Teacher s esource Pack: EYFS This pack and Clover Cow s Activity Pack: EYFS will help you to get the most from your visit to Lee Valley Park Farms. Together, they cover key areas in the curriculum including physical development; communication and language development; personal, social and emotional development; literacy; mathematics; understanding of the world; and expressive arts and design with ideas and activities for before, during and after your visit.
VALLI M A LE EY FA E ME BEFO Let s get started! Before you visit us, set up a small world table in your classroom, using toy farm animals. Use the toy animals as a springboard for discussion about different types of farm animals, as well as other fun activities, such as: ecognising and pointing out the sheep, pigs and cows. nderstanding the difference between farm animals and animals from U other habitats. Also see Am I A Farm Animal? in Clover Cow s Activity Pack to help with this. Sorting different animals into separate fields. E YOU IT! DU ING YOU Ask your pupils to name animals with four legs, like me. A FTE YO U ounting specific numbers of animals e.g. find three chickens. C See Farm Animal Counting in Clover Cow s Activity Pack. Sorting animals from big to small as individuals and as a team. Pretending to be farmers and farm animals. Playdough modelling animals or props for your table. Junk modelling farm buildings. Teacher s esource Pack: EYFS
S! VALLI M A LE EY FA E ME BEFO Also try this... E YOU IT! Tex the Tractor is an important machine on our farm and can take the children up to the milking parlour. Use wheeled toys in DU INmilked. G YO the playground to act out Tex the Tractor s journey from the main visitor farm up to Holyfield Hall Farm, where the cows are U Make a route across the playground. Look at pictures of tractors and talk about what they do. Also see Tex s Maze in Clover Cow s Activity Pack. To help children get more familiar with farm animals and their names, print out our Trace and Colour sheets from Clover Cow s Activity Pack. Introduce colour mixing, using red and white to paint pink pigs or red and yellow to paint orange chickens. Or decorate the animals using collage. Use feathers, wool, fabric and paper. Talk about feather, fur and scales on animals and how they look and feel. Don t miss Julia E Y Donaldson OU s book VIASSquash and a Squeeze, too! AFT Prepare the class by reading non-fiction and fiction books about farm animals, such as osie s Walk by Pat Hutchins; Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell; Farmyard Hullabaloo by Giles Andreae; The Cow That Laid an Egg by Andy Cutbill; What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson, Look Inside a Farm from Usborne; Farm Animals from Usborne Beginners; or My First Farm, Let s Get Working from Dorling Kindersley. Teacher s esource Pack: EYFS
MS! VALLI M A LE EY FA E ME BEFO E YOU IT! DU ING YOU Why not sing Baa Baa White Sheep for fun? Try the rhyme using every AFT colour of the rainbow! E YOU Learn a farm-themed rhyme or song, like Dingle Dangle Scarecrow, Farmer s in His Den or I Went to Visit a Farm One Day from BBC School s adio: bbc.co.uk/learning/schoolradio/subjects/earlylearning/nurserysongs Set up a table with products that come from a farm. Which animals or plants do they come from? Use our Farm Animal Products sheet in Clover Cow s Activity Pack to start your discussion. Talk about how Holyfield Hall Farm is a dairy farm and discuss different types of dairy products. Have a go at milking a cow! Thoroughly clean a rubber glove and fill it with milk. Tie the open end of the glove securely. Snip a tiny hole in one finger of the glove. Hold the glove over a bowl and encourage children to have a go at squeezing on the finger to milk the cow. Talk about how Holyfield Hall Farm now uses machines to milk cows and why this might be easier for the farmer. Teacher s esource Pack: EYFS
While you re here... DUING YOU Clover Cow s Activity Pack includes activity sheets such as Also listen to the sounds of other wildlife around the farm. Spot It!, Who Am I? and Complete the Cow, which are designed to encourage keen observation, recognition and questioning skills, as well as fun learning on your trip to the Lee Valley Park Farms. Encourage children to listen to the sounds on our farm too. See Farm Animal Sounds for a simple activity to try while you re here. Talk about animals that live in countryside habitats, AFTincluding E OU birds and insects, and why they live there. What can youyspot today? Can you hear the sounds of machines too? Talk about the machines used on farms and what they do. Teacher s esource Pack: EYFS
Continue the fun! AFTE Y OU Ask everyone to complete the My Favourite Farm Animal Have a farm food morning and (bearing in mind allergies sheet in Clover Cow s Activity Pack, and bind all the pages together to make a farm trip memory book for the class to share with parents. Encourage pupils to say why they liked their favourite animal. and intolerances) taste different products from a farm this could be different types of cheese (cheddar, red Leicester, cream cheese, feta, edam); bread (white, wholemeal, bread sticks, bread rolls); flavoured milks (banana, strawberry, chocolate) or you could make this easy smoothie together, with an adult in charge of the blender: Now you ve visited our farm, ask children to complete our Farm Animal Homes sheet in Clover Cow s Activity Pack. Did they like the animals homes? How could they improve them? Get everyone to junk model a home for their favourite farm animal. Print off our Farm oleplay Masks from Clover Cow s Activity Pack and act out a farm rhyme or story. It could be from one of the books or rhymes suggested in this pack or a classic tale like The Little ed Hen. Alternatively, ask children to move around like their favourite farm animal. Gallop like a horse, hop like a bunny, waddle like a duck! Strawberry Smoothie ecipe 10 strawberries 1 small pot of natural yoghurt 1 small banana, chopped 1 tsp runny honey (optional) *There are several hand washing points within Lee Valley Park Farms. Each point is equipped with warm water, antibacterial soap and hand towels. Prior to leaving the venue, please ensure children are supervised and wash their hands properly before they leave the farm. Teacher s esource Pack: EYFS