Farm theme week for preschool and daycare

A farm week for preschool or daycare is about the animals, the sounds they make, their babies, and the food that comes from a farm. Peabody's free farm theme plans it Monday to Friday: four books, a paper-bag barn, "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" with its words, a snack from the Kitchen, the letter F and an animal walk outside, with notes for infants, twos, threes and fours, and mixed-age rooms. Peabody is free through the end of 2026, with no sign-in and no ads.

Farm is one of the few themes that fits two seasons. Rooms run it in the fall, from September to November, and again in April when the baby animals come.

Why farm works in a daycare room

Farm is a theme every age can join. A baby can hear a cow's "moo". A two can make the sound back. A three can name the animal and its baby. A four can count the pigs to ten and tell you what the little red hen made. That makes it a good fit for a family child care home or a mixed-age room where one plan has to stretch from a lap baby to a pre-K child.

The week at a glance

Circle time, by age

The theme question is "Which animals live on a farm, and what do they say?" The word wall words are farm, barn, cow and hen.

• Threes and fours: ten to fifteen minutes. Good morning song and each name, the calendar and weather, the question, "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", then At the Farm (level 3). Let a child hold the book.
• Twos: about five minutes. Stand up for the song.
• Infants and toddlers: two or three minutes on laps. Sing hello to each child by name, look out of the window together, and hold up something real (a toy cow, a feather, an egg carton) and name it.
• Mixed ages: everyone sings. The babies hear it.

The books

Four free Peabody stories, three to follow along with and one to read aloud:

• At the Farm (level 3): the farm animals one by one, in a pattern children can say along.
• Ten Pigs (level 1): counting pigs to ten, for the math corner.
• Fox and the Hen (level 1): a hen and a fox who are kind to each other.
• The Little Red Hen (level 4, a read-aloud): who will help? The hen bakes bread alone.

For infants and toddlers, read one book every day: At the Farm, pointing and naming each animal.

The craft: a paper-bag barn

Five materials: a paper lunch bag, red paint, white paper strips, animal stickers or drawings, and a glue stick. No scissors, nothing hot.

1. Paint the bag red and let it dry.
2. Glue white strips on as the barn doors.
3. Put the animals in the barn and name each one.

Paint on Tuesday, finish on Wednesday. For twos, a grown-up pours the paint and holds the glue. For infants and toddlers, let them touch the bag and hold the animals while you make it, and keep stickers away from mouths. In a mixed-age room, the twos do the craft with help and the fours help the twos.

The song, the snack and outside

The song is "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", a traditional rhyme from Peabody's nursery rhymes with lyrics. Its list notes that the animal sounds make it easy for toddlers to join in, and new animals are easy to add. Let each child pick the next animal.

The snack is English Muffin Pizzas, on Thursday. Talk about where each part came from: the wheat, the milk for the cheese, the tomatoes. The recipe page in the Peabody Kitchen lists the allergens, the swaps and the lines for children under 4. Read it before you shop.

Outside is the animal walk. Walk like each farm animal: a hen pecks, a cow plods, a pig rolls, a horse gallops.

The letter pack

F is for farm. The letter pack prints a trace page and a color page. Threes and fours trace F and f once, then find F in the room and in the book. Twos color the picture page. In a mixed-age room, the fours do the trace page and everyone gets the picture page.

Try this week: a barn sorting box

Turn a shoebox into a barn with a door cut in one side (a grown-up cuts). Put a basket of toy animals or picture cards next to it. Children sort: who lives in the barn and who lives in the pond, who has feathers and who has fur, who is a grown-up and who is a baby. Use the same box every day; the sort changes, the box doesn't.

For the whole week on paper, open the planner, pick the week, "Farm" and your room's ages, and print the wall sheet and the family note. The note gives families two questions to ask: which animal says what, and what the little red hen made.

If you run a home program and plan on a phone, the planner works the same there, and its "Send to my other phone" link carries only the theme and the week.

Three things providers ask

Should I run farm in the fall or the spring?

Either, or both. In the fall, lean on harvest and food. In April, lean on the babies: chicks, lambs and calves. The books and the craft work in both.

Can I add a field trip?

Yes. Write it in the day's notes in the planner and on the family note. Follow your program's own rules for trips and permission slips.

Do I need real animals?

No. Toy animals, picture cards and the children's own animal walk do the work. A feather, an egg carton or a bit of wool to touch helps the youngest.