Jan 31

How To Make Farm Life Fun For Kids

Living on a farm isn’t for the faint of heart. However, little do most people know that farm life offers a life they probably often dream about—a peaceful life far from the bustle and hustle of the big city life.

Farm living allows you to have more time for your family. Because everyone’s working to reach the same goal, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to stay closer to each other—it’s a level of closeness you can never achieve while living in the city.

On top of that, living on a farm allows you to interact with farm animals. From pigs to chickens, you’ll be able to watch them grow and develop. If you love animals, moving to a farm might be the kind of life you’ve ever dreamed of.

But your kids might find farm life boring and mundane, especially if they’ve never been out of the city. If that’s the case, you’re on the right place. This post tackles some interesting activities that can help make farm life fun and exciting for kids. These will help them understand the importance of farming by connecting them with farm life and letting them explore the great outdoors.

Keep on reading to learn more.

Try Out A Corn Maze

If you have a cornfield, consider making a maze out of it. A corn maze is one of the popular tourist attractions these days. Plus, it’s a great way to help farmers generate additional income to support their farm needs, such as fertilizers, feeds, and the like.

Yet do you think your kids would love it? Most likely! A corn maze can be exciting and thrilling for children. Not just that, it also offers educational benefits, which can be great for your kids as they grow. Some of them are:

It improves their problem-solving skills;
It enhances their spatial awareness;
It helps them stay active;
It strengthens their bones and muscles;
It encourages your kids to appreciate nature more;
It enhances their memory and recognition;
It promotes bonding with family;
It allows kids to improve their senses; and
It helps kids to be more creative.

To learn more about corn mazes, you may click here or visit a company specializing in making fun and creative corn mazes near you. A corn maze is possible whether your cornfield is big or small.

Do Fruit And Crop Harvesting

If you can teach your kids how to plant, you should be able to teach them how to harvest crops and fruits.

Harvesting is a fun and exciting activity not just for adults but for kids too. It’s also a great way to explore and sharpen their senses.

With harvesting, children will be able to learn new colors, taste a variety of flavors, smell fresh aromas, and touch different textures. And harvesting encourages children to be more responsible as they understand where their food originates and the process behind it.

Aside from that, here are other benefits of harvesting:

It improves their motor skills by picking fruits, pulling crops, lifting baskets, and so on;
It encourages kids to eat healthy fruits and vegetables for getting them to eat fresh produce is often a challenge;
It allows them to explore the science behind growing crops and fruits—a great way to introduce science concepts to children;
Kids can also learn mathematics during harvesting. For example, you may teach them how to count how many fruits each basket contains; and
It teaches kids how to be patient. This is especially true when harvesting fruits and crops they won’t be able to harvest yet.

It’d be best to let kids harvest fruits and crops they can easily grow. In this way, they can harvest again if they want to. These include leafy green vegetables, carrots, strawberries, radishes, basil, cherry tomatoes, and beans.

Try Out Tree Planting

Tree planting is a great way to encourage kids to appreciate nature and understand its importance in everyday living.

Nevertheless, what makes it fun and exciting? It teaches children how trees grow and allows them to explore the different kinds of trees.

Spending time with trees offers other great benefits as well. These include the following:

It improves your children’s academic performance;
It maintains their physical and mental health;
It enhances their concentration;
It instills self-discipline, encouraging children to love and value nature;
It allows them to connect with nature;
It encourages them to improve their environment for the common good; and
It helps them understand how to apply scientific principles in day-to-day living.

Start the tree-planting program with an orientation. Make sure kids understand what tree planting is all about. Include the different types of trees they can plant as well as some pictures to make the activity more interesting.

If you want kids to plant fruit-bearing trees, such as apples, oranges, figs, and lemons, let them experience the fruits these trees bear. Conduct a taste test if possible.

Cook Delicious Farm Meals Together

Cooking is a great way to help families bond together and create fruitful memories with each other. Kids find cooking more interesting than any other activity because it allows them to eat and play at the same time.

Similar to harvesting, cooking helps children explore and develop their senses. It allows them to discover new colors, smell various ingredients, feel different textures, and taste the outcome of their hard work.

Here’s a list of what to cook with kids:

Cookies with shapes of different farm animals (e.g., chicken, cow, and sheep);
Colorful brownies and cupcakes;
Farmer’s casserole;
Fruit-based salads;
Leafy-green salads;
Fruit pies (e.g., blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, etc.); and
Savory pies (e.g., shepherd’s, country mince, potato, sausage, etc.).

It’d be best to cook outside for a better farm-life cooking experience. You can also include the produce kids harvested earlier. This way, they’ll understand what they can do to food aside from eating them right after harvesting.

Since cooking can be dangerous, especially for children, parents must always keep their eyes on their little ones. Don’t let your kids hold a knife if they’re still unable to do it properly. And don’t let them open the stove and oven doors to prevent burning.

Let Your Kids Try Out Sensory Play

Sensory play involves activities that stimulate the five senses: touch, hearing, smell, taste, and sight. A farm is an excellent place for sensory play. It has plenty of animals kids can listen to, fruits they can taste, birds they can hear, trees they can feel, and others.

