I love farmers markets, and this time of year is perfect for a farmers market theme!
Here, you’ll find links to free farmers market printables used to prepare hands-on activities and a new Montessori-inspired farmers market pack for our free newsletter subscribers’ resource library! This unit has resources mainly for advanced preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary.
You’ll find farmers market books here for toddlers and preschoolers, too. And our earlier eat-a-rainbow unit and fruit and vegetable unit have activities for younger kids that work perfectly with the farmers market theme. They also have free do-a-dot printables and cutting strips to go with them.
Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).
Montessori Shelves with Farmers Market Themed Activities
Montessori Shelves with Farmers Market Themed Activities
You’ll find Montessori-inspired farmers market themed numbers, letters, and and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) Note: The Montessori-inspired farmers market pack isn’t designed as a complete farmers market unit but as supplemental materials. I design the packs using realistic images that I’ve often looked for when preparing a unit study (such as font cards and phonogram cards featuring the letter and phonogram related to the theme and math cards with realistic images that fit the theme and can be adapted for math activities at a variety of levels.)
You could mix your farmers market themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special farmers market themed area something like the one pictured. My shelves at the beginning of our unit have a mixture of skill levels. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels. If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, simply rotate them.
Montessori Shelves with Farmers Market Activities and Robert Antoine Pinchon Art Print
Notice the framed illustration The Market at Pont Audemer by Robert Antoine Pinchon (1886-1943). It’s a free download from Wikimedia Commons.
For our monthly featured art print, I purchased a Li’l DAVINCI art frame that opens in the front for easily changing a free art masterpiece printable or vintage illustration to fit with the month’s theme. The frame can be switched from horizontal to vertical without changing the hanger, which is perfect!
If you’re wondering about the rugs and rug box I use, both the rugs and wooden rug holder are from Montessori Services. I love the Montessori Services rugs and rug holder! I used to use an umbrella stand something like these. I loved that for 1-3 rugs, but I needed something different when I had more grandchildren and some projects that needed more than one rug.
Favorite Shelves, Trays, Baskets, and More for Montessori Homeschoolers
I often get asked about the trays, baskets, etc., that I use, so I published a post with many of the items. You can find lots of helpful resources here. They’re not all essential, so don’t feel you need to have everything. Just choose what’s best for your budget and your unique family’s needs. You’ll find more ideas in the Living Montessori Now Amazon shop
Books for a Farmers Market Unit
Even though I have books on shelves, I’m now keeping many of my themed books in a forward-facing display after placing a plant where the themed book basket was before. Most of my seasonal books are now in that book basket.
For toddlers and preschoolers, about ¾ of the books I use are typically Montessori friendly (focusing on reality without smiling or talking animals or smiling or talking vehicles). This unit is filled with Montessori-friendly books!
Books for a Farmers Market Unit
Top Shelf of Themed Shelves:
- On the Farm, at the Market with information about farmers markets and three different types of farms preparing to sell at the farmers market
- Our Farmers’ Market with easy-to-understand information about farmers’ markets
- On the cookbook easel, I show two vegetables pages from Picturepedia, which I love as a reference for most units!
- Farmers Market Create-and-Play Activity Book with many fun activities that can be punched out and quickly assembled
- “Fruit or Vegetable?” pages from the DK Smithsonian Trees, Leaves, Flowers & Seeds: A Visual Encyclopedia of the Plant Kingdom. The DK Smithsonian books typically have gorgeous photos and are wonderful reference books that I use for many units.
Top Shelf of Forward -Facing Display:
- Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life by Julia Rothman has gorgeous illustrations and lots of information that appeals to any age. I have the Julia Rothman boxed collection that includes Farm Anatomy, Nature Anatomy, and Food Anatomy. I use the books for many units.
- Food Anatomy: The Curious Parts & Pieces of Our Edible World (also from the fabulous Julia Rothman collection. I have some other Julia Rothman books, too)
- The Vegetable Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallota is Montessori friendly except for three words that aren’t phonetic. I find that most alphabet books have a few letters without phonetic words.
2nd Shelf:
- I love Gail Gibbons books for lots of facts that are easy to understand. For this unit, we’re using both The Fruits We Eat and The Vegetables We Eat.
- Fresh-Picked Poetry: A Day at the Farmers’ Market
3rd Shelf:
4th Shelf:
- Sunday at the Farmers’ Market
- Max Goes to the Farmers’ Market
- Farmers Market: Dia de mercado
- Vegetables: Verduras (My First Bilingual Book) – board book not available on Amazon right now. (My grandson always loved this book.)
