Has any of your kids been on farm tours

[babychickfarmer]

Ok I run a three acre self sustianing organic farm with three greenhouses, huge coop/run, house with solar water heater, office, farmstore, and much more.....

in about two weeks I have two days where kindergardeners-2nd graders are coming to our farm for a visit.

63 kids at once and then two days later 54 kids.

Anyways I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what to do with them. I have some ideas but I would LOVE To hear what everyone else thinks. Any one that has kids that age, ask them what they would like to do on a farm.

 

[babychickfarmer]

BuMp.

 

[silkiechicken]

Maybe show them the growth stages of early seeds? Put something like bean seeds between 2 clear plates and let the root structure grow where the kids can see them. Ask, which comes first, the root or the shoot? Show them hens and pictures of their anatomy? Have a picnic with straw bale seats?

Good luck! Hope they are coming with lots of parent helpers!

 

[Ang]

I just had a group of 4 & 5 year olds here this week. We talked about what chickens eat. I had a bucket full of all sorts of stuff like feed, fruit, salad, toy bugs, oyster shell, hard boiled egg and spaghetti. The kids loved seeing the chickens eat all of these strange foods (except the toy bugs!). We also talked about the differences in roosters and hens and how to tell if a hen will lay white or brown eggs. They also looked at the nest boxes and we cracked open some big eggs to see what was inside.

You have so much more that you can show them though. If you can come up with some things that are even a little bit interactive you will hold their attention and they will remember it. Have fun!

 

[pdsavage]

Have them plant seeds or seedlings in recycled containers to take home and grow,like tomato seeds or seedlings.
have them make art work out of things like feathers and flowers and stuff.make like a cologe out of all that stuff by glueing them to recycled paper bags cut into squares.

 

[RebelsHope]

Little kids love hands on stuff. If you have a nice hen or other animal it would be great if they could pet her. You may not want all those little hand on one bird, but if you could break it up or choose a few kids to pet her. Could they pot a plant? Have them gather some eggs? Again not all of them, but if you give a tour and can have 4 or 5 kids do something at each place they would love that. Ask lots of easy questions, little kids LOVE to talk. Ask them to tell you what sound the chickens are making. What do you grow? They may not have any idea of where a carrot or a tomato grows.

The older kids might like something to fill out as they visit the farm, like scavenger hunt. They could looks for solar panels, eggs, certain plants, etc.

I just did a quick search and i found this site it is really good

http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/grants/reports/kraus/97-36farmersguide.htm

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

That is a great site!!

It covers everything I was going to suggest and more.
I can't stress enough the bathroom issue. They will all "have to go"!!

And with that many young children, they will need to bring several adults along. I prefer a much smaller group, but you don't have that option, so make sure they can supervise them properly. Young kids seem to go wild when they are exposed to animals and open space!
Of course I can't blame them, I love it too!!

Good luck and let us know how everything goes.

Jean

 

[Wooden_Pony]

Quote:
How funny pdsavage, I was going to post about planting in recycled containers.

I just went with my Kindergartner to The Children's Discovery Museum today. My little group had a blast making newpaper pots and planting sunflowers, pumpkins, and green beans into them.

One pot per childe one type of seed per pot. They rolled the newspaper, added the dirt, watered the dirt with the spray bottles and then they put them in ziplock baggies for the trip home.

The corn husk doll making table was another great hit.

Almost all kid's love to be able to get close and pet animals.

Edited: Because I can not type or spell tonight

 

[silkiechicken]

If you do do seeds, I say do BIG seeds like sunflower or pea.

 

[Run-A-Muck Ranch]

Is it possible to let the kids gather eggs, or take one home??

When our oldest daughter was in Kindergaten my mom brought in a regular sized chicken and a banty chicken. along with eggs of each size and color. They had a blast. She let a few crack the eggs to see the size difference in the yolks.

How about letting the kids actually feed the animals??
If you have any bottle babies maybe they could give that a try??
Or even an animals that might need to be milked??
The planting of the seeds is a great idea, what mom doesn't love the plants there kids bring home in old milk cartons!!!
In the farmstore you could show them how things are packaged or stocked on the shelves. Maybe let them play store for a bit and see the benifits of the store.
Is there anything to make a more kid-understandable solar powered set up???

just some ideas...