Good morning Nursery! We hope you enjoyed last weeks rhyme and had a lot of fun with all the activities we posted for you.

This week we will be looking at the rhyme Old Mac Donald had a Farm. We will be learning all about the different animals that live on a farm and the sounds they make.

Watch Mr Tumble and sing along to this popular nursery rhyme.

Try and make the animal noises and join in with the actions!

Watch this story and choose the right animal after hearing the noise it makes.

Have you ever visited a farm?

Justin and his friends are visiting a farm. Watch Something Special.

Key Questions to discuss with your family?

• Can you name all the animals in the story?
• Why was the duck so tired?
• Do you think the farmer was being kind?
• Why do you think the farmer ran away?

Try these fun games with your child to practise their maths skills and help to build your child’s confidence. Most children love playing games and it is an easy way to support their learning.

Here are some more Maths activities you could try.

• Make some playdough and make eggs to place in an empty egg box. Count how many you have.
• If you have some farm animals try sorting the animals into different sets.
• You could group them by different types of animal, or adult and baby animals, colour, or by the number of legs they have.

Creative:

Can you make a wooly sheep?

Knowledge and Understanding

Mini locations

You might want to make your own farm. It could be on the floor, a table top or in a tray. You could get a big piece of paper and draw out the landscape. What crops will you have? Different cloths, e.g. a clean duster could be a field. Will there be a farm house? You could make this from an old box, such as a shoe box. Where will the cows and horses go? Does the farm need fences to keep the animals safe? A little pond could be made from a circular, small tub, perhaps a margarine tub. This is where the ducks might like to be. What’s a baby duck called? You may have some toy farm animals but if not you could create your own. Draw and cut them out. Imagine a cotton wool sheep or a pom pom sheep. What patterns do cows have? What is a group of cows called?  When you have created your farm act out stories together. What might happen if someone leaves the gate open? Perhaps you can go looking for the hen’s eggs in the straw (chopped up old newspaper).

All about farms

Together you can talk about how farms support our communities. What role does the farmer play? Think about what animals produce. Cows produce milk but so do goats. You can talk about how dairy helps make our bones and teeth strong. Not all farms have animals. What else could they farm? You can talk about all the different crops,fruits and vegetables. Some grow under the ground like potatoes and carrots but some vegetables grow on top like cabbages and broccoli. This is a wonderful opportunity to talk about healthy eating. You could look at what food you have at home. Where does it come from?

Have a look at what is happening Down on the Farm

Try to make an animal bookmark using paper and scissors

Singing and Movement:

Join in where you can!

Please continue to practise these every week!

- Putting on your coat

- Zipping up your coat

- Getting dressed by yourself including doing up your own shoes

- Recognising and writing your own name

- Counting forwards and backwards to 20

- Practice writing numbers to 10