Felt Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Old MacDonald Had 
a Farm  
                 A felt Old MacDonald Barn sounded like a good idea when my 18 month old granddaughter wanted to watch a "Old MacDonald" video over and over, and OVER again.  I wanted her to be able to have a more hands on experience with Old Mac Donald Had a Farm than just screen time.

            So,   I found a little candy box, about  4 by 4 inches.  Covering with felt to resemble a small barn was done with Tacky glue  to adhere the felt to the box. I know this is a Very basic barn.

  
       Then I worked on  some small felt animals to fit into the barn. You will have to excuse my hand sewing because it is really not very good, but I think they are kind of cute. 

       This  barn is made from a tin  Altoids box. It has a different shape with a hinged top. All the animals fit quite well.

          
           A duck is always a popular animal on the farm, with a quack, quack here, and a quack, quack there.

        
            A chick, chicken, or hen makes a good sound in the barnyard," Peep, Peep"!

                 This quiet little lamb makes a nice Baa- Baa sound on the farm.

          You can't sing "Old MacDonald had a Farm" without a pig.  The Oink- Oink here is very special to little ones.

      Last but not least is a cute brown cow that says Moo.

         Singing the Old MacDonald song is  a staple in every child's young learning life.  The tactile experience of opening the barn to pick up the next animal is enriching. As we sing the song, and make the animal sounds, each animal moves around the farm.  Then the barn is opened for the next animal in the song. This animal can be the next on the pile or the choice of the child.

         I feel this type of experience is more beneficial to the young child than watching the videos.  Watching videos for our children is so much fun, but screen time should be limited and not over done.

        Please, interact, sing, dance, and read with your young children. These are so very important event in their lives. They are young for such a short time.  They will grow up so very fast and this experience will be gone forever.

        I remember my mother and grandmother singing a song to me.  "When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother what would what would I be? Would I be pretty , would I be rich? Here's what she said to me. Que sera, sera, what ever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see, Que sera, sera."  This song is from 1956 written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. Doris Day sang it so beautifully.

       Please leave a message if you have a minute to spare in your busy day. I'd love to hear from any readers.

Beti