Farm Unit Study Ideas

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One of our favorite field trip destinations is to the farm. In fact, we became backyard farmers to a certain extent as a result of one of those field trips. My sons came home from an alpaca farm with three fertilized eggs, which they successfully incubated and hatched. Now I'm a chicken mom, and our hens are actually the best pets we've ever had!

Fall is a great month for farm field trips where we live, because the weather is nicer. In our area, we have the aforementioned alpaca farm, apple farms, horse farms, goat farms, a huge dairy farm, and farms with fall hay mazes and pumpkin patches.

To extend our field trips back to our classroom, I plan some type of activity as either a lead-in or follow-up to our activity. Usually, I start by scouring our bookshelves or the library database to find some books as a starting point. One fun resource we have is Farm Anatomy, which is like an almanac of all things farm-related. Below are some peeks inside the section about chickens, where we are learning all about chicken anatomy, comb types, predators, and what goes on inside an egg.

It's not difficult to find at least one book that ties in with our field trip. Once I find some resources, I use them as inspiration for a couple of hands-on activities:

Draw what you observed in your nature journal, particularly something unique to the farm you visited, such as an alpaca, the "life cycle" of an apple, or cotton growing on a plant.
For older students, write an essay describing what you learned. How does a dairy operation work? What is the difference between organic farming and non-organic? How do you prevent predators from attacking a flock?
Bring home something from the farm store to cook at home. We've made delicious apple sauce, apple tarts, and baked apples after our visit to an apple orchard. Local honey makes a delicious addition to hot tea, and cornmeal from the grist mill serves as a base for Johnny cakes. We have also tried new things like goat cheese and goat milk, which we discovered are delicious.
Do an art or craft project based on your farm visit. Check out my Pinterest Farm Unit Study board for some ideas.