READING ADVENTURE TREASURE CHEST KIT #45
DOWN ON THE FARM

This Reading Adventure Treasure Chest Kit has been assembled to provide a thematic list of storytime materials for use by enhanced members and their patrons.  The kit is geared toward the preschool age group yet is flexible enough to capture the interest of toddlers and early school age children.  The Activity Ideas are designed to be aids to use the materials listed in the kits.

If you would like more information concerning this project, contact SERLS via e-mail at dirserls@oplin.org

Material Type	Title	Author
BOOK	Adam Pig's Everything Fun Book	SELINA YOUNG
BOOK	Busy Farm: A Pop-Up Book	SIAN TUCKER
BOOK	Do Pigs Have Stripes	MELANIE WALSH
BOOK	Dogs	GAIL GIBBONS
BOOK	Down By The Pond	MARGRIT CRUICKSHANK
BOOK	A Farmyard Song	CHRISTOPHER MANSON
BOOK	Garth Pig Steals The Show	MARY RAYNER
BOOK	Haystack	BONNIE AND ARTHUR GEISERT
BOOK	How The Ox Star Fell From Heaven	LILY TOY HONG
BOOK	It Could Always Be Worse	MARGOT ZEMACH
BOOK	Julius	ANGELA JOHNSON
BOOK	The Lamb And The Butterfly	ARNOLD SUNDGAARD
BOOK	Market Day	EVE BUNTING
BOOK	My Dog Rosie	ISABELLE HARPER AND BARRY MOSER
BOOK	Old Mother Hubbard And Her Wonderful Dog	JAMES MARSHALL
BOOK	Perfect The Pig	SUSAN JESCHKE
BOOK	Rockabye Farm	DIANE JOHNSTON HAMM
BOOK	The Royal Raven	HANS WILHELM
BOOK	This Is The Farmer	NANCY TAFURI
BOOK	What A Wonderful Day To Be A Cow	CAROLYN LESSER
BOOK	When Bluebell Sang	LISA CAMPBELL ERNST
BOARD BOOK	A Child's Good Morning Book	MARGARET WISE BROWN
BIG BOOK	Rosie's Walk	PAT HUTCHINS
RESOURCE BOOK	The Rooster Crows: A Book Of American Rhymes And Jingles	MAUD AND MISKA PETERSHAM
BOOK & TAPE	Harry And The Lady Next Door	GENE ZION
CASSETTE	Daisies And Ducklings	FRAN AVNI
VHS	Pigs
PUPPET	Pig Puppet
EXTRA ITEM	Farmer In The Dell (8 piece Flannel Board Set)

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ACTIVITY IDEAS AND FINGERPLAYS

Read the nearly wordless picture book Oink. Encourage your children's imaginations by asking: How many pigs are there? Do pigs like apples? What does oink mean when it appears in various places, and why does the artist change the size and placement of the word?

Sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm. Then invite children to make animal stick puppets. Give each child a paper plate to color as an animal face. Then use paint stirrers, rulers or dowels to make stick puppets. Sing the song again using the stick puppets.

Play &quotPut the Snout on the Pig." Cut a 15 inch diameter circle from poster board. Draw inverted triangles for the pig's ears on the top of the circle. Color the face pink if you have not used pink poster board. Cut a 4 inch diameter circle from the remaining poster board for a snout. Draw two circles for nostrils. Invite the children to pin the snout on the pig, using tape to hold it in place.

Play the counting game "There Once Was a Sow." Designate one part of the room as the pigpen. Choose one child to be the pig and sit in the pigpen. This child says "umph" in the following poem:

There once was a sow who had a piglet,
And a piglet had she.
And the old sow always went "umph,"
(child says "umph")
And the piglet went "wee, wee, wee."
(another child goes to the pigpen and says "wee, wee, wee")
Choose a different child to go to the pigpen and repeat the poem.

If You Were A Farmer
(Sing to the tune of "Did You Ever See a Lassie?")
Oh, if you were a farmer, a farmer, a farmer,
Oh, if you were a farmer,
What would you do?
I would gather eggs for breakfast,
For breakfast, for breakfast.
I would gather eggs for breakfast,
That's what I'd do.
(pretend to put eggs into a basket)
I would ride a horse to pasture. . .
(pretend to ride a horse)
I would milk the cows each morning. . .
(pretend to milk a cow)
I would feed the baby chickens. . .
(throw seed on the ground)
I'd go plowing in a tractor. . .
(steer a tractor)

Over In The Barnyard
(Sing to the tune "Down By The Station")
Over in the barnyard
Early in the morning,
See the gentle cows
Standing in a row.
See the busy farmer.
Giving them their breakfast
Moo, moo, moo, moo
Off they go.
Repeat using other farm animals and names.

The Pigs
Piggie Wig and Piggie Wee
(Hold up thumbs)
Hungry pigs as pigs could be,
For their dinner had to wait
Down behind the barnyard gate.
(With palms facing body and fingertips touching, bring thumbs behind "gate")
Piggie Wig and Piggie Wee,
Greedy pigs as pigs could be,
(Wiggle thumbs)
For their dinner rand pell-mell;
(Make scampering motion with hands)
In the trough both pigs fell.
(Cup hands to represent trough. Plop thumbs into palms)

Ask your local children's librarian about more fingerplays, activities, and books such as these recommended titles:

• The Big Sneeze by Ruth Brown. One afternoon a farmer dozes in the barn along with the barnyard animals. When a fly lands on the farmer's nose, he sneezes and sets of a chain of silly reactions.
• Counting Sheep by John Archambault. A little boy who can't sleep counts sheep.
• Ten Sleepy Sheep by Holly Keller. Leis can't sleep so he counts sheep until he has a room full.
• A Treeful Of Pigs by Arnold Lobel. The lazy farmer finally keeps his promise to help when his little pigs disappear and he realizes how much he misses them.
• The Year at Maple Hill Farm by Alice Provenson. Shows the month- by-month activities of the animals on a farm.