I love teaching shapes to early learners. It’s just plain fun.

There are shapes all around us! So, once you introduce basic shapes to your preschoolers, expect them to point them out everywhere they look.

*Pointing to a window* – “Look, Mommy! A square!”

*Pointing to a plate* – “Look, Mommy! A circle!”

*Me pointing to the toddler bed in which mine should take a nap* – “Look! A rectangle! Don’t you want to get in it?”

(Doesn’t work, by the way.)

These farm shape playdough mats are great for building fine motor skills and shape recognition!

Plus, they’re a nice, quiet learning activity for kids to work with on their own.

Toddlers and preschoolers love to work with preschool playdough mats, such as our Apple Tree Playdough Mat and our Beach Number Playdough Mats.

And these shape playdough mats are tons of fun too! Kids can use dot markers or playdough to make shapes all by themselves.

Read on to see how to get yours! And don’t miss our list of farm books for kids to read!

Farm Fine Motor! Printable Farm Playdough Shape Mats

To use these farm playdough shape mats, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links are provided below. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer paper
• Playdough
• Laminator
• Optional: Dot Markers

This product includes eight mats featuring several basic shapes:

• Triangle
• Circle
• Square
• Rectangle
• Diamond
• Oval
• Heart
• Pentagon

Plus, this resource includes detailed suggestions for how to use these shape mats with students and as an in-class lesson!

How to Use Dot Shape Mats with Students

These farm-themed shape mats are so versatile for use with preschoolers and kindergartners.

You can print them and let kids use dot markers to fill in the shapes. Or if you prefer, you can laminate them and let kids use them with playdough!

You could also try using stickers instead of markers or laminating them and using them with dry-erase crayons or fingerpaint.

There are tons of ways to help kids use these and work on fine motor skills!

If you don’t plan to laminate these, you can simply print them on cardstock. They’ll hold up much better than on regular paper.

Hint: These are great for busy bag work too.

Just print them two to a page to make miniature shape playdough mats you can place in a busy bag for on-the-go fun!

Get a look at these farm shape mats in action in the video below!

Scroll down to get your set of Farm Shape Playdough Mats!

Add more learning ideas to your farm unit with these activities!

The post Farm Fine Motor! Farm Shape Playdough Mats appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.

We’re getting well into the harvest season and it’s a perfect time to read about this time of year with the kids!

We’ve already featured a harvest unit study, but I wanted to share a few more children’s books about harvest that feature picking apples, pumpkins, corn, and all kinds of fall produce.

There are even books that talk about the harvest moon, which is a great way to talk about lunar cycles.

Once you read a couple of these books, be sure to take the kids pumpkin picking, apple picking, or running through a corn maze. You might even want to make an apple pie with your kids!

By the way, if you can make an apple pie successfully, please explain it to me. I’m terrified of attempting to make a pie from scratch.

If you love these books, don’t miss our roundup of 50 Fall Books for Kids or our list of Children’s Books about Farms!

15 Beautiful Children’s Books about Harvest

1. Possum’s Harvest Moon – Anne Hunter

2. Strega Nona’s Harvest – Tomie dePaola

3. We Gather Together: Celebrating the Harvest Season – Wendy Pfeffer

4. Pick a Circle, Gather Squares: A Fall Harvest of Shapes – Felicia Sanzari Chernesky

5. Hello, Harvest Moon – Ralph Fletcher

6. Fall Harvests: Bringing In Food – Martha E. H. Rustad

7. It’s Harvest Time! – Jean McElroy

8. Curious George: Apple Harvest – H.A. Rey

9. Apples, Apples Everywhere!: Learning about Apple Harvests – Robin Koontz

10. By the Light of the Harvest Moon – Harriet Ziefert

11. Tractor Mac: Harvest Time by Billy Steers

12. Harvest Time: Celebrate Fall! by Erika L. Shores

13. Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills

14. Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie (Picture the Seasons) by Jill Esbaum

15. Bitsy’s Harvest Party by Melody Carlson

Don’t miss these other book lists for kids!

For more tips to make your kids into readers, check out my Reading for Kids board on Pinterest!

This post is part of The Massive Guide to Homeschool Reading Lists by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read tons of awesome booklists shared by my fellow homeschooling bloggers!

The post 15 Beautiful Children’s Books about Harvest appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.

Learning about farms is one of the most common preschool themes for young children. Which is why I wanted to share a simple farm unit study that you can share with your early learners too!

Farms are great learning themes for spring or fall, since fall is for harvesting and spring is when most baby farm animals are born. The farm activities for kids, farms for kids videos, and farm printables below are awesome for helping kids learn about this important part of our society.

If you love this farm unit study, don’t miss our animal homes unit study or our hibernation unit study! Both of these are also great for putting together your autumn learning plans!

Homeschool Unit Studies: Farm Unit Study

Printable Farm Notebooking Pages

Get your farm unit study started with these printable farm notebooking pages! These are good for writing down facts the kids learn from the videos below!

You can pick these farm notebooking pages up for free when you sign up for our Subscriber Library!

Farms for Kids Videos

Watch the following video about farms and then let the kids try to answer the questions below.

1. Where does food come from? (Answer: Most of it is grown on farms.)

2. Do fruits and vegetables just grow by themselves? (Answer: No. Farmers plant them and help them grow.)

3. How does food to get to markets? (Answer: After fruits and vegetables grow, they are taken to markets where people can buy them.)

4. What kinds of foods are grown on farms? (Answer: Tomatoes, pole beans, sunflower seeds, mustard greens, broccoli, carrots, corn, and peppers)

Watch the following video to learn about common farm animals.

After watching, see if your kids can name some animals that usually live on farms.

Farm Crafts and Activities for Kids

Try some of these fun farm activities for kids and affiliate farm products to help kids learn!

1. Printable Farm Animal Flashcards – Look! We’re Learning!

15. Melissa & Doug Puffy Sticker Play Set – On the Farm

Want to see more ways to make learning about farms fun during your farm unit study?

Discover more fall learning ideas on my Fall Activities for Kids Pinterest board!

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