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Farm Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers + Farm Animal Shadow Puppets

Hi! Welcome. Enjoy these Farm Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers and make your own farm animal shadow puppets for a fun hands-on storytelling activity with our free printable farm silhouette templates.

Even boys who don’t particularly like to sit still for a story usually really enjoy the interaction of these toy and movable books.

These farm books for toddlers and preschoolers are the best books for boys on this topic. I decided to focus on hands-on, interactive books because hands-on learning is super for many boys.

Farms! Wonderful list of farm books for toddlers and preschoolers that get kids interacting with books. Plus a delightful group of farm animal shadow puppets--free printables!

This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. All opinions are my own and I share things I think would be of interest to boys.

Farm Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Touch and Feel Farm has a fuzzy chick, a furry dog, a bristly pig and more. It is only 6 double pages long but the images are nice and big, as are the texture spots.

Touch and Feel Tractor  by DK is a winner. It is a nice sturdy board book all about tractors. Toddlers can feel the tires of the tractor, the bumpy soil, and the rough bale of straw. Good textures are used for each item.

From the oh so cute little chick on the front cover, to the adorable pigs at the back, Feel and Find Fun Farm is enjoyable through and through. Each page has a textured spot on it and the interesting thing about this book is that it also has textured tabs.  Great photos!

Touch and Feel: FarmTouch and Feel: FarmTouch and Feel: TractorTouch and Feel: TractorFeel and Find Fun: FarmFeel and Find Fun: Farm

The first time we saw this book we knew we would love it. Moois a delight. Even the cover is interactive! It has a touch and feel aspect, lift the flap, and some movable parts. It also includes a rubber ducky squeak.  A full package of interaction. This farm book for toddlers and preschoolers is Highly Recommended!

This lift the flap book for boys who are a bit older is Flip The Flaps Farm Animals. This book takes things one animal at a time, gives some information and asks three questions. The answers to the questions are under the flap. Plus when you lift the flap the picture on the other page changes as well for a bit of a “what is different” game. Nice.

Here is one that imaginative boys simply must see. Flip Flap Farm is a hoot. Amusing animal rhymes pepper the book and the flaps allow you to make your own animals. For example you can flip to the chicken and then change the bottom of the chicken to a sheep and you have a ‘Cheep.”

MooMooFlip The Flaps: Farm AnimalsFlip The Flaps: Farm AnimalsFlip Flap FarmFlip Flap Farm

Noisy Farm is a push the button book that also has texture.  Each button makes an animal sound.  A nice touch and feel book with excellent images.

Another book by the same publisher as Noisy Farm (above) is the rhyming book Farm: Barnyard Fun.  No sounds in this one but again, the images are wonderful and there are textures to touch and feel.

Discovery Kids Moo on the Farm is neat as well. It has 10 sound buttons that make animal noises. Match the sounds and the animals for a fun learning and memory experience.

Noisy Farm Touch and Feel SoundNoisy Farm Touch and Feel SoundBarnyard Fun Touch and FeelBarnyard Fun Touch and FeelMoo on the Farm 10 SoundMoo on the Farm 10 Sound

Those were our favorites, I think the will be favorites in your house too.  I hope you find some wonderful interactive farm books for toddlers and preschooler to read with your kids.

Free Printable Farm Shadow Puppets

After looking through all of the farm books we got the urge to do some sort of farm themed hands-on project.  We settled on shadow puppets!

Free Printable Farm Animal Shadow Puppets and a wonderful list of interactive farm books for toddlers and preschoolers too!

Farm Shadow Puppets

I am a huge fan of shadow puppets for open-ended storytelling.  I love the stories kids come up with when they are playing with their puppets.

After a crazy amount of looking, we found a lovely set of silhouette templates for farm animals.  We then tweaked them to make them perfect for this shadow puppet activity.

The farm shadow puppets will most likely need to be made by an adult although kids could certainly help with construction. I suggest using a sharp scissors so you can cut sharp lines and the tiny details.

TIP:  The cleaner you make the cuts, the better the shadow effect of the puppets.

Supplies Needed for Shadow Puppets:

Printable Farm Animal Silhouettes <<<< click link to download your free printable
Black cardstock – this is our favorite brand of colored paper
6 – 8 inch Lollipop Sticks, bamboo sticks or straws (surprisingly inexpensive!)
Tape
Scissors (I love these for paper cutting)
Lamp or flashlight

Precision-Cut ScissorsPrecision-Cut ScissorsLollipop sticks 100 count 6 inchLollipop sticks 100 count 6 inchValue Cardstock 50-PackValue Cardstock 50-Pack

There are two ways to make these and both work great:

  • Print out the animals, cut them out, glue them to cardstock and cut them into the animal shapes.
  • Print out the animals, lay them over black card stock and holding them both together cut them out. (this is what I do)

Either way, you will want to use cardstock. I suggest black cardstock as it works out the best with the whole shadow aspect of the activity.

If you are printing out and gluing them onto cardstock you could use another dark color in a pinch.

Farm Animal Shadow Puppets Video

I made a short video of the construction.

Someone told me the best cutting tip and I wanted to share it with you and also show you how it looks.

I learned this tip many years ago and it makes everything I cut turn out so much better.

Cut out your farm animals and attach your sticks to the back with tape.

Let the storytelling begin!

You might also like:

Interactive Lift-the-Flap Truck Books

Cute Forest Animal Memory Game

100+ Best Picture Books for Boys: Books They Will Absolutely Love!

Lift-the-Flap Truck BooksLift-the-Flap Truck Booksread nowForest Animal Memory GameForest Animal Memory Gameread now100 Best Picture Books for Boys100 Best Picture Books for Boysread now

Here are the other participants in the Poppins Book Nook Virtual Book Club below and visit Poppins Book Nook to get the wonderful book club printables available for you to use with your kids.

pam

Friday 31st of January 2020

thank you! we have a "young" nine year old grandson who still loves to play something other than video games (sometimes) and we are overawed by his imagination when he lets it out.

Sheila Rogers

Tuesday 4th of February 2020

You are most welcome, Pam. I'm glad this list has some things he will enjoy and that the books will encourage him to use his imagination (love that!)

sylvie

Tuesday 3rd of May 2016

hello, I like this so much ! thanks for sharing have a nice day

Sheila Rogers

Tuesday 3rd of May 2016

Hi Sylvie, I am so happy to hear that you like it. I am more than happy to share. Enjoy and you have a nice day as well :) ~Sheila

Selena @ Look! We're Learning!

Monday 18th of May 2015

Shadow puppets are such a great idea! I never could figure out how to make those animal shapes with my hands...lol.

Sheila Rogers

Saturday 23rd of May 2015

Selena, lol yes, well I needed a book to get the hand puppets to look like much - these are just a tad easier :)

Toni @ Debt Free Divas

Friday 15th of May 2015

You really cut around that pigs tail. See, I'm just not that detailed. LOL. Thanks for making the video. I love the book ideas too.

Sheila Rogers

Saturday 16th of May 2015

Hi Toni, thanks for stopping by. I love little details like curly pig tails lol Glad you liked it.

Jennifer @ The Jenny Evolution

Friday 15th of May 2015

Great stuff as always! We have read many of these farm books! Boys and tractors go hand in hand :D

Pinning!

Jennifer @ The Jenny Evolution

Sheila Rogers

Saturday 16th of May 2015

Thanks Jennifer that means a lot :)