Village Preschool Had a Farm...EIEIO!

We had such fun this week with the visit from two different farms. On Thursday, the 3 year-old class had a visit from Stable T Farm. The farmers brought a pig named Dora, along with goats, a rabbit, a duck, and a chicken. The children were able to pet the animals and were also able to talk with the farmers and ask questions. Did you know that a pig can be domesticated? (That isn't a word that the children learned, but they did learn that the farmer and his wife keep Dora the pig as their house pet!) Imagine that!

On Friday, the 4 year-old class had a visit from A-Z petting zoo. This farmer set up a small fenced in stable and the children were able to pet and feed goats, a cow named Daisy, a donkey, and an alpaca! Each child got a cup of feed for the animals, and we soon learned that it was like candy to them - the children were very popular with the animals! Some children decided they'd rather look from a distance, which was just fine, too. We talked with the farmer about how the alpaca has a long neck like a giraffe. It was probably more noticeable because he had recently been sheared! At the end of our day on Friday, the children made a recall list of things they remembered or things that they learned about the animals.

At the water station this week, we washed farm animals.  We also spent time drawing pictures about the farm during work time.

During small group time in both the three and four-year-old classes, the children worked with the geo-boards. These wooden boards have nails in them, and the children are given rubber bands to stretch over the nails. Some realized quickly that they could make shapes, and when we added pumpkins and farm animals to the tables, the children spent a lot of time making their own stables. Not only were the children using the small muscles in their hands to stretch and place the rubber bands, they were using eye/hand coordination, as well as their imaginations! So many fun stories came from this activity. In fact, when it was time to go to work time, many of the children chose to stay at the tables and continue playing with the geo-boards!

Finally, on the playground this week, the 3 year-olds had taken out the large wooden blocks and had started to make a pile of the blocks on the stage area. When it became clear that the intention was to make a giant pile of blocks and try to climb on them (eek!) we asked the children if they could think of something they could do with the blocks that would be more safe for everyone involved. It doesn't always happen like this, but on this day, the children began working together to take down the pile, and to create something new - a boat! It was such fun watching the amount of teamwork that went into what happened next, that we knew it needed to be captured in photos. At one point, one of the boys said, "look! we are working together as a team!" Yes they were, indeed.

We hope you're all enjoying this amazing fall weekend!