Animals on the Farm
This TopicQuest was designed for Ms. Moody's Kindergarten Class at Ben-Hill Primary School By Tesha Alexander, a Valdosta State University Preservice Teacher

Cartoon farmer and animals

Do you know what kind of animals live on a farm?  You might find cows, goats, sheep, horses, pigs, turkeys, ducks, chickens, and even cats and dogs.  But, even though they are all called "farm animals", they aren't all the same.  Each type of animal has its own unique characteristics, such as personality, name, and sound.  Do you know that some farm animals like to stay clean while others like to be messy and that some like to hear music while others do not!  To learn about several of the different kinds of farm animals and their unique characteristics, check out the links below.

black and white cartoon cow
Enchanted Learning has some great activities to help you get acquainted with farm animals.  This link will take you to a page where you can label the pictures of the farm animals.
white cartoon sheep
To learn about ducks, sheep, turkeys, cows, and chickens, go to Kiddyhouse. This site will give you many interesting facts about each animal, such as how they hunt for food, how they groom themselves, and where they're likely to be found.  Just click on the picture of the farm animal you want to know about.  Also, you can find information on more farm animals at Barnyard Palace.
cartoon rooster
Each farm animal has its unique sound or language.  To hear what sounds cows, sheeps, pigs, horses, and chickens make, go to Alphabet-soup and click on the pictures of the farm animals.
cartoon horse
Mother and baby farm animals are not called by the same names and neither are the daddy farm animals. With most farm animals, the mother, baby, and daddy all have different names.  To learn the proper names, go to the Illinois Department of Agriculture.  Click on the mother farm animal to find out the name of the baby and daddy farm animal.
cartoon turkey
Check out the MSN Encarta for some background
information on farming and agriculture.
cartoon pig
Contrary to popular opinion, pigs are not the messiest farm animals.  They actually like to stay clean!  Go to Pork4kids to play some fun games related to pigs.

Mission Activity

If you have a pet at home, then you know that it takes a lot of time and patience to care for them.  Farm animals are like pets.  Time and patience are needed in order to properly care for farm animals.  Some farm animals are easier to care for than others, and some can make noises all hours of the day that can become very annoying.  The links that you visited above provided you with information about the different kinds of animals found on the farm.  You found information about their personalities, habits, noises, and habitats.  Knowing what you now know, if you had a farm and could choose only one type of animal to put on your farm, what animal would you choose?  Would you choose a duck, cow, sheep, turkey, goat, horse, pig or chicken? Remember: it takes a lot of time, patience, and hard work to care for some animals. Choose your farm animal, then I will give you a piece of construction paper.  On the construction paper all the parts needed to make your farm animal will be drawn.  You will cut the pieces out and glue them together.  Then, you will tell me why you chose that animal for your farm.

Mission Steps

1.  Go to the Kiddyhouse website. 
2.  Click on each animal and read the information provided.  Pay close attention to the animals' habits, personality, habitat conditions, and amount of care and attention needed.
3.  Choose which animal you think would be best for you to have on your farm, based on how hard you would be willing to work and how much time you would be able to spend taking care of them.
4.  Get your construction-paper animal from me. 
5.  Cut your pieces out and glue them together to make your farm animal.
6.  Show me your finished animal and tell me why you chose that animal for your farm, based on how hard you would be willing to work and how much time you would be able to spend taking care of them.

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