Tot School Farm Unit: Arts & Crafts

November 25, 2014 by
It’s no secret that Samantha and Amelia are obsessed with farm animals. Sometimes I feel like I live in a barnyard with all the “mooing,” “quacking,” “neighing,” and baaing” that goes on around here. Not to mention the mess these two make during meal times. But that’s another story…
Some of our activities over the past month or so have focused on a farm theme, much to S and A’s delight. Combine that with permission to use (and/or eat) art supplies and the girls were in farm animal crafting heaven!
First up were these adorable little guys: toilet paper roll animals. 
We ended up with a lot of paint on the table (and hands and tummies and cheeks), but overall, I was impressed at how well the girls held the rolls in one hand and painted with the other. 
Did I mention paint somehow ended up in Amelia’s mouth? 
And on trees? 
A trumpet!
Samantha was pretty intense with her painting. 
Samantha: YOU’RE MAKING A FOOL OF YOURSELF, AMELIA. GET SERIOUS. 
I printed out some free farm animal clip art and “laminated” them with contact paper. I ended up gluing on the googly eyes, which were a little small for the girls to handle, but at least they got a shot at it. 

I love my pig!
The girls enjoyed looking at their little “art projects” proudly displayed for all. 
Next craft: sticker play. We do stickers quite often because A) It’s not paint and B) It’s not paint. 
Amazon has buy two get one free Melissa and Doug Reusable Sticker Pad deals every so often and I always stock up. S and A enjoyed pointing out all the farm animals and then asked me to peel them off, one at a time, for them. 
Once the vinyl stickers were on the farm scene, it was easier for the girls to peel them off and stick them on by themselves, giving me five minutes of uninterrupted peace to run a marathon/write the next great American novel/re-learn French. Or just close my eyes for a minute. 
Back to more messy painting: Paper Plate Piggy Faces (perfect for my little piggies). 
Thank you for giving me a second chance with the paintbrush, mama, after I (accidentally) painted your face. Or was that intentional? I don’t have that big of a vocabulary yet. 

Amelia works on painting the ears of the pig, which were made from pieces of an egg carton. 

You’re missing the plates by a bit, Samantha. 
Ears glued and now for the pom pom nose. 

I never got a chance to take a picture of the girls holding up their final projects as they promptly ripped off the noses and ears of their pigs and danced around wildly. Because they can.

In addition to these crafts, the girls also colored farm animal pictures with crayons and paint. I must have had a really high-tolerance for mess clean-up this month.

Honestly, though, projects that engage the girls and save my sanity are worth the mess. 
Even when that mess means a full-on bath and mouth-washing afterwards. 
The girls’ favorite farm animal craft: sticky sheep and ducks!

This was a very low-prep activity that kept the girls busy for a solid 20 minutes and/or enough time for me to listen to a full “Stuff You Missed in History Class” podcast (love those!) without having to break up fights or deal with whining.  I printed off a clip art lamb, stuck the sticky side of contact paper over it and taped it to the wall. I gave the girls a bunch of cotton balls and boom! Instant entertainment.

I thought about setting up two lambs just in case one of the girls (Samantha) hogged all the cotton balls. They ended up playing nicely and taking turns the entire time– way to go, girls!

The duck activity was similar, with feathers replacing the cotton balls. 
I thought our feather project would devolve into a tickling-and-throwing-feathers-everywhere extravaganza, but the girls simply stuck the feathers on the duck and left it at that. So unpredictable!

Stay tuned for our other farm unit activities!
Lots of love, 
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