Dairy Learning

October has been "Farming" month for Learning Day. I've gone all out and really tried to incorporate our theme into everything that we are doing. We've been reading A LOT of books on all aspects of farming! Raising dairy cows is one kind of farming that is really common down where we live. So we decided to tour a dairy. Superstition Farms is a small (approx 1000 cows) family owned farm. The brother, sister and mom ran the tour! We had a blast and I highly recommend this as an outing option for those here in Phoenix. I learned so much about cows! (For instance, milk cows only get 2 months "off" during the last two months of their 9 month gestation perios and have a new calf about every 2 years starting at 2 years old. As a nursing mom who is currently "off" while growing this new little one, I found this quite interesting.) The tour made me wish that we new someone who farmed. I loved the pace out there and wish I could expose my boys to it more often.

Here we are at the entrance!

The mom is talking to us about chickens. The kids got to sit on hay bales and learn all about the different animals on their farm and both see and touch the different kinds of food that a cow eats. I had no idea that they ate such a complex diet. Xander did very well sitting and listening. His brother on the other hand just wanted to run. I ended up pouching him so he'd stay put.

Here the boys are getting ready for our hay ride tour of the actual dairy. Since this is a working farm, we toured this way so as not to disturb the cows or workers...After the hayride tour, we had the opportunity to feed the animals. Even Keegan got a piece of the action. All of the kids LOVED this part!

Xander laughed each time and thought it tickled. We fed a cow, goats and the horse.

We ate a yummy picnic lunch there and the boys enjoyed flavored milk from their Milk Bar!

If anyone has any ideas for creative outings for preschool aged kids, I'd love to hear about them. It's exciting to watch him absorb everything!