Bottom Shelf
- Izzy Goes to the Farmers Market: A Sign Language Adventure
- Apple Farmer Annie
- What Will Fit? (Storytelling Math Board Book)
Some other books we’re using that are in a book basket:
- Where Do Bananas Come From? A Book of Fruits and Where Does Broccoli Come From? A Book of Vegetables. The books are recommended for kindergarten through grade 6. They’re packed with information and illustrations, but I don’t think they would be appealing for children younger than kindergarten age.
- Fruits and Vegetables (Healthy Eating with MyPlate)
- Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z
You can see many farmers market books here: Farmers Market Books for Kids (including books as they’re published)
On the Farm at the Market Book with Produce Syllable Sort
On the Farm at the Market Book with Produce Syllable Sort
The book is On the Farm, at the Market with information about farmers markets and three different types of farms preparing to sell at the farmers market.
Free Printable: Bountiful Basket: Multisyllabic Fruit and Vegetables by Allissa Blackburn at TPT
This printable includes a number of activities, including a game, syllable sorting, and color sorting. I like that there are so many fruits and vegetables (with a number of foods I’ve never tasted). You can choose to use many or all of the cards or a smaller number of fruits and vegetables.
Our Farmers’ Market Book with Fruit and Vegetable Venn Diagram Sort, LEGO Farmers Market Van, and Vegetables Pages from Picturepedia
Our Farmers’ Market Book with Fruit and Vegetable Venn Diagram Sort, LEGO Farmers Market Van, and Vegetables Pages from Picturepedia
The book is Our Farmers’ Market with photographs and easy-to-understand information about farmers’ markets.
Free Printable: Fruit and Vegetable Venn Diagram from Superstar Worksheets (the link is near the bottom of the Superstar Worksheets page).
DK Smithsonian Picturepedia has great information about fruits and vegetables and which would fit into the “both” part of the Venn diagram. I used fruit and vegetable erasers, but there are also black and white pictures on the free printable that could be used.
My 6-year-old grandson put together his LEGO City Farmers Market Van with veggie patch for our display.
Farmers Market LEGO Van and Vegetables Pages from Picturepedia with Farmers Market Activities in the Background
Farmers Market LEGO Van and Vegetables Pages from Picturepedia with Farmers Market Activities in the Background
You can see the LEGO veggie patch a bit clearer in this photo. I’ve often used pages from the gorgeous DK Smithsonian Picturepedia (the book on our book easel). The book has lots of amazing 2-page spreads! See below for information about the other farmers market activities.
Sand Writing Tray for a Farmers Market Theme
Sand Writing Tray for a Farmers Market Theme
Free Printable /f/ for farmers font cards (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my free newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber). They come in print, D’Nealian, and cursive.
You’ll see a variety of simple letter writing trays in my previous unit study posts. I often used the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container work best for you, though.
The sandpaper letters I use with younger kids are available in print or cursive.
I typically now use this lovely spelling/alphabet tray from FamilyTreeWW on Etsy. I like it for writing more than one letter or spelling words. (Note: That sand tray is currently unavailable, but you’ll find lots of other options for Montessori sand trays on Etsy.) I found some colored sand in 12 colors on Amazon that I started to use instead of salt or colored salt. I love it because it’s so soft and feels great! The vegetables are miniature dollhouse vegetables.
If you would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing objects with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.
“Ar” Farmers Market Phonogram and Spelling Work
“Ar” Farmers Market Phonogram and Spelling Work
The book is Farmers Market: Share the Joy! with lots of photographs and interesting information about farmers markets.
Free Printable /ar/ in market (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber). They come in print, D’Nealian, and cursive.
Free Printable: Printable Rhyming Words Flip Book AR from My Teaching Station
Free Printable: Green Series ar Letters from MontessoriSoul (I don’t have these out on the shelf, but I still have them from a previous star and constellation unit and farm unit.)
I have a post and video on how to introduce words starting with phonograms, even with very young children.
Free Printable: Vegetable alphabet cards (part of my subscriber freebies, so just sign up for my free newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber).
There are so many ways the alphabet cards can be used! This is just one idea for children who are focusing on the /ar/ phonogram, movable alphabet spelling, and learning cursive.
The vegetable alphabet cards in print and cursive are easily adaptable, depending on the child’s level. They can be used for a variety of activities, such as matching letters with sandpaper letters, matching print to cursive letters, or movable alphabet word building.
Farmers Market Multiplication Work
Analyzing His Farmers Market Multiplication Work
Free Printable: Farmers market truck sign number cards 1-10 (plus two cards with the number 2) and multiplication symbols (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber).
