Young farmers

Setting up the farm

Set up the farm around any fixed building or playhouse in your outdoor area, or use a pop-up tent. Invite the children to help find resources to transform the building into a farmhouse and discuss how they might set up the farm around it.

Decide how to define the fields, for example, with chalk on hard ground or rope on grass. Use available resources to build walls, gates, fences and hedges. Consider where the animals will shelter and adapt resources accordingly.

Ask parents to donate any unwanted items, such as small plastic dog kennels, rabbit hutches and guinea-pig runs. Make sure that the items are washed thoroughly before use and check for any sharp edges.

Provide vehicles for transporting the animals and food, and make some child-sized tabards in animal fabrics for the children to pretend to be farm animals.