Farm Adventures with Books, Crafts and FREE Printables

Black cattle. Green tractors. Wrangler jeans and Justin boots. Throw in a LOT of dirt, two little boys and one hunk of a man, and you've just described my life here on the farm! It was with great pleasure that we discovered that the theme for April's Poppins Book Nook was...Down on the Farm! This was right up our alley, so we naturally enjoyed exploring all things relating to our rural world AND I had fun whipping up a few simple farm theme printables to go along with our studies this month!

The Books

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Okay. Most books relating to a farm involve...cows. Well that's NOT something we really need to learn a lot about because we are SURROUNDED by them (remember we are Black Angus farm). So I tried to find books relating to farms that weren't focused on cows...but rather more like chickens. We don't have any chickens on the farm...yet.

Chickens to the Rescue
By John Himmelman

There is a fabulous series by John Himmelman called Barnyard Rescue and we enjoyed this book from the series. It is full of hilariousness and Baby Britches adored yelling "Chickens to the Rescue!" when it was time in the book. The plot is simple... The amazing chickens on the Greenstalk farm race to help various family members and farm animals every day of the week---except Sunday when things change!

I highly recommend this book--the boys do too as we've read it multiple times since we brought it home from the library! Now I'm seeking the rest of the series: Cows to the Rescue, Pigs to the Rescue, and Ducks to the Rescue! Make sure you find this book the next time you go to the library!

Tuttle's Red Barn
by Richard Michelson; illustrated by Mary Azarian

Tuttle's Red Barn is non-fiction "Story of America's Oldest Family Farm" beginning with the arrival in Dover, New Hampshire in 1632 by John Tuttle. The book follows every successive generation of Tuttle as the farm is passed down through the youngest son. You get to see twelve generations of the Tuttle family as they go through the many milestone of American history--from the Revolutionary War, to the Underground Railroad, to being part of the Industrial Revolution! It's a fascinating look at the history of one family as the world moved around them and the changes they made.

The Millionth Egg
by Bernice Myers

This is a rare edition that doesn't seem to be available online, but is a library edition, so you might be able to find it at your library. This is the story of a group of intelligent chickens who are getting ready to celebrate the arrival of the farm's millionth egg. Margaret is hanging crepe paper. Judy is blowing up balloons. But Rhoda brings things to a screeching halt with her news--the farmer is tearing down the barn! All looks lost as each chicken ponders her fate...but will Rhoda's big idea save the day? It's a great story and the boys loved finding all the different things going on within each illustration.

Portrait of a Farm Family
by Raymond Bial

This is a non-fiction book chronicling the daily life and routine for the Steidinger farm, a 55 cow dairy heading into it's fourth generation. The book follows the family from milking the cows, to taking care of all the livestock to the harvesting of all the farmland. It talks about the challenges of running a farm in today's culture (as of 1995) and the rewards that a rural lifestyle brings. The boys enjoyed seeing another farm that is different from ours, but shares a lot of similarities and challenges.

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash
by Trinka Hakes Noble
Illustrated by Steven Kellogg

This is a must have book for any farm theme! The illustrations are so incredible--but then we adore Steven Kellogg's books. Your children will love experiencing the hilariousness that insues when Jimmy's Boa joins the class on a trip to the farm. The class trip to the farm was pretty dull until...The cow started crying...The pigs got on the school bus...And Jimmy's pet boa got loose in the hen house! What a crazy day on the farm! This book was fun to read again and will continue to be one we enjoy.

Country Road ABC
(An Illustrated Journey through America's Farmland)
by Arthur Geisert

This is a simply lovely book to look through. Using the alphabet, the readers can take a trip down a long country road to sightsee all the letters and much more. Here you will find that E is for erosion, G is for grinding feed and R is for rust. The boys loved working through the book, though they were admittedly disappointed that T wasn't for Tractor...LOL. It's a delightful ABC book and one that I reach for time and time again.

There are a lot of farm themed books out there, but we enjoyed exploring some that aren't usually on the list. For chapter books, I would add Charlotte's Web, Farmer Boy, Sarah, Plain and Tall, and Tornado to the list, as they are all delightful reads with a farm setting.

Our Craft

For our craft, we made a funny chicken to go with our two chicken books. I used the template provided HERE and then printed two sets of everything on white cardstock. I went ahead and cut out all the pieces or that would have taken forever!

The boys love these kind of crafts...mostly because they get to use markers and googly eyes.

Our Printables

We did a few printables as part of our farm theme. Baby Britches enjoyed doing this pig one I found.

Little Britches worked on one that I created myself.

But wait, that's not all! I created it and saved it to share with you! But that's not all either! I also put together a Phonics Farm series to explore some things on the farm and the letter they start with. They are geared towards pre-school/Kindergarten. Baby Britches had fun using his dot marker on them.

                                  You can snag them FREE on my teacherspayteachers store!

If you have never used teacherspayteachers.com before, it is a free site where you can download thousands of educational materials created for teachers, by teachers--and hundreds of the products are free! I highly recommend you getting an account--especially because this is where I'm going to hosting my printables at this time and I don't want you to miss any! If you choose to follow my store, you can also get notified whenever I add something new!

Down On the Farm Giveaway

Swing your partner round and round and come on down to the farm this month with the Poppins Book Nook! Every month this group will be offering readers a chance to win a brand new storybook or product that ties in with our theme for the month. 
This month one lucky entrant will win the Down on the Farm Bundle. The winner will enjoy two fun farm themed learning items. The two items that they will win is the Farming storybook by author Gail Gibbons and Safari Ltd Farm Babies TOOB. Let the farm themed learning fun begin!
Entrants must be 18 years or older and reside in a country that receives U.S. Postal mail. This giveaway is brought to you by the company Enchanted Homeschooling Mom who is owner and founder of the Poppins Book Nook. By entering this giveaway you are also acknowledging that you have read and agree to all of the PromoSimple terms & conditions as well as Enchanted Homeschooling Mom's disclosures found here {http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/disclosures/}.  
Just enter the PromoSimple below to win

Want to see more Farm themed posts?

Here are some more members of the Poppins Book Nook crew where you can explore THEIR farm creations!

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - 3 Dinosaurs - ABC Creative Learning - As We Walk Along the Road - Brain Power Boy - Chestnut Grove Academy - Embracing Destiny - Every Bed of Roses - Farm Fresh Adventures - Growing in God's Grace - Kathys Cluttered Mind - My Bright Firefly - Peakle Pie - Preschool Powol Packets - Pray Species - SAHM I am - Stir The Wonder - Sunny Day Family - Sweet Silly Sara - Teach Beside Me - To the Moon and Back - Tots and Me - Tree Valley Academy - Witty Hoots

Have you blogged about your farm adventures with books, crafts, or printables? We'd love to check them out! Simply add your own link to the linky below!

An InLinkz Link-up

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I hope that you will check out the books I've recommended and snag some of the printables I've created! As always, you can keep up to date with our daily adventures on Farm Fresh Adventures Facebook page, and don't forget about subscribing to my bi-weekly newsletter! Now that I'm on a roll with creating printables, I plan on offering a few exclusive ones to subscribers and you don't want to miss out!