Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Easy Crafts for Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Preschool Crafts for Old MacDonald Had a Farm
keep kids busy with rainy day activities with cheap craft and easy crafts

We have a great farm near our house that is open to the public.  They have all kinds of pigs, cows, goats, and even overpriced fish food and people food!  Just kidding, it really is a great place.  It's been getting nice outside so I've started singing lots of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" to get everyone excited to visit the animals. We've also been reading our favorite farm book every day:



On top of the singing and reading, I decided to do some animal crafts too.  Here are a few things to keep in mind as you read this post:

1.  I'm not crafty by nature, so I keep things simple and use cheap materials I find around the house
2.  The kids do the entire project, so the finished product sometimes aren't all that pretty...just bear that in mind as you see the pictures :-)

The Sheep


For this, we used cotton balls, googley eyes, and a paper plate

rainy day activity for toddlers
sheep craft, easy craft, cheap craft, craft using paper plate

We even got to work on cutting when we did the ears for the sheep.  Great for strength and fine motor.

practice cutting for sheep craft

Little Buddy quickly got bored of the sheep and began working on his favorite project: gluing eyes to a page in no particular pattern.  I love it when he does this.  I am amazed at how well those little fingers can get the glue on that tiny eye and patiently wait for it to dry.  It ain't pretty but it sure is fun!
toddlers, glue, eyes, craft,
The Cow

Next, we started working on the cow.  First, Munchkin Girl cut out a circle all by herself.  She even drew the circle while I held the the lid of a sauce pan onto a page for her.  



Then I had gave her a bunch of little black circles and she patiently glued a bunch of these to her circle to make the spots on the cow.

preschooler, craft, cow craft, farm craft, animals, art

This time Little Buddy kept himself busy by dumping out all the eyes and then loading them back in the back.  Over and over again.  Toddlers sure love to sort things!



The Cat

cat, craft, easy crafts for preschoolers
For this, we used a paper towel holder.  We glued white paper to it and then Munchkin Girl cut out a tiny nose and glued on the eyes.  Then, she used the scissors again to make the whiskers and glue those on.


The Completed Project!!


An older neighbor girl came over shortly after we finished this project and said, "What is all that?"  Okay, I admit you have to use your imagination a little to see a cat on the left, a cow in the middle (see the spots?) and a sheep on the right (see his wooly cotton balls?), but Munchkin Girl was SOOO proud of it.  This was one of those projects that she bragged about for weeks.  
"Daddy?  Did you see our farm?  Look!  It's right here!  I did it all by myself!!!"


After all this, the day came for us to visit the farmstead.  We sang the whole way there and when we got there, the kids were clapping and clapping....and then, here is what we saw:

WELCOME!  WE WILL BE GLAD TO SEE WHEN WE OPEN ON APRIL 15!!!

The date was approximately March 29th.  Oops.  Dingbat Mommy strikes again.  I guess I should have checked online before I got us all pumped up.

"Mommy, where are the cows?  Are they sleeping?  Why aren't we going in?"

Fortunately, the disappointment was nothing a little ice cream couldn't cure.  Now we only have a few days to wait until we can try again!
  


If you enjoyed this post, you will love my book!  It was released in July, 2012 and was co-written by me and Susan Case, a Kindergarten Teacher.  In this unique book, we will help you save your sanity!  If you have ever tried to cook dinner while your kid clings to your leg and cries, this is the book for you!  We worked together to give a Mom's point of view and a teacher's point of view, so that we could give you activities that not only keep the kids busy, but also keep them motivated to learn and develop their natural curiosity.  Kids behave better when they are given challenging projects to work on, which will in turn give you more free time to do the things you really need to do, like washing dishes, paying bills, and relaxing so that you can be a better Mom!



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9 comments:

  1. oh what a cute idea!!! We just visited a farm over spring break, these would be great for us to do this week!!

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  2. I just adore that she was so proud of her work. And I think they are the perfect cat, cow and sheep. :)

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  3. Thank goodness for ice cream! It's saved many a day for my family.

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  4. Aaaw this is soo creative. My daughter loves these animals and enjoys going to the farm so this would be an exciting project for her! Thank you! Very creative!

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  5. Fun post! I love how you mention what your toddler is up to as you and your daughter craft. You sound like you have lots of patience.

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  6. Thanks amie!! I'm patient some days but definitely not others!! ;-). You can tell how patient you are on your blog too!!

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