A Day in the Life of a Farmer...Ag Day Felt Book...

 Ag Day is March 18th.  It's a day set aside to celebrate all things Ag and everyone involved in Ag as we applaud them for all their hard work.  Crystal at Mom for Less has a lesson planned for young kids to help them better understand the wonderful world of Ag.  It's a little bit different than the Old McDonald version that the story books present.

Crystal and I wanted to highlight a day in the life of a farmer to honor all the farmers out there by getting the kids involved and hopefully they will ask some questions along the way.  Now, each farmer has a different "schedule."  Some have livestock and others don't.  Some have crops and others don't, but they all have one thing in common: they work hard to provide food for the world!  I put together this felt book for my 2 year old daughter Jo, with the help of my older daughters.  While it was meant for Jo, the older two have enjoyed playing with it too.

It turned out so cute...

 

 You will need:
A cereal box
Felt in various colors. (I used: brown, green, light blue, blue, red, black, yellow, and white.)
School glue
2 pipe cleaners
Clip Art Printables
scissors

First, print the farm printables.  I have added the link to the clip art that I have provided, but you are welcome to make your own.

Then cut two rectangles from a cereal box and coat each side with glue...

Then add the desired felt color to each side of the box and trim off excess.  Allow it to dry.  Once dry, use scissors to add three holes on each rectangle.  Make sure that the holes line up on each side.

Once you printed the clip art, cut them out and glue them to the desired felt color. Jo even got in on this part of the action;)..

Allow them to dry and then cut them out leaving a bit of a border...

 Cut two pipe cleaners in half.  You will have a half left over so just save it for another project ;)

 Place the pipe cleaners in the holes of the rectangle to bind them together.  Twist to secure.

Now, for the fun.  The kids can start making all the different types of scenes.  (Note: the black and white hay bale is supposed to be green.  I had trouble finding hay...everything was yellow which is straw.  Cattle lay on straw (yellow) and eat hay (green), so your little one will have to color it green.)

I also cut out some brown felt for dirt, green felt for grass, or a hay field, and white felt for snow.

Since we are a beef and crop farm, that is what I included for my book, but this project is so versatile that you can easily add pigs, chickens, whatever the kids want.

Here are some other examples of the farm scenes my kids created.  

Planting while the sun shines...

 Making hay while the sun shines...

 The piece of equipment behind the tractor is called a round baler.  Most of the hay or straw in picture books are square, but farmers also make round bales which are much larger.

All plants need water to grow!...

 Harvest time!..

 The wagon behind the green tractor is called a grain cart.  The combine unloads the corn onto the grain cart and the grain cart takes it to the grain bin or semi truck.

And finally snow.  Farmers don't quit working because of the snow or cold.  In fact, their work probably doubles in this type of weather.  The calves still have to eat.  The farmers work hard 365 days a year to make sure the livestock have feed and water and fresh warm straw to lay on.

Don't forget to visit Crystal's blog for a fun lesson to go with this felt book!  Remember Ag Day on March 18th!