Down on the Farm

Have fun with the following activities relating to products that come from a farm.

Too often all kids learn about farms are the names of the animals that live there and the noises each animal makes. These are good things to know, but how much more valuable it is to understand why we have farms and how they affect our day to day life in ways we rarely bother to appreciate.

In modern times we are so removed from the production of the things we consume and use that it is easy to assume that milk, eggs, butter, and other food come from a grocery store or that our clothes come from the mall. After doing the following activities, your child will have a greater understanding of where our food and clothes really come from and of the work that goes into producing them.

Fun Farm Facts
• The first people on Earth were hunter-gatherers who lived off of meat they hunted and plants such as fruits, nuts, and berries that they gathered. They had to travel from place to place to find food. Around 10,000 years ago, however, some people figured out how to plant seeds to grow crops. This allowed them to settle down in one place, cultivate food, and tame animals for their meat, milk, eggs, skins, and hair. These first farms grew into cities where civilizations began to develop.
• There are many different kinds of farms, including poultry farms that raise chickens to eat, egg farms that raise chickens for their eggs, sheep farms, dairy farms, cattle ranches, and crop farms that grow fruits, vegetables, grains, or cotton.