Fun Farm Activities for Preschoolers in Plano

Rachel and I enjoyed fun farm activities and learned a lot about sheep at Fun on the Farm Fridays at Heritage Farmstead. Fun on the Farm Fridays is a parent and child program that involves some hands-on farm activities as well as a story time and a craft. This particular program we attended was all about sheep and there were about 7 preschoolers in our class.  

She Is Dallas info: Heritage Farmstead is located at 1900 West 15th Street, Plano, Texas 75075 and their phone number is 972-881-0140. Their spring Fun on the Farm Fridays programs are for children ages 2-5.   The program is from 10:30 – 12:00 on Fridays and cost $8.50 per parent/child combo.   Pre-registration by end of the day Wednesday is required for each Fun on the Farm Friday session.   Space is limited so call early.   For more information about Fun on the Farm, please see this flyer or visit their website. Upcoming Fun on the Farm events include:

• SENSE-sational farm adventure – March 25, 2011
• A Visit With My Peeps – April 15, 2011
• April Showers – April 29, 2011
• Caterpillars and Butterflies – May 20, 2011
• May Flowers – May 27, 2011

    The program started in the little one room red school house.   It is an authentic school house from the period so there are open windows for ventilation.   There is an old stove in the middle of the room which would have provided heat for the room on cold days. The children loved sitting in little wooden school desks while we listened to Ms. Victoria read from the book, “Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep” by Teri Sloat.           Next we learned about pulling and spinning wool with a spindle.   Rachel tried to do it but then she discovered this old spinning wheel.     It actually spun so it was much more entertaining than the silly stick and fluffy wool. After learning all about wool, we walked over to learn about where wool comes from –   real sheep! At first Rachel was a little frightened. She came over to me with her arms up and said, “Up! Up! I want uuuup!”. I picked her up and we talked a little about the sheep. Eventually she wanted to get back down to check them out on her own.   We watched some of the other children feeding the sheep and I was amazed when she said she wanted to feed the sheep too. Then she actually fed a sheep and didn’t flinch or get scared.   It was a really good experience for her. Once the sheep were fed, our group took a little detour and headed down to the creek where the kids had fun getting in a line and taking turns throwing pebbles into the water.   They thought it was cool that they were being told it was ok to throw rocks for a change.   Then we made it to the barn to do a fun farm sheep craft project. Rachel was given a line drawing of a sheep and some glue.   She had fun covering her sheep in sticky glue. Next the children were given some real sheep wool.   Rachel pulled off little pieces of wool and placed them on her sheep. This was a good project for learning about different textures, building gross and fine motor skills, using hand-eye coordination, and learning about making art with different materials.       As we were walking around earlier, Rachel had seen the tractor and was scared of it. She even wanted me to hold her as we walked by it and it wasn’t even running. So when I found out that we were going to take a tractor ride, I figured that we would probably have to skip that part. But I let Rachel watch the other kids get on and then asked her if she wanted to ride. My brave little girl conquered her fears and said, “Yes!” Rachel and all of the children had a great time on the tractor ride.   We went all around the farmstead in the tractor TWICE.   Rachel’s smile seemed to get bigger and bigger as we rode along.   I’m so glad she was brave enough to give it a try.   Before the program ended, Ms. Victoria showed us the corn mill and how to feed the chickens. Rachel used the corn mill to grind up corn to feed the chickens. The staff at Heritage Farmstead are so great with little kids.   They encourage hands-on activities but they quietly help the kids out when needed.   Rachel was so proud that she used the corn mill “all by herself” and she never noticed Ms. Victoria standing there “helping” the handle turn. Then Rachel got to feed the chickens with the corn meal she had made.     Rachel wanted to just hold the corn and let the chickens eat out of her hand like the sheep had done. I kept telling her to just throw it in the pen but she said, “I don’t want to”. The chickens were very interested in the food and I was getting a little antsy. Fortunately, the little booger finally threw the corn. Thank goodness because Mommy was about to have Chicken Piccata for dinner if one of them pecked the baby girl’s hand while she was trying to feed them.We enjoyed a cup of cold water under a shady tree.   And how convenient! Now we have empty cups to collect more pebbles to bring home and scatter throughout Mommy’s car. Yeah!Note: No gravel was kidnapped from Heritage Farmstead at the conclusion of this program. Mommy offered to hold the cup and “accidently” spilled it when the little one wasn’t watching….and she never seemed to miss it. Sneaky Mommy!