In addition, sensory play offers developmental benefits aside from developing and sharpening your children’s senses. These include:

It refines their motor skills. For example, fruit picking can increase their hand strength and develop grasp patterns.
It improves their social skills. For instance, working on a farm lets them interact and communicate with other people.
It develops their cognitive skills. For example, you can ask your kids to sort fruits and crops based on color and size.
It improves their language skills. For instance, sensory play involving communication lets kids expand their vocabulary.
It encourages them to stay calm during playtime.

Here are some examples of sensory play activities for kids of all ages:

Sensory Bins

Fill a bin with objects you can often see on a farm, such as animal feeds, dry rice, pasta, beans, and balls. You can also add tweezers, spoons, letters, and numbers to improve your children’s cognitive and motor movements.

Muddy Play

Fill a small container with mud and farm-related toys (e.g., shovels, animals, and the like). If you have plenty of mud, try to bury these toys and let your kids find them. Watch them closely and ensure they don’t suck their hands while playing.

Pot Planting

Grab a small pot, a few seeds, water (a sprayer would be better), and slightly-loose soil. Then, teach your kids how to plant. Let them touch everything with their bare hands to develop their sense of touch.

A Farm Diorama

Fill a small bin with a thin layer of hay, animal toys (e.g., cows, chickens, and pigs), and buckets of soil. You can add small trucks and mini barns to make it look more farm-like too.

Have A Picnic In The Farm

Your little farmers are probably tired from planting crops, harvesting fruits, and playing in the barn. A picnic on the farm would be a great way for them to take a break and relax. Here are some easy picnic ideas you can do with your kids:

A Winter Picnic: Kids love playing in the snow. A winter picnic might be a good idea to let them play in the snow. Additionally, snowy fields can be a great addition to your children’s sensory play.
A Movie Night Picnic: Picnics aren’t all about eating and talking: you can also watch movies outside. And the best way to do it is at night. You can also bring your car to make it more fun and comfortable.
Pack Picnic Food In A Jar: You can do this with your kids. Let them add anything they want in their jars, such as fresh fruits (it’s best to use the ones they harvest), biscuits, cookie bits, and the like.

To make your farm picnic more fun, allow your kids to pack everything in the picnic basket. Let them help you to expand their knowledge and experiences.

Sing Farm Songs

Kids love singing, allowing them to express and entertain themselves. Because you want them to enjoy the farm life, teach them songs related to farming, such as:

Old Macdonald Had A Farm;
The Farmer In The Dell;
Dingle, Dangle Scarecrow;
Five Little Ducks;
I Had A Little Hen;
Little Boy Blue;
Three Blind Mice;
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep;
The Cock’s On The Housetop;
The Animals On The Farm; and the like.

Once your kids learn these songs, you’ll likely hear them singing to these songs while planting crops, harvesting fruits, and playing outside.

Allow Your Children To Feed The Farm Animals

Your kids already know how to plant and harvest crops. Now, it’s time to teach them how to feed farm animals like chickens, pigs, sheep, cows, and horses.

Feeding animals allows kids to connect, interact, and play with them. And it helps kids understand that humans aren’t the only living creature in the world, encouraging them to be responsible for the environment.

Here are other benefits of animal feeding for your kids:

It helps kids be more confident with animals;
It encourages them to understand how one should behave around animals;
It encourages them to be respectful of the environment;
It offers opportunities to listen and follow instructions;
It improves their motor skills (e.g., opening fences, collecting eggs, grabbing feeds, etc.); and
It improves their math skills (e.g., counting eggs, buckets, animals, etc.).

Before your kids feed the animals, make sure farm animals are in good condition. Don’t let your kids near them if they’re stressed to avoid accidental injuries that can cause trauma.

Do Farm Painting

Painting is a great activity for your little ones. It allows them to do a lot of things, including:

Expressing their ideas;
Conveying their emotions;
Developing their senses;
Discovering new colors;
Exploring process and outcomes;
Creating works and experiences; and the like.

Encourage your kids to paint what they usually see around them, such as the barn, silos, cows, chicken coops, horses, tree orchards, and so on. Take them out on a bright sunny day and let them paint whatever they want.

When your kids are done painting, make sure to appreciate their work to encourage them to do more. And you can put their paintings on a frame to show that you’re proud of them.

Play The Animal Memory Game

Browse pictures of farm animals (their baby and adult versions) on the internet and print them. Ask your kids to cut and glue them into index cards. When the glue turns dry, it’s time to play the animal memory game.

Flip all the cards—picture side down—and let kids find the right matching animals. You may add numbers at the back of the cards for self-checking if you don’t remember the right answers.

Final Thoughts

Kids who’ve never been to the countryside may find farm life plain and boring. But they’ll surely find it fascinating once they know what farm life truly is. This post discussed some tips and activities that may help you make farm life more fun for kids. Keep them in mind and spend quality time with your younglings now.