Free Printable Farm Animal Masks for Kids

Why Do We Pretend In Preschool?

PRETEND PLAY

ASKING STUDENTS TO USE THIER IMAGINATIONS CAN HELP BUILD SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL SKILLS. STUDENTS CAN ANSWER QUESTIONS LIKE:

• What will my pet elephant eat today?
• What type of signs will I need for my shoe store?
• How can we each get a turn with our favorite doctor’s uniform?

It’s important for kids of all ages to practice using their social and cognitive skills in order to explore the people and the world around them.

These free printable farm animal masks can be used with an individual child, a pair of children, or a small group.

The masks included in the printable: cow, pig, chicken, rooster, horse, and sheep.

Farm animal masks can fit into any part of your child’s day-

• As a part of a farm unit in the dramatic play center
• During a rainy day
• After a classroom activity or assignment was finished
• On a field trip to the farm
• As a boredom buster when the whining begins

In addition to exercising a child’s social and emotional skills, here are more concepts to explore using the Farm Animal Masks:

• Lifecycles
• Living vs. nonliving
• City vs. country
• Adding or subtracting animals
• Exploring where our food comes from
• What letter does each animals begin with? What sound does that letter make?

Why is Pretend Play Important for Preschoolers?

Besides the fact that kids love making crafts, there are so many other reasons you should incorporate pretend play into your day.

Fine Motor Skills: Children will practice using fine motor skills by cutting, coloring, and gluing to create masks and props for pretend play. These skills also come into play when buttoning and zipping up costumes.

Explore Different Ideas: When children pretend, they can be anything, anywhere. What a great way to explore different cultures by adding kimonos, sombreros, or Dashikis. Different areas can also be staged in dramatic play to represent a laundromat, a coffee shop, or a veterinarians office.

Improve Literacy Skills: Adding writing materials (notebooks, pencils, dry erase boards) encourages children to experience beginning writing. Menus, books, and signs can be used to help identify letters, letter sounds, and sight words.

Develop Language and Vocabulary: Taking an order at McDonalds or giving a friend pretend medicine for a cold provides kids with a means of strengthening communication skills. Introduce new vocabulary words that fit in with the theme.

How To Use These Farm Animal Masks

• Print, cut out, and laminate the activity for durability.

Using the Farm Animal Masks

To create the masks, simply print on card stock and/or laminate.

Cut around the outside of the head, cut the eye holes (I use a box cutter), poke one hole near each ear and thread a piece of string or elastic through to create a mask.

More Ways to Use Pretend Play in Preschool

What Other Animals?

Have your children think of additional animals they can create masks for? Use a paper plate (with eye holes cut out) and have your child create their new mask with crayons, markers, yarn, etc.

Write a Story

Write down on a piece of paper a story that your child tells you about their farm animal. Modeling writing for your child shows them proper letter formation and print/word concepts.

Creative Storytelling

Have your children come up with a short play or story and use their farm animal masks as props.