March week 2: THE FARM

Our second week's theme was "the farm", and boy did we have fun.  There is just so much to do with a farm theme! Here's a little glimpse of what we did throughout the week (which was really more like 10 days):

Art:
We made cows with black and white pom pom balls (not sure what they are actually called?).  We made "muddy pigs" with chocolate yogurt as finger paint (which she was not too sure about, and ended up asking for a spoon so she could eat it).  We made horses out of her hand prints.  We made farm animals out of balloons, which was her favorite, although apparently permanent pen on balloons still smudges hours later, and you end up with black all over your toddlers hands/arms/face/you name it. 

Books:
We actually already had quite a lot of farm-related books, so I made sure they were all out for Riley to choose from.  Her faves were Green Sheep and Make Me Quack, but she's pretty fond of The Wonkey Donkey too.

Stories and rhymes and songs:
One of my new favorite things to do with Riley is to tell her stories before bed.  She lays in bed, and I tell her stories or read fairy tales, or read little rhymes to her.  This week I picked certain stories and rhymes to go with the theme, so some of the ones we read or I narrated included: Jack and the Beanstalk, 3 Little Pigs, Billy Goats Gruff, and The Little Red Hen.  And of course there are tons and tons of songs related to farm and farm animals: Old MacDonald was a big hit around here lately! :)  She also loved singing BINGO!

Toys/indoor activities:
Farm puzzle and farm animal toy, practicing all our animal noises and talking about what animal eats what and who lives where.  I should have tried to see if the toy library had a Little People Farm set but I didn't think about it until just now.

Outdoor activities:
Riley helped me pull weeds, and then "helped" daddy plant some trees in our font yard.  Mostly she just wanted to hold the shovel, play in the dirt, and ride in the wheelbarrow.  Oh yeah, and sit in the pot. "Get in, mama? Sit in here, mama?"

Outings:
I already posted about our trip to Lindale Farm where Riley got to see and feed and pet all the farm animals.

We also went to the local plant nursery to pick out some plants for our front yard, and we got Riley some veggie seeds (carrots) to plant and take care of each day.  She got to put the dirt in the pot, plant the seeds, cover them, water them, put them in the sun, and we'll continue to care for them until they start to grow!!  Her very own veggie "garden."

Next (and last) theme for this month: BUGS!