What's more classic than kids playing with farm animals? Farm play has everything going for it - it stirs kiddos' imaginations, nurturing abilities and fine motor skills for a perfect play combination. Most kids really respond to farm animals - anyone who's taken their kids to a petting farm knows that!
Here's a round up of some simple farm play ideas you can use to get more out of your farm play figures at home.
Create Animal Enclosures
It's super easy to create animal enclosures with building blocks or Grimm's wooden rainbow pieces. This is our son's very favourite thing to do with blocks right now. He'll make a farm or a zoo and take care of all of his animals. There is so much to do! Feed the animals, pet the animals, catch the animals when they escape their enclosures - a busy day indeed.
Easy DIY Animal Feed
It's easy as pie to feed your flock with around the house supplies. Our favourite things to use are yarn or twine for hay and dried lentils, beans or popcorn kernels for feed. But you can do anything! Shred some paper, use cotton balls, collect mini pinecones from a nearby forest. Kids are not picky about realism - any collection of small items can work as feed.
Create a Wash Station
A pile of dirt, some sudsy water, some animals and a toothbrush - this is a recipe for easy fun that kids love. We popped some water and dirt in one plastic tub and some soapy water in another and set it all on a towel to soak up any mess. Then we let our son cover his Schleich animals in the dirt until they were absolutely filthy, and then he washed them clean with the soapy water and toothbrush and laid them to dray on a towel.
This is a super fun activity - the idea of getting dirty on purpose is just such a thrill for little ones. It's also great for encouraging nurturing skills - taking care of the animals and making sure they are clean and dry is a wonderful heart expanding pursuit. Washing the animals clean is perfect for excersizing all the little muscles in the hands and exercising the brain with a hand eye coordination test. And it's awesome for getting a child's creative juices flowing for a wonderful imaginative play activity. Plus, the clean up is minimal. A winner of a play idea!
Check out our full farm collection here for loads of farm play fun.