This week we had a great time learning all about farming and who lives on a farm as well as things a farmer might choose to grow. Harvesting involves the hands so we decided to keep the focus for this blog post about the fine motor skills work we do to build those finger muscles into stronger writers.
Sometimes practicing writing is just all about changing up the typical tools used to write so in this instance we swapped out our pencils and paint brushes for Q-Tips to trace letters that spelled out the farm animal, PIG. This simple change still works the little muscles in the fingers to make our preschoolers stronger and to help them be able to better grip a writing utensil easier down the line.
After working on holding a different utensil we changed things up again another time to have the children dig in our pretend fields and look for things that would be planted in a garden. The children sorted through dirt and beans and pebbles to look for flowers, carrots and any other 'garbage' that should not be in our field. Incorporating dramatic play into something that is still working the littlest of muscles supports our cause to improve fine motor skills used in cutting, writing, painting, drawing and even gluing.
Another hilarious activity we used our fingers for this week was milking cows! We colored water to be white with water colored paint then placed it in rubber gloves for the children to learn how a farmer gets the milk out of a cow. The children giggled and asked to milk our cows over and over again this week as we squeezed the fingers in the glove to release the white colored water from the finger tips we poked tiny holes into. It was quite the event!
A little bit of painting finished off our animal projects as we used our paint brushes to mix red and yellow together to make orange chickens. The children placed a tiny red triangle beak on them and some chose to add eyes. These tiny ingredients are what make a big deal later as the children use their pincher grasp to pick them up continuing our work on these fine motor skills.
The best part of everyone's week was our first ever field trip! We were so excited to have almost all of our morning and afternoon preschoolers along with some of their siblings, parents, grandparents and other family and friends join us on Arlington Crest Farms to learn about planting and harvesting. What a great end to a farm filled week!
We thank everyone for coming out and making the most of our time at the farm even if it was cut a little short by the rain, we hope you enjoy just come of the great photos that were taken of some of our pirates and their families !
Our scavenger hunt for ground cherries, tomatoes, green beans and more was hilarious when ended with silly faces in pictures and planting cilantro. Thanks Farmer Dan for hosting us and letting us cut flowers for our moms and pick vegetables.
If you would like more information about the farm check out their website and/or Instagram feed. We are sure Farmer Dan would love to see you again!
What's Coming Up?
- Next week we will be talking about Animals; always a wild time!
- Mark your calendars for Monday, October 4th: Columbus Day-we will not have school.
- Wednesday, October 23rd is College Night for District 211 and Palatine High School hosts so we will not have preschool that day.
- Thursday October 24th is the FREE Trick or Treat with Pirate Pete Event for the community, look for details in coming weeks.
