Farming With Junior

Wow it has been way too long since our last post. This summer has been so very busy and I have just not had the time to get many posts up.
Junior has been working on a unit on farming during his school sessions. It has been a challenge to come up with ways for him to experience farming at home but I will share a few of our activities.
One of the easiest was growing some plants of our own.
This past week Junior planted a Venus Fly Trap. Not your typical farm item but still a good chance for him to learn about how things grow.
For this we used a kit(we purchased the kit at Joann's Craft Store) though for the other plants we just used some small pots and vegetable seeds.
Junior looked at the pictures of a Venus Fly Trap and learned about where they grow and how they need it to be warm and moise.
He put in the dirt and seeds and then watered his plants.
Then we added the cover to keep his plants nice and moist.
I tried to convince Junior that we should take down his planetarium and turn his toy bar into a farm but he wasn't going to go for it. He just loves his planetarium and sits under it and plays with the lights nearly daily.

Another project we did was a poster showing the stages of a plant.
We started with a large project display board(cardboard with 3 panels). Junior painted the lower part brown and the top blue.
We then added seeds to the first portion, we used corn and watermelon seeds
For the second part Junior painted flowers using a bottle. He chose the color he wanted to use and then dipped the bottom of a plastic soda bottle(the 16oz or smaller size) into the paint. Then make a print on the board. He then flipped the bottle over and dipped the top of the bottle into a different color to make the center of his flower. We used a paintbrush to add leaves and stems though Junior would have preferred to use his fingers.
Junior did this project over a weeks time and the final area shows a little farm and the grown vegetables. We left the center, large area for this part.
Junior's teacher had brought him a little barn and silo to cut out and glue to his farm. She found them at www.enchantedlearning.com
I also found some farm printouts for him to add to the poster in a activity book called On the Farm which is produced by Teacher Created Resources.
To finish off his poster we added a sunshine and some cotton clouds.
We still have a ways to go in our farm unit and next Junior will be learning about farm animals. I will be sure to share some of those activities in the coming weeks.
I also want to do a post(or 2) about sensory areas. I have had several people share pictures of their versions of the "little room" and am impressed by each of them. Can't wait to share those.