Lockdown Day 63 – The Farm
Literacy
* GRAMMAR – Part 4 – THE FARM *
The farm is one of the standard Montessori grammar activities introduced to the children at preschool level. Although we traditionally use a farm-house and models of farm animals to do this activity, any scenario can be set up. In fact, Montessori herself originally did this with a large doll’s house.
YOU WILL NEED
A range of farm animals
The following are simply ideas to enhance the activity – be creative!
- Farm-house
- Chicken coop
- Fences
- Blue felt/material/paper cut out to represent a pond
- Green felt/material/paper for a field
- Brown felt/material/paper for a sandy arena (where a horse may be)
Invite the child to lay out the farm pieces and spread the animals out over the area where you are working. Our example uses five typical farm animals but of course, the more the merrier!
Name the animal family and their masculine, feminine and diminutive – for example:
- Cattle family: bull, cow, calf
- Horse family: stallion, mare, foal
- Chicken family: rooster, hen, chick
- Pig family: boar, sow (rhymes with allow), piglet
- Sheep family: ram, ewe, lamb
(Even if you only have one animal for the cattle family you can talk about the other family members.)
Extend the child’s vocabulary (and general knowledge) by also discussing the collective nouns for these animals:
- a herd of cattle
- a herd of horses
- a flock of chickens
- a drove or herd of pigs
- a flock of sheep
Where do these animals live? You may differentiate between where the animal spends the day and where they spend the night.
- Cattle live in a field during the day and some spend the nights in a kraal.
- Horses live in stables.
- Chickens live in a coop.
- Pigs live in a sty.
- Sheep live in a field.
Now that you have explored the NOUNS, you can bring in some ADJECTIVES. Describe the animals by:
- Colour
- Size
- Possible mood (happy, lazy, energetic etc.)
Bring some VERBS into the conversation. What can these animals do? What sound do they make?
- Cows amble and low (rhymes with slow)
- Horses gallop and neigh
- Chickens peck and cluck
- Pigs forage and grunt
- Sheep graze and bleat
You could play around with the animals, using PREPOSITIONS.
- Put the cow next to the bull.
- Let the horse stand in the arena.
- Put the chicken on top of the coop.
- Put the pig beside the sty.
- Move the sheep from the field to the pond.
This really is a fun way to bring together all of the grammar learning we have done over the past few weeks.
Thank you for sharing this grammar journey with us!
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