What do you find in a barn? Farm animals of course!! All the preschool kidlets LOVED the farm animals! Over the years we had horses, a turkey, cats, a pig, lots and lots of chickens –that’s a story for another time—rabbits, goats (LOVE goats!) and sheep…one exotic sheep, in particular, named Alice who was a Barbados sheep that didn’t need to have her wool sheered as it just fell out or was pulled out when she rubbed along rough wood.
And those were only the outside animals…there were many others inside the classroom! We could have sung Old McDonald Had a Farm every day and it’d have been appropriate!
And that’s how you might want to begin when bringing out Melissa & Doug’s Busy Barn Floor Puzzle. Get your kiddo’s head thinking about all the different kinds of animals on the farm…
What sounds do they make?
What do they look like?
What are their babies called?
Farming is hard work! And our families would help by signing up to feed the animals on the weekend and (sometimes) cleaning out the pens. Kidlets learned the difference between animals wanting hay to eat and needing straw for bedding even though both came in bales. The big red barn in Busy Barn may look a little different than Red Gate Farm’s barn but it still fulfills the same basic tasks—housing animals, storing bales and parking tractors.
Busy Barn gets a cockle-doodle-doo doosie of a PLAY ON seal of approval! The extra large pieces are great for little hands of course, but what I especially like are the realistic images. Putting the puzzle together will help to develop fine motor skills, eye- hand coordination, cognitive abilities, and social skills. Read more about why playing with puzzles is important!
The completed 32 piece Busy Barn floor puzzle is 3’ x 2’ and is recommended for ages 3 and up.
If you’d like to pair it with some farm-related books try:
Mrs Wishy-Washy
Benjamin’s Barn
A Big Fat Hen
E-I-E-I-O!
Yours in Play!
Teacher Karen
I appreciate and thank you for your support, the recommendations are primarily done to assist you in selecting toys, books and/or other materials that will enrich your child’s play experiences. I don’t participate in affiliate programs.