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Farmyard Sensory Small World Play

July 19, 2012 by Anna Ranson

Create a farm-yard small world play scene using real sensory elements to enrich the fun and  learning experiences for young children! Pair it with a favourite farm story or information book, to give some context-rich literacy opportunities too!

Farmyard sensory small world play scene

When setting up a small world play scene, I usually place them at child height on a low table top or basket and make it accessible from as many angles as possible. Leaving the small world scene out for an extended period of time (I’d say at least a couple of weeks, but more or less time following the child’s lead) gives plenty of opportunities for returning to the scene and adding to it with other elements as their interest grows. Small world play was my favourite area of play to set up for my classroom while I was teaching and I still love doing it now!

We made a simple farmyard play-scene using our Melissa and Doug barn, an empty wooden crate from one of their toy sets, toy animals, and a few added sensory ingredients for tactile exploration!

The sheep and goats had a paddock of dried and fresh grasses to share.

In our farmyard scene we needed a mud bath for the pigs to roll around in, so Cakie filled a tub with soil from her vegetable patch. The pigs had a wonderful time!

The ducks, swans and peacocks needed a pond to swim on so we put a few drops of blue colouring into a tub of water to make one.

The animals had a nice field made of hay to roam around in, as well as some grasses, rice and split peas to eat. (Looks like Granny Farmer had a slight mishap delivering the animals’ breakfast this morning!)

I adore these miniature vegetables we have in our Teeny Tiny Things collection (aka a large box of misfits that we’ve collected from various sets of Playmobil and Sylvanian Families!) Girl Farmer collected all of these crops and arranged them so tidily, before settling down for a rest.

The girls loved this farmyard and played with it for much longer than they have in the past because it was set up as an Invitation to Play and because it stayed out for a long period of time. The mud and water did get mixed up together and eventually replaced, but all other toys remained within the play scene.

Have you tried creating a small world scene? What has your child’s favourite been?

Learning Links:
creativity: create stories using toys and other items to represent new objects
literacy: use dolls/puppets and story props to retell stories and create new ones
physical: fine motor skill development though arranging and ordering small objects, sensory exploration
knowledge and understanding: exploring about farms, names and types of animals, animal behaviours/ food/ habititats/ uses etc Vegetable/ fruit names and types

Cakie: 3.10
Pop: 2.3
Bean: 20 wks

Looking for more small world play scenes to try? There are LOTS here in the archives to choose from!

Related Posts

  • Natural Animal Small World PlayNatural Animal Small World Play
  • Autumn Woods Sensory Small World
  • Icy Arctic Small World Play
  • Panda Bear Small World Imaginative Play
  • 5 Speckled Frogs Natural Small World Play
  • Dinosaur Small World Play in a Suitcase

Filed Under: Age, Animals, Creativity, Farm, Imaginative Play, Preschooler, School Age, Sensory, Sensory Tubs, Small World, Toddler Tagged With: Animals, Sensory Play, Small World Play

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Comments

  1. The Monko says

    July 19, 2012 at 1:58 pm

    I love this small world play – especially the duck pond. My son loves this type of play

  2. Karen says

    July 19, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    Hubby has taken my 3 kiddies out for the morning – I’m gonna have this set up for when they return as the 2 boys LOVE all things farm! thanks for the motivation!!!!

  3. Mud Hut Mama says

    July 19, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    So very clever! I love the extras you added to the set.

  4. pmlevitt says

    July 19, 2012 at 5:55 pm

    Love this! So fun!

  5. School Sparks Renee says

    July 19, 2012 at 6:58 pm

    Very inviting for young ones. Thanks for the pics. Renee

  6. Helen says

    July 19, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    We did some farmyard small world play yesterday too. I love the mud and water idea, perhaps we might add that at the weekend. I can imagine the pigs had lots of fun taking mud baths!

  7. Serendipitychild says

    July 19, 2012 at 10:42 pm

    Hi, I have jusy discovered your blog and I LOVE IT! So many fantastic ideas, can’t wait to try some out with my little boy when he is a bit older, he is just 5 months now so he is still finding his own body fascinating at the moment. He discovered his ears the other day!

  8. Bambina felice says

    July 20, 2012 at 10:18 am

    Just wonderful!!! I am trying to create an ocean small world these days and would love to do it as beautifully and play-invitating as you do. Thanks for sharing!

  9. Melanie @ Raise A Boy says

    July 20, 2012 at 3:30 pm

    I have to ask – where did you get your farm set? I’m planning on making my son a farm birthday cake and have looked everywhere for simple farm animals like the ones in your post and have not come across anything.

  10. RedTedArt says

    July 20, 2012 at 8:40 pm

    How cute!

  11. Growing a Jeweled Rose says

    July 22, 2012 at 10:51 pm

    I love this!! So many sensory elements coming together for fantastic imaginative play! 🙂

  12. Anonymous says

    August 11, 2012 at 3:19 am

    Your blog make me wish TWO things 1: that my little ones were a little younger (though my 8 year old was pretty excited when she saw it!) and 2: that I could be your kid!! LOL What a charming and lovely childhood you have created for your little ones – what a blessing! I wonder if my 7 yo boy would like some of these?

  13. Stephanie says

    February 5, 2013 at 7:07 pm

    Hi! I just wanted to let you know that I was super inspired by your farm small world and created my own for my twins as part of our Barnyard Dance unit- I cited you as inspiration and included a link to your farm in my post – http://www.two-daloo.com/2013/02/04/farm-small-world/

    Thanks for sharing such wonderful ideas!

    Stephanie

  14. ~The Bargain Babe from *Zucchini Summer Blog* says

    March 22, 2013 at 1:29 pm

    This is the cutest thing ever! My little boy loves farm stuff. He will have so much fun letting pigs roll around in the box of dirt/mud!

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About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

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