Materials
two yellow soft foam discs or two pieces of yellow paper
sheet
two folding chairs
Instructions
1. Put the toy horses, people, and fences in the block area. Explain that horses
live in barns or stables. Challenge the children to build a place for the horses
to live, eat, and sleep.
2. Ask the children to cut tan and yellow craft paper into thin strips to
represent hay for feeding the horses.
3. Create an entrance for the "horse farm." Fill two coffee cans with plaster of
Paris and put one dowel rod into each can. Let the plaster dry. Encourage the
children to choose a name for the horse farm.
Write this name on craft paper and attach it a
string hung between the two coffee cans.
4. Create three corrals for the horses. Ask
children to sort horses by color or size.
5. Create a graph with headings that
indicate color or size of the horses.
Place a horse sticker on the graph for
each type. Ask the children to count
the different types of horses and
graph the results.
Dramatic Play: Extend the horse farm to the house area by adding cowboy
clothes. Plaid shirts, denim skirts, overalls, boots, straw hats and riding gloves
will surely spark any child's imagination!
More Dramatic Play: Let children make their own hobby horses. Purchase a
dowel rod for each child. Fill a white tube sock with batting and let the children
create a horse's face with collage materials. Add a mane by gluing on yarn. Slide
the tube sock over one end of the dowel rod and tie securely with strong
string. Attach a length of heavy yarn to use as a rein. Children can ride their
horses!
Sensory Table: Add sand and miniature horses to the sensory table.
