Tales from the Farmyard – Sea Legs’ Little Learners

Pre-Show Activities for Tales from the Farmyard

Fairytales can help children develop critical thinking skills and also provide a safe environment in which to evaluate their own emotions and decision making. Additionally, these timeless tales develop confidence through interaction and playful participation.

Suggested pre-show activities – read the story of The Little Red Hen, practice getting the children to say “Not I” in the relevant places in the story – this will prepare them for a smoother interaction when they come to watch the show.

If time allows you could: 

Teach the children the Pat-a-cake rhyme (which is used in the show). Please note that in the show, we replace the usually used word “cake” for loaf.…

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man.
Bake me a loaf (cake) as fast as you can
Pat it and roll it and mark it with B
Put it in the oven for Baby and me

Sing Old MacDonald’s Farm with the children. See how many farmyard animals the children can suggest. 

Read The Three Wishes and / or Stone Soup, these stories also feature in the show.

Post-show activities  

The following activities are intended to be used after the children have watched the performance. We hope they act as a springboard for you and your class to further explore the themes raised in the show. Please feel free to tailor these suggestions for the age and ability of your group.

Click on the blue links below to print off the different activity sheets. Please note: there is no print off for activity 4.

Activity 1) The Little Red Hen Story Strip

Little Red Hen has got into a muddle. Help her remember in what order the story goes. Ask the child to colour in each picture and then help them cut along the dotted lines. This will give them six separate pictures to place in the order the story is told (as in the list below). They can then stick the pages together with tape in the correct sequence so they end up with a concertina story strip.

1) The Little Red Hen plants the seeds
2) The Little Red Hen Waters the ground
3) The Little red Hen Cuts the wheat
4) The Little Red Hen takes the wheat to Otis the miller to make into flour
5) The Little Red Hen takes the flour to bun the baker to make into bread
6) The Little Red Hen eats the bread

Activity 2)  Plant a Seed – growing a seed is a fun and simple way to teach young children about plant life cycles and the responsibility of caring for a living thing. Cress seeds are a particularly good choice of seed as they sprout within days and you can see full growth in 1-2 weeks – this means the children can see the cress growing quickly and can enjoy eating it too!

What to do:

  1. Place your kitchen roll or cotton wool on the bottom of a container/tray and soak it with water.
  2. Get the children to each shake out some seeds onto the wet paper; you can gently make a desired shape with them (eg. the child’s initial).
  3. Place the containers somewhere bright , preferably a windowsill that the children can observe easily.
  4. Make sure the kitchen roll/cotton wool is kept wet as the seeds won’t grow if they are allowed to dry out (but be careful to not add too much water at once as they may get oversaturated).
  5. Watch them grow! And when they are 5cm tall (or more) enjoy tasting them too.

Some things you can talk about as you watch the seeds grow are: 

  • How the seeds all bend towards the light (if you turn the tray they will all bend back towards the source of sunlight). 
  • If the seeds are sown too thickly together they might not grow as evenly as they are competing for space and light. 
  • If we forget to look after the seeds and keep them watered they may not grow very strong or worse, might die. If they are overwatered they may drown, so a little every day is better than all or nothing.
  • The children can describe the taste of the cress, the texture and the colour. They can also draw the cress.

Activity 3) The Three Wishes Activity Sheet

Have a discussion about the Three Wishes story and ask the class to think about what they would wish for if the Magic Fairy visited and granted them three wishes. Then print off the activity sheet for the children to draw/write their wishes.

Activity 4) Gratitude 

Tales from the Farmyard explores themes of sharing, friendship and gratitude. Have a discussion about gratitude and what it means and share with each other what you are thankful for.

Name three things you’re grateful for

Ask the children to write out or draw (or both) three things they are thankful for.

Activity 5) Alphabet Soup Wordsearch

Test your little learners’ observational skills with our Alphabet Soup Wordsearch

We have two to try of varying difficulties: Word Search 1 and Word Search 2

Activity 6) What Sound? 

Match the sound to the animal with this fun activity sheet. See attached sheet

Activity 7)  Make a Loaf of Bread

If you have the resources in your school or nursery, making bread with the children is a fantastic activity to emphasise the broader message of the show; helping and cooperating with each other during the different stages of making a loaf. 

Please feel free to use your own recipe or use the one below which we have selected for use with early years groups. If you feel that the preparation stages are too complex for the ability of your group you can prepare the dough in advance and allow small groups of children (eg. 5) to each have a ball of dough that they take turns kneading. This is great fun and very tactile. Then they can enjoy tasting the loaves once they are out of the oven and have cooled.

Simple Bread Recipe

Ingredients 1.5kg bag plain flour

2 sachets of dried yeast

900ml warm water

1 tbsp salt

You will need a bowl, some clingfilm, a baking tray

Method 

STEP 1 sieve the flour, salt and yeast into a bowl

STEP 2 add the warm water

STEP 3 mix well together to form a dough

STEP 4 knead the dough

STEP 5 leave the dough to rise in a covered bowl

STEP 6 dust your hands with flour and roll the dough into a ball, place it on a lined baking tray.

STEP 7 bake in a preheated oven 220 degrees C for 25 to 30 minutes. The loaf should look golden brown and sound hollow when tapped underneath.

STEP 8 once the loaf has fully cooled slice it and enjoy what you have made with friends!