Our theme this week has been Farm Animals, tied loosely to Two Cheeky Monkey’s Farm themed week.
Ameli asks me every Monday, “What are we talking about this week?” and she looks forward to it, which makes it all worth it.
Here’s what we did this week:
Sensory Play
We did water play with loads of farm related Lego Duplo and a few other farm-ish plastic toys included. We made the sounds of the animals, and spoke about what kind of farms they would be found on. I answered questions and we played. It was such a hot day, it was quite nice!
Daytrip
We had a fantastic day out with our Mamaventurers group, as I’ve taken to calling our friends who like to venture out of our comfort zones with the children once a week. We took the children to Hobbledown Farm (<- click that to read a full review of this fabulous day out if you’re in the Surrey or Hampshire areas of the UK). They have a farm with sheep, pigs, and other farm animals, so that provided a good opportunity for continuing our chatter around farm animals.
The thing I try to remind myself of with our themes is that Ameli is only three, and there’s really no reason yet for our ‘teaching’ to be too academic. I love just exposing her to things, and letting her ask questions, and I love when later she makes connections between things we’ve spoken about. This is learning, at its best.
Learning For Life
I was going to make playdoh for the girls to play with, but I decided actually cookie dough would be more fun as they could then eat the results. They had a good time playing, rolling, squishing and making shapes – a rabbit, duck, flatbed truck (what? How do you think the farmer transports his berries?) and a tractor. A fun afternoon.
Literacy
Loads of reading, as always, as we try to encourage a love of reading. The perfect book for our Farm inspired week, was The Complete Book of Farmyard Tales. This is such a lovely compilation of simple stories for little ones, with beautiful illustrations. My little ones love it, and Ameli loves spotting the duck on every page.
Next week’s theme is dinosaurs. I’m excited to see how my girls handle that one!