Interest Area Changes to Environment
Tractor
Basket
Picnic blanket
Empty seed packets
Dirt
Scarecrow
Plastic Fruits
Plastic Vegetables
Paper Bags
Farm Animals
Apron
Cash Register
Scale
Measuring Cups
Empty Milk Carton
Choosy
Food Pyramid
Shovel
Rake
Sunshine
Grocery store ads
Tongs
Fruit vegetable felt pieces
Fruit counters
Teaching Concepts for Large Group
1. What are fruits? Name, discuss and chart favorite fruits. 3. What are vegetables? Name, discuss and chart favorite fruits. 4. Where do fruits and vegetables come from? Where do we get them? 5. Does your family have a garden? Do you help plant it? 6. What sort of things grow in your garden? 7. Do fruits and vegetables help make us healthy? How?
Teaching Concepts for Small Group
1. Sort fruits and vegetables. Discuss what makes them a fruit or vegetable. help your children learn about the different food groups, as well as the basics of categorizing, with a simple food sort. Use this activity to talk about "sometimes food" and "everyday food" - This activity can lead to discussions about various foods and where they come from. - Simplify this activity by cutting down the categories to sort into. Start with "Fruit and vegetables" and "Other food" - Extend this activity by increasing the amount of categories to sort into. The "Other food" category included meats, grains, dairy and sweets/fats. Introduce your child to the Healthy Eating Pyramid Here I started with just 3 categories. Fruits, Vegetables and Other food. Here I started with just 3 categories. Fruits, Vegetables and Other food. 2. Use fruit counters to sort, pattern, and simple addition and subtraction. 3. In water play- Discuss how farmers plant the seeds and the vegetables grow. When vegetables are picked, they have to be cleaned well before we can eat them since they are dirty from the soil and may have pesticides on them. 4. Use tongs and try to pick up apples. 5. Fruit and vegetable "I Spy" 6. Go shopping! To begin have each child chose a number card. Then they get to go shopping and select the appropriate number of vegetables or fruits to match the number on the card. Counting: After returning from the "store" have the children share the vegetables or fruits that they chose. Have them name each vegetable or fruit, count how many in all and tell what they liked the best and why. Comparing: Next align the vegetables to practice one-to-one correspondence and compare the numbers. Aligning the vegetables helps the children visually see which number has more. Discuss the following vocabulary terms: more, less, greater and fewer. Sorting: Combined everyone’s vegetables and fruits and sort them. Depending on the combinations of vegetables and fruits you use, you could also choose other characteristics for sorting like: shape, color, or whether they grow above or below ground.
Teaching Concepts for Music Movement Wellness IMIL
1. The Vegetable Song
(Tune: “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”)
Carrots, Peas, and Broccoli,
Vegetables are good for me.
For my snack and in my lunch,
Veggie sticks are great to munch.
Carrots, Peas, and Broccoli,
Vegetables are good for me.
2. The Good Food Song
(Tune: “Old MacDonald Had A Farm”)
Vegetables are good for me, EE I EE I O
And so I eat them happily, EE I EE I O
(Children take turns naming vegetables that they like)
With a carrot, carrot here, and a carrot, carrot there
Here a carrot, there a carrot
Everywhere a carrot, carrot.
Vegetables are good for me, EE I EE I O.
3. Old MacDonald Had a Farm
Teaching Concepts for Fingerplays
1. On the Farm
On the farm, the farmer grows
many kinds of food.
Tasty vegetables and fruits
are grown for us to use.
Corn and wheat for flour
will be made into bread.
And golden hay for cows to eat
before they go to bed
2. Vegetables
(tune: Mary had a little lamb)
We are pumpkins, big and round,
Big and round, big and round.
We are pumpkins, big and round,
Seated on the ground.
(then try the following) We are string beans green and fine…..growing on a vine.
We are onions round and white….we make soup taste right.
We are carrots, orange and long…help us sing the song.
We are cabbage green or red….see our funny head.
We are corn stalks tall and straight…don’t we just taste great!
2. Carrots
See the carrots in the ground
(point hands and arms in a point to form a carrot and point to the ground.
I pull them hard without a sound
(pull them out)
I wash and clean them up and down.
(scrub up and down with your palms of your hands)
I love to eat them all year round.
(Pretend to eat carrots with mouth)
Teaching Concepts for Outdoor Experiences
1. Set up a farmers market outside on the playground. 2. Set up a garden area in the sand. Have children dig and pick vegetables. 3. Hot Potato
CLASS Concepts
Help children make connections about farming to their lives. This is especially easy during meal time. Start feedback loops about how farmers make it possible to have the food on the plates. Compare the tools used by farmers and gardeners and their uses. Provide developmentally appropriate gardening tools in mulched areas of the playground or handheld tools in the sand table. Facilitate involvement and tie in previous learning. “You are using a shovel like the Little Red Hen used to dig her garden. What did she do after she dug the holes? What would you plant in your garden?” Children can learn facts about fruits and vegetables by arranging them into different groups based on their characteristics (color, taste, how it’s used, how it’s harvested, is it eaten raw or cooked, etc.) This activity can be connected back to learning from previous themes such as; the five senses, apples, pumpkins, hunters and gatherers, nutrition and health, etc.
Teaching Concepts for Distance Learning
Scavenger hunt fruits and veg
You can gather a list or some ideas include looking for particular shapes, colors, items that are a certain length, or items that start with a particular sound.
Make an ABC/123 Sensory Bin
Take letter shapes, scrabble tiles, letter puzzle pieces, etc. and bury them in a sensory bin. You can use any fillers such as rice or sand. Set up a letter wash with warm, soapy water and foam or plastic letters. Alternatively, you can use numbers too.
Charades
Private message one child with the word card. This child then pantomimes this clue while the other children guess the answer.
I Spy Fruits and Veg
Pick different fruits and vegetables that can easily be seen by all the children and share a clue.
Letter/number search
Use a magnifying glass to search letters/number of the week or just randomly in books, magazines, and anything that has words or numbers.
Dance and Freeze
Play music and encourage children to get up and dance, then children must freeze when the music stops.1. The Vegetable Song (Tune: “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”) Carrots, Peas, and Broccoli, Vegetables are good for me. For my snack and in my lunch, Veggie sticks are great to munch. Carrots, Peas, and Broccoli, Vegetables are good for me. 2. The Good Food Song (Tune: “Old MacDonald Had A Farm”) Vegetables are good for me, EE I EE I O And so I eat them happily, EE I EE I O (Children take turns naming vegetables that they like) With a carrot, carrot here, and a carrot, carrot there Here a carrot, there a carrot Everywhere a carrot, carrot. Vegetables are good for me, EE I EE I O. 3. Old MacDonald Had a Farm
Show and Tell Fruits and Veg.
Tie it to a learning objective. Ex: Bring something that is red. Bring something that starts with the letter P. Bring something you can wear on your hands, arms, feet, etc.
Farmer Says
The teacher will give the action directions, while the students participate. If the children miss the action cue "Simon Says" then they are out. Keep going until you have a winner.
Counting Walk
Take this walk inside or outside and pick something to count together! Forks in the drawer, stuffed animals on the bed, flowers around the mailbox, cars on the street are all great items to count. Look at house numbers.
Lets kids play instruments online. Instruments include the guitar, piano, pan flute, drums, and bongos.
Farm Fresh 360-Virtual Field Trip
https://web,extension.illinois.edu
Guide to gardening for kids.
National Geographic for kids. Learn all about geography and fascinating animals.
History for kids.
Practice phonics skills with these read-along stories.
Have some of your favorite stories read to you by movie stars.
Practice math and reading skills while playing fun games.