Year- Round Day
Programs
Educational Tours | Mothers and Babies | Wild and Domestic | Colonial Days | Extended Colonial Days | Soup | Saturdays at the Farm
A Child’s Introduction to the Farm
for kindergarten children
This program introduces children to the “story” of Sprout Creek Farm, to where foods come from and to the types of animals found at Sprout Creek. Children visit the animals.
The program takes place from 9:30-11:00 and 11:00-12:30 in October and May.
top
Baby Animals and their Mothers
for first grade students
This program helps children recognize various species of animals, know the female/male distinguishing names for each of these species, the food products obtained from them, and identify the gender differences. In the early spring, children learn about the development of offspring, visit and observe the animals in small groups, taking special note of the mothers. Students have the opportunity to visit mothers and babies together.
The program takes place from 9:30-11:00 or 11:00-12:30 in April and May.
top
Wild and Domestic Plants and Animals
for second grade students
This is a program that teaches children to distinguish between wild and domestic plants and animals. Among other things, the children visit the animals, take a walk in the floodplain, collect seeds of several plant varieties, search for animal tracks and learn to identify them and discuss hibernating, dormant and winter-active animals.
The program takes place from 9:30-11:00 and 11:00-12:30 in October and March.
top
Colonial Days
for fourth grade students
Children who participate in this program learn how colonial people started a farm, know what colonial farmers ate and where their food came from. They discover experientially how colonial farmhouses were constructed and how they were furnished.
Children learn about the layout of a colonial farm, discussing topography and inherent natural resources.
They learn how to card and spin sheep’s wool, make candles, bake bread, and they will come to understand what colonial clothing looked like and the purpose of special articles of clothing.
Children are taken back in time and told they are not fourth graders for the day, but are members of three families (the Millers, the Smiths and the Bakers) who have decided to move north from New York City and to start a colonial farm. All activities take place in small groups. Children are divided into family groupings. Each child is given a colonial name to be used throughout the day, and all are invited to stay in their relational roles (e.g. mother, child, uncle, grandmother, etc.) throughout the day.
During a tour of the existing farm, children “plan” the colonial farm, noting the necessity of such things as water, flat land, hills, trees. etc. They decide the order in which buildings should be constructed and the proper placement of each. They discuss food needs and how these needs might have been met in colonial times.
They construct a 4-foot model of a colonial house, using the post-and-beam method of construction.
The day ends with a community snack of gingerbread, a colonial treat, as they ready themselves to leave
and join the 21st century.
The program takes place from 9:30-2:30 (5 hours required) in October, November, February and March.
top
Extended Colonial Days
for fourth grade students
Extended Colonial Days emphasizes the difference between farmers in Colonial Days and present day farmers. Many activities are a preparation for the “Great Meal” and focus on what a colonial community would have done during the day to prepare for the evening meal. Children bake bread, make candles, churn butter and prepare soup from root crops that would have been available at that particular time of year. Believe it or not, they eat their soup by candlelight and love it.
Extended Colonial Days takes place from 10:30-5:45 in February and March.
top
Soup Lesson
This program begins with the children planting all the ingredients for soup (potatoes, leaks, onions, carrots, etc.). Over the next few months, the children return to the farm to watch these vegetables grow to maturity. The program ends with a soup dinner made totally from the vegetables they raised.
top
Saturdays at the Farm
Open to boys and girls, age 6-11, each Saturday will be filled with farm and homesteading activities such as feeding the animals (goats, cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, and ducks) making candles, baking bread or churning butter. Other activities include basketmaking, felting, wool spinning, and gardening. Children will have the opportunity to learn about farm animals and plants, bees and bugs, and to help with routine farm chores such as moving hay or cleaning pens.
Sessions will begin at 10am and end at 3pm. Early drop-off and late-pickup are not available for the Saturday programs. Please drop off children by the Red Barn and pick up by the Market.
Please call (845)485-8438 or email us for further information or to schedule a program.
top
