Farm Themed Books and Felt Board

Book List:
You can use the felt board or puppet Templates for a LOT of different farm themed books or for songs like "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and "The Farmer in the Dell"

Here is a list of DLTK's favorite farm themed books over the years -- we think each and every one is exceptional!  You can get then from your local book store and most public libraries.  You can read reviews, view the front cover or purchase the books by clicking the title of the book.

Farm Animals:

• Barnyard Dance  by Sandra Boynton
• Big Red Barn  by Margaret Wise Brown
• Click Clack Moo  by Doreen Cronin
• Farm Morning  by David McPhail
• Piggie Pie  by Margie Palatini
• The Cow That Went OINK  by Bernard Most
• Wake Up, Big Barn  by Suzanne Chitwood
• Year at Maple Hill Farm  by Alice Provensen

Life on the Farm:

• All the Places to Love  by Patricia MacLachlan
• Barn  by Debby Atwell

Older Children:

• Charlotte's Web  by E.B.  White

In this section I've put together some simple templates to go with farm stories.  You can use them in a number of ways:

Use the sheets as... COLORING PAGES

• simply print the black and white version of each page and allow the children to color them.
• There is more than one template piece per page (typically there are two pieces) with a dotted line oval around the piece.
  • Cut around the dotted line before handing out the coloring pages
  • either the children or an adult can do the cutting.
  • It is up to you whether you want to cut the animals out in detail or just leave the white paper oval background.  (I like to leave the background for coloring pages or puppets and I like to cut the animals out in detail and then laminate them for felt board pieces).
• Color recognition:  Focusing on color recognition and following directions while coloring the farm animals.  Give them a variety of crayons and instruct them to color:
   
  • the cow brown,
  • the horse black,
  • the pig pink,
  • the duck yellow,
  • the goat grey,
  • the barn red,
  • the tractor green, etc.
     
    Don't be shy about making a few unusual colored farm animals (blue dog, purple mouse and orange cat) to round out your color recognition project.
• Animal sounds:  As you color the pictures, talk about each animal.  What sound does the animal make?  What does the animal eat?  Why do farmers raise this animal?  Has the child ever seen that animal?
• Printing:  older children can print the color, animal and animal sound at the bottom of their coloring pages (ex:  The BROWN COW says MOO).  Or, for slightly younger children who are starting to read but cannot yet write, have an adult write each color/animal on a slip of paper.  Allow the children to pick out the proper slips and glue it to their coloring page -- you can color code the slips of paper to make it easier for the children to match the words with their animals (ex: print "The BROWN cow says moo" with brown pencil crayon).

Use the sheets as...  PUPPETS

• Either complete the black and white sheets as coloring pages (see above) 
  OR
• print the color pages
• There is more than one template piece per page (typically there are two pieces) with a dotted line oval around the piece. 
  • Cut around the dotted line before handing out the coloring pages 
  • either the children or an adult can do the cutting.
  • It is up to you whether you want to cut the animals out in detail or just leave the white paper oval background.  (I like to leave the background for coloring pages or puppets and I like to cut the animals out in detail and then laminate them for felt board pieces).
• Tape each template piece to a popsicle stick, drinking straw or an unsharpened pencil.
• If working with a group of children, each one can be a certain animal. 
  • When their part of the story comes up, they can wiggle around the puppet and make the animal sound.
  • You can have a farm animal parade...  Line the children up in the order they are mentioned in the story and let them march around the room, waving their puppets.
  • Both of these ideas work well when singing farm themed songs like "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"
• Animal sounds:  As you color the pictures, talk about each animal.  What sound does the animal make?  What does the animal eat?  Why do farmers raise this animal?  Has the child ever seen that animal?
• Color recognition:  First, ask all the cows to stand up and wave their puppets (or make their animal sound), then all the pigs, etc.  Then ask all the people with BROWN animals to stand up, then all the PINK animals, etc.  Some of your animals may share a color (ex:  you may have white sheep and white chickens).

Use the sheets as...  FELT BOARD CHARACTERS

• Either complete the black and white sheets as coloring pages (see above) 
  OR
• print the color pages
• There is more than one template piece per page (typically there are two pieces) with a dotted line oval around the piece. 
  • Cut around the dotted line before handing out the coloring pages 
  • either the children or an adult can do the cutting.
  • It is up to you whether you want to cut the animals out in detail or just leave the white paper oval background.  (I like to leave the background for coloring pages or puppets and I like to cut the animals out in detail and then laminate them for felt board pieces).
• You can cover with clear contact paper or laminate if you want them to last longer.
• Cut out each page.
• Cut out a small piece of coarse sandpaper and tape or glue it on the back of each animal (if you laminated, it will need to be a larger piece of sandpaper).  The sandpaper will allow the characters to stick on your felt board.
• If working with a group, give each child an animal.  As you read the story, have the children bring up the appropriate animals and put them on the board.
• Animal sounds:  As you color the pictures, talk about each animal.  What sound does the animal make?  What does the animal eat?  Why do farmers raise this animal?  Has the child ever seen that animal?
• Color recognition:  First, ask all the cows to stand up and put their animals on the felt board (or make their animal sound), then all the pigs, etc.  Redistribute the animals.  Now ask all the people with BROWN animals to put on their animals, then all the PINK animals, etc.  Some of your animals may share a color (ex:  you may have white sheep and white chickens).

Templates:

• NOTE:  I have tried to include images for any farm themed story or children's song. 
  • Before doing work for the story you have chosen, flip through the templates and set aside any template pieces you won't be needing.
  • For example:  you might not need the Farmer's Wife, the Barn or the Tractor Templates if doing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" so just set those ones aside.
• close template window when done printing to return to this screen.
• change your page margins to zero (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).  See print help for more info.

Barn

color

or

B&W

Farmer and Tractor

color

or

B&W

Wife, Cat, Mouse, Cheese

color

or

B&W

Cow and Chicken

color

or

B&W

Goat and Goose

color

or

B&W

Pig and Turkey

color

or

B&W

Sheep and Duck

color

or

B&W

Horse and Dog

color

or

B&W