This week I’m sharing farm theme preschool activities that you can use in speech therapy or any early childhood classroom. These farm themed lesson plans contain songs, books, games, virtual field trips and more!
Why target Farm Theme for Preschoolers in speech?
Preschoolers love animals. They love the sounds they make. They love the big red barn and the tractor.
At my Early Childhood Center, there are many different themed weeks. One of these is always Farm Animals. It is important to pre-teach and re-teach the vocabulary students learn in their classrooms that way a child’s speech therapy goals align with the state standards and curriculum. I like to introduce Farm Theme in the Fall when we talk about turkeys and then again in the Spring when we talk about gardening and vegetables.
In my speech therapy room, I use farm theme activities to work on Tier 1 vocabulary that students should have when entering school. By the time they enter school, children SHOULD know common animal names from simple exposure, reading books and watching TV. Since I work with students who are language delayed or have speech and language disorders, that vocabulary may not yet have made its way into their long term memory so we work to provide multiple repetitions in a variety of ways.
Farm Themed Songs for Preschoolers
The first song that comes to mind for preschoolers working on farm theme is Old Mac Donald. This song is always used in speech because even the student who does not yet have oral language can participate to some extent using animal sounds. I have listed a few other turkey themed songs for Fall Farm Themes in my lesson plans this week.
Preschool Books for Language Development
I love using repetitive books in speech therapy. Down on the Farm, The Old Lady who Swallowed a Cow, Mrs. Wishy Washy Had a Farm and Rosie’s Walk are just a few. I have listed several in this week’s lesson plans along with SafeYouTube read alouds.
Developing language through play
The Melissa and Doug big red barn sits on top of a shelf in my classroom. Students request it ALL the time. During farm week they come in and are overjoyed when they see it down on the carpet. I have a bunch of random farm animals, enough for everyone to have a few. In previous years, I didn’t have a tractor BUT THIS YEAR we do! Don’t worry if you don’t have a tractor. Our ambulance worked just fine! Kids don’t care about the details. We pretended that the ambulance was our tractor and worked on a little flexible thinking at the same time.
The barn is a great way to work on spatial concepts: in/out, top/bottom, open/closed. It is also great to work on categorization/sorting by putting all of the pigs together, all of the cows together, etc.
Other activities for speech and language
I have a few other activities for speech sound disorders and language skills that I use during farm week.
- A Free Boom Card deck to accompany the book Rosie’s Walk that targets spatial concepts. Open up on an interactive white board for gross motor, whole group fun. You can use on the computer for virtual sessions or the iPad for one on one.
- Feed the Pig: An early sounds articulation activity that works great in a sensory bin of brown shredded paper or corn.
- Feed the Farm Animals Boom Card Bundle: These Boom Decks target every sound you need in speech therapy. Each page has six words and the deck contains a variety of farm animals. They are super easy to assign to students using your Google classroom.
- FULLY EDITABLE Feed the Farm Animals Set: Use this set to target ANYTHING you like. Just type into the fields whatever word, letter, sight word, number, math facts or skill that you like.
To download a full week of free farm themed lesson plans, just click on the image below.
You will get the direct links to songs, books, games, videos and worksheets:
I hope you enjoy these activities and feel free to follow along on social media to see more of my activities throughout the week.
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