for its
collar. Place all the lovely sheep on your wall
and start a fun game of counting the sheep as you explain that
people do this to help them fall asleep.
Counting Sheep II
Draw one to five circles onto green
construction paper. Encourage the children to take
the sheep to pasture by matching plastic or cutout sheep to the circles on
each paper.
Cotton Ball Counting
(Photo submitted by Nanette)
Print out numbered sheep or write your own
numbers onto sheep patterns. Encourage
the children to place the corresponding number of cotton balls onto
each sheep.
Turkey Body
Cut five turkey body shapes out of brown felt and fifteen feather
shapes out of red,
yellow, and orange felt. Number the turkey body shapes from 1 to 5 and put them on a flannel board.
Place the feather shapes in a pile. To play the game, have the
children take turns selecting a turkey,
identifying the number on
it and adding that many feathers to it. You could also do this in
circle time
and have all the children work together to get the
feathers on the turkeys.
Mr. Rooster Clock
Make a clock out of a paper plate.
On the back glue this rhyme
Mr. Rooster, please go back to bed
It's ____ o'clock and I'm a sleepyhead
Mr. Rooster, I am warning you
STOP THAT COCK A DOODLE DOO!
We change the time on the clock and sing it over and over and
over.....
Graphing Animals
We take pictures of farm animals, zoo animals,
and household pets.
We give each child a few in each category. We talk about what
animals belong on a farm,
in a zoo, or can be kept as pets in our home. We talk about why each
animal belongs in
each category. Sometimes we continue the lesson by then doing a class
"graphing".
We take a random grouping of cards, and graph them under their
category.
The students then talk about what group has more or less. Some
years we do
field trips to all three, a local farm, the zoo, and a vets office.
Usually we do
this assignment before one of these trips, sometimes we do it before more
than one to remind the kids what animals we can expect to see at
our field trip.
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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