We have free spinners (both 1-5 and 1-10) in our subscriber freebie pack, but I used a 1-10 dice (I used a Sharpie to write a 1 in front of the 0 to make 10 instead of 0) for this activity.
I used 20 miniature vegetables and 10 dollhouse baskets. For children who are just learning to multiply, you’d probably want to have the same vegetable (such as 20 carrots).
We talked about how each basket would have two matching vegetables. When the dice landed on 9, Caleb chose 9 baskets and sorted 9 of the matching vegetables into the 9 baskets. 2 vegetables per basket x 9 baskets = 18 vegetables altogether.
There are so many different activities you can prepare using the math cards! This is just one example. You’ll find many ideas in our previous units.
Farmer’s Market Skip Counting Song and Bead Bar Activity
Farmer’s Market Skip Counting Song and Bead Bar Activity
This activity doesn’t have a free printable, although it does have a free Farmer’s Market: A Skip Counting/Multiplication Memorization Song (MP3) by Ally Webb at TPT. This is Ally Webb’s song, and I purchased her Farmer’s Market: A Multiplication Song (MP3, Lyrics, and Graphics)–Bundle on TPT because it’s a fun song and the most visual and kinesthetic way to focus on the skip counting.
There’s also a free Farmer’s Market–Sing Along with Miss Ally on YouTube with lyrics and bead bar numbers on the screen which could be used without the printables. That would work well with the child placing the bead bars on a table or rug as each number is sung.
I used the decanomial bead box from Alison’s Montessori. I love and use this often!
Farmers Market Activities on Another Shelf
These activities don’t have free printables, but they’re simply fun additions to a farmers market theme.
Farmers Market Create and Play Book with Fruit and Vegetable Activity
There are many great farmers market dramatic play printables you can purchase. For simplicity and fun, I’ve purchased the Farmers Market Create-and-Play Activity Book. There are many fun activities that can be punched out and quickly assembled. For this basket, I used the punch out produce along with sticky-back felt and stuffing for making felt fruits and vegetables using the book’s stencils. After this preliminary activity, the same stencils can be used to sew fruits and vegetables using felt and stuffing.
Farmers Market Playdough Activities
I typically make my own playdough, but I couldn’t resist this Farmers Market Kitchen Play-Doh Playset. My 6-year-old granddaughter loves playdough and gets out my playdough tray every time she visits, so I know this will get a lot of use! The sign and shopping list are from the Farmers Market Create-and-Play Activity Book.
Free Montessori-Inspired Farmers Market Pack
Montessori-Inspired Farmers Market Pack for DIY Cards and Counters, Number or Letter Matching, Number or Letter Basket, Bead Bar Work, Hands-on Math Operations, Number or Letter Salt/Sand Writing Tray, Letter Tracing, DIY Movable Alphabet, and Creative Writing (subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password – or check your inbox if you’re already a subscriber).
MORE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE RESOURCES
- Free Fruit & Vegetable Printables and Montessori-Inspired Fruit & Vegetable Activities
- Free Vegetables Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Fruit and Vegetable Songs and Educational Videos
- Free Fruit and Vegetable Cutting Strips
- Free Eat-a-Rainbow Printables and Montessori-Inspired Activities
- Free Fruit Rainbow Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download
- Free Eat-a-Rainbow Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Montessori-Inspired Fruit Unit
- Montessori-Inspired Vegetable Unit
- Montessori-Inspired Food Art
- Montessori-Inspired Fruit Matching and Tasting for Toddlers
- Healthy, Yummy, Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins
- Kids’ Kitchen: Berry Yummy and Healthy Protein-Rich Popsicles
- Cutting a Banana Practical Life Activity for Toddlers
- Healthy, Frozen Raspberry and Yogurt Desert (Dairy-Free and Gluten-Free)
- Ants on a Log Food Fun Preparation for Preschoolers
- Fun with Montessori Apple Coring, Slicing, Spreading, and Sharing
- Yummy Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Delicious and Nutritious Vegan, Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie or Pumpkin-Pie Squares
- Super-Healthy and Super-Yummy Strawberry Pineapple Smoothie
- Favorite Gluten-Free Sweet Spinach Muffins {AKA Green Monster Muffins}
- Kids’ Food Fun Pinterest Board
Don’t miss our themed monthly packs! You’ll get the link and password for the Living Montessori Now subscriber library with the current pack and all the past monthly packs if you subscribe to the Living Montessori Now weekly newsletter!
Have a wonderful end of summer!
If you’d like ideas for calendar-based themes throughout August and September, see my August Themed Activities for Kids and my September Themed Activities for Kids.
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