Farm Montessori activities for preschoolers

I recently completed a preschool farm unit with my two kids, 4-year-old QBoy and 3-year-old XGirl. This was a really fun unit with so many great learning activities. In addition to reading books about farm animals, visiting farm animals, and so much more, I created a number of farm Montessori trays to go on our shelves during this unit. In this post I’m sharing those trays with you!

Please note that I am still a Montessori newbie, so I can’t promise that my trays adhere to strict Montessori principals. But hopefully you’ll find some inspiration here for activities to do with your own kids.

Note: For more kid-friendly farm activities and printables, see my Life on the Farm Unit Study page.

The Oriental Trading Company items featured in this post were provided to me in exchange for an honest review.
All activities using these materials were planned by me and all opinions are my own. See my disclosures for more information.

Farm Montessori tray: Create a farm animal book

This tray includes items for the kids to make their own farm animal books. In the orange basket I have a variety of foam farm animal stickers from Oriental Trading Company. In the green basket I created some sample pages with an animal sticker and the name of the animal written using our lowercase alphabet stamps. In the pink basket were blank books for the kids. XGirl absolutely adored this activity.

Farm Montessori tray: Counting farm animals

For this tray I included 55 foam farm animal stickers from Oriental Trading Company and our sandpaper numerals. The kids laid out the numbers in order, and then under each number laid out a corresponding number of farm animals.

Farm Montessori tray: Put the beads on the pig

For this tray I put out some pink beads and the pig do-a-dot sheet from Oriental Trading Company. The kids  practiced one-to-one correspondence by putting one pink bead in each circle on the pig.

Farm Montessori tray: Build a fence around the dog

This tray was simple – using only craft sticks and the dog from our Safari Ltd Down on the Farm Toob.

The idea was for the kids to build a fence around the dog.

Farm Montessori tray: Scissors practice

This tray included a pair of scissors and some cutting practice strips from my

Farm Montessori tray: Farm animal families

The farm animal family printable used for this tray comes from Montessori MOMents. We used this to learn the names for the father, mother, and baby animals in each animal family.

Farm Montessori tray: Making farm animals with pattern blocks

I got this and a couple of other farm animal pattern block templates at PreKinders. The kids use the pattern blocks on the left to complete the duck pattern on the right.

Farm Montessori tray: Flip an egg

I’m currently taking an online Montessori training. We recently finished studying the practical life manual, which included a section on wrist turning activities. I decided to create an “egg” by adding a yellow spot to the middle of a yogurt container lid. I made a “burner” by taping a blue circle on the tray. Then I provided the kids with a spatula so they could “flip” their own eggs.

Farm Montessori tray: Put the wool on the sheep

For this tray I put out some white tissue paper squares, some glue, and the sheep do-a-dot sheet from Oriental Trading Company. The kids practiced one-to-one correspondence and fine motor skills by crumpling up the tissue paper squares and gluing them to each circle on the sheep.

Farm Montessori tray: Farm animal spelling with milk cap letters

The template for this tray comes from my

Farm Montessori tray: Identify the first sound of each word

I placed four small stones in the container on the left.  In each panel of the paper on the right, I placed a foam farm animal sticker from Oriental Trading Company and I wrote two letters – one of which corresponded to the first sound of the image. The kids placed the small stones on the correct letter.

Farm Montessori tray: Farm Hide and Seek

Developmentally, the kids are above this Melissa & Doug Magnetic Farm Hide and Seek activity already. Nonetheless, they still enjoy playing with it from time to time. And since it fit with our farm theme, I put out on our shelves during the unit to bring their attention to it.

More farm learning resources

More farm posts from Gift of Curiosity:

• Farm Printables Pack
• Farm do-a-dot printables
• Farm grid games printables
• Books about farm animals
• Learning about farm animals
• Fun on the Farm preschool activities
• Fall on the Farm sensory bin

For more kid-friendly farm activities and printables, see my Life on the Farm Unit Study page and my Farm Unit Pinterest board.  Follow Katie @ Gift of Curiosity’s board Unit Ideas: Farm on Pinterest.

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