What's On the Shelf - November - Farm

We had a break from themes during October and enjoyed the school holidays and a slow start back into some more structured learning.  We are all ready for a new theme for November though - Farms.

I am really excited about this theme as we have lots planned.  We kicked it off last week with a trip to Kelmscott High Farm.  It is quite an amazing school.  We got to hold and interact with chickens, rabbits, and sheep in the animal nursery.  Then we were taken to see a cow being milked and where they shear the sheep.  Outside we were able to feed the horses, goats and alpacas and then toured the veggie garden where we got to pick some oranges and lemons to bring home.  As we were leaving we were lucky enough to see them bring out a new calf and try and get it to feed off a surrogate cow!   Here a few photos from our day out.

This month, as well as our inside "school" we have new veggie gardens to plant and we are going to make a scarecrow to try and keep those pesky crows away.  Maybe we should put one in our chook pen so they will stop stealing all of our eggs!

Here is a sneak peek of what is on our shelves for out theme this month:

Firstly, our small world farm sensory table, complete with grain silo to practice scooping and pouring, pigs in mud, ducks in a pond and lots of animals to feed.

We also have a few different farms sets to play with including an Ikea farm, a Little People farm and  Mega Blocks Farm.

On our shelves we have:

Sunflower seeds to scoop and pour.

Animal magnets on a cookie sheet to sort as farm animals or not farm animals.

Our Leap Frog farm animal matching set.

Cotton reels to practice lacing

Our UNO moo game

Farm pictures of either 1 or 2 syllables and pegs to select the correct amount

Colour fun puzzles

Fruit and vegetables to sort into a three part tray with our kiddy tongs

Farm strips for cutting practice

What's in the Web?  Beginning sounds practice.

Pig Number Game.  Roll the dice, count the dots and find the matching number to cover with a magnet.

Some laminated farm tracing pages and whiteboard markers.

Another beginning sounds game.

Washing farm animals.  A spray bottle to wet them, toothbrush for scrubbing and cloth to dry.

Matching farm animal mothers and babies.  WE also have some plastic farm animals to match to the cards.

Matching the correct colour pegs to the horses.  Good for strengthening those little fingers!

And finally, some farm animal do-a-dot pictures and dot paints.

We are ready for a busy, busy month!!

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What's On the Shelf - September - Construction Unit

With three boys in the family we have no shortage of construction trucks, books and tools. So what better than a construction theme for this month.  Here is a look at the activities on our shelves for September.

All ready to start!

Our train table is now a construction site for the month.

Name practice using coloured rocks.  I started one for Nathanael too but ran out of rocks.  Beginning to think giving my now 2 year old a name with 9 letters was not so clever.  I think my SIL who gave her 2 year old a name with four letters was much smarter!!

Clothespin counting cards.

My boys love magnifying glasses so this is sure to be a hit.  The cards have tiny copies of each picture.  they need to use the magnifying glass to work out which picture it is and then match them up.

Coloured water and a funnel, what more could they need?!?!

Matching the items in the toolbox to the picture cards.

2 sets of cards to practice our positional words, on top, underneath, next to, behind, between etc.

Construction site board game.

Mini construction site sensory play.  I used our mini construction set and homemade moon sand.

Matching nuts and bolts.

Matching vehicles and 3 part cards.

Screwing practice.

Building marble tracks.

Vehicle jigsaw puzzles.

Letter and sound identification game.

Scooping rocks

Wooden construction set.

A variety of construction vehicles to play with.

Our construction playdough centre.

And lastly our construction craft centre.

We also have our large construction trucks outside in the sand pit that will get a good work out, our tool benches (toy and real) and many, many books.  I think this should keep the little ones busy for a while so we can get some school work done!

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Preschool and Kindergarten community @ Homeschool Creations.