Do you have a young child who loves horses? Use this fun, hands-on lesson or “play date” activity to explore horse breeds, gaits, diet, and more! I created this “lesson” to do as a two hour “play date” with my young children and some of their friends. Use this fun lesson with your class, family, or homeschool group!
Horses Introduction
A page spread from If I Ran the Horse Show: All About Horses (The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library) by Bonnie Worth (Image is from amazon.com)
- Pray. Read and discuss Job 39:19-25.
- Read If I Ran the Horse Show by Bonnie Worth.
YOU WILL NEED:
- If I Ran the Horse Show by Bonnie Worth or a different book giving an overview of horses
Horses & Oats
Oatmeal-Carrot Cookie Batter
- Briefly discuss what horses eat. Mention how horses love to eat oats and also enjoy carrots, apples, and sugar. Make Oatmeal-Carrot Cookies which contain all of those ingredients.
YOU WILL NEED:
- ingredients for cookies, baking sheet, parchment paper, mixing spoon, measuring cups and spoons, & 2 mixing bowls
Oatmeal-Carrot-Apple “Horse” Cookies
Baked Oatmeal-Carrot-Apple “Horse” Cookies
These cookies are wholesome and not especially sweet. If you want to make incredibly tasty oatmeal cookies, try this recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies: http://dessert.food.com/recipe/oatmeal-raisin-cookies-35813 .
Prep timeCook timeReady inYields
10 min
10 min
20 min
2-3 dozen cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 cups oatmeal
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup finely grated carrot (or 1 small jar of carrot baby food)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 1/4 cup diced apples
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt & cinnamon. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg, carrots, apple, vanilla, and milk. Stir in the flour mixture. Either have the children roll the cookies into balls or simply drop them by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet. Flatten each cookie slightly. (The cookies will not spread at all.) Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. This recipe came from food.com.
Parts of a Horse
Going through the parts of a horse using a toy horse
- Give each child a horse figurine or toy and go through the simple body parts (mane, muzzle, hooves, etc.) having the children touch that body part on their horse toy.
YOU WILL NEED:
- a horse toy or figurine for each child
- Play Simeon Says using the horse body part terms. Some examples include: take your shoes off your hooves, pull your mane straight up into the air, sit your dock on the ground, lift your muzzle up into the air, put shoes on those hooves, etc.
Horse Breeds
Coloring in a picture of her favorite horse breed, a pinto
A page spread from “Appaloosa Zebra: A Horse Lover’s Alphabet” by Jessie Haas (Image is from amazon.com)
- Read Appaloosa Zebra: A Horse Lover’s Alphabet by Jessie Haas. Ask each individual child what breed of horse they would like to get if they could own a horse.
YOU WILL NEED:
- Appaloosa Zebra: A Horse Lover’s Alphabet by Jessie Haas or other book on horse breeds
- Have each child color a picture of the breed of horse they like the most. Children can either color the picture free-hand or they can color in a printed-off coloring sheet such as this one found at horsecoloringpages.com
YOU WILL NEED:
- paper and crayons (or paints and paintbrushes)
- a book that shows horse breeds such as Horses (DK Handbooks)
Gaits & Feeding Time
- Discuss horse gaits: walking, trotting, cantering, and galloping. Have the children practice each speed as they go around the room. If you have them, you can pass out a stick horse to each child to ride while they do this. Play the last 3 minutes from “William Tell’s Overture” (The Lone Ranger theme song) and have the children “ride” around. Ask them about the gait of their horse as they “ride” along to the song.
YOU WILL NEED:
- stick horses (or use brooms) & William Tell’s Overture
- Feeding Time. Eat cookies and drink water.
YOU WILL NEED:
- napkins, cups for water, and the cookies you made earlier
- (Optional) Play horseshoes.
YOU WILL NEED:
- horseshoes game
- Review what you learned about horses.
Field Trip Ideas
After studying about horses, we visited a friend who owns a horse. The children enjoyed petting the horse and watching the horse’s owner ride the horse. A local rodeo or horse show or competition would also make a perfect field trip to follow up this lesson.
Joke: Why do cowboys ride horses?
Because they’re too heavy to carry!
More Great Picture Books on Horses for Your Horse-Loving Children
The Horse (First Discovery Series) by Henri Galeron
If you have children like my daughters, you have probably read a number of delightful picture books on horses. There are so many fabulous ones that we could probably spend a month or more just reading them. It was difficult to pare down our “favorites” list, but I tried to only include books that also teach something about horses and/or horseback riding. These are the top ones we loved (in addition to the other books I posted on this page).
- The Horse (First Discovery Series) by Henri Galeron would be another great book option to read to introduce the children to horses. This gives a brief overview of horses with just enough factual information to keep the attention of even the youngest of children. It has gorgeous illustrations and includes fun, see-though pages.
- Horses by Gail Gibbons gives a slightly more in-depth overview of horses and is ideal for younger elementary aged children. We skipped the first 2 pages but the rest of the book was good.
- Let’s Try Horseback Riding! by Susa Hammerle
- The Perfect Pony by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
- Chestnut by Constance W. McGeorge
- Here Comes Pontus! by Ann-Sofie Jeppson
- Five o’clock Charlie by Marguerite Henry
- Fritz and the Beautiful Horses by Jan Brett
- My Chincoteague Pony by Susan Jeffers
Looking for all of my lessons written especially for young children?
Below are some of the fun lessons we used while leading PreK classes:
Create a model lighthouse, play a lighthouse game, read books about lighthouses, “tour” lighthouses using YouTube, and even eat a lighthouse in this fun, hands-on lesson on lighthouses. Act like privates while training at boot camp, paint camo-style hats, set up a tent, battle using army men, and more in this exciting lesson the military.
- Building & Home Construction for Young Children – Do you have a young child who loves tools and building things? Build and paint a bird house, construct a house out of pretzels, and more in this fun, hands-on lesson exploring the world of home construction!
- Butterfly Lesson for Children – Do you have a young child who loves butterflies? Create butterfly crafts and snacks, play butterfly games, and more in this fun, hands-on lesson exploring the amazing world of butterflies!
- Ladybug Crafts for Kids – Do you have a young child like mine who loves ladybugs? Create easy and adorable ladybug crafts and edible ladybugs, read these delightful ladybug books, watch the short ladybug video clips, and assemble ladybug lapbooks and worksheets during this fun hands-on lesson on ladybugs.
- Japan Lesson Plan for Younger Children – Make an origami paper crane, a carp fish kite, a Japanese meal, a Japanese doll, and more in this fun hands-on activity about Japan.
- Lighthouse Lesson – Create a model lighthouse, play a lighthouse game, read books about lighthouses, tour lighthouses using YouTube, and even eat a lighthouse in this fun, hands-on lesson or family activity on lighthouses.
- Sheep, Wool, & Weaving Lesson – Looking for fun preschool and kindergarten ideas on sheep and wool? Make and eat edible sheep, card and dye wool, paint sheep paintings, and more in this fun activity on sheep and wool!
- Manners Lesson – Are you looking for a fun and interactive way to teach your children manners and etiquette? Use this fun role-playing lesson to practice manners at meals, on the phone, as a host or hostess, and more!
- Military Party for Children – Act like privates while training at boot camp, paint camo-style hats, set up a tent, battle using army men, and more in this fun 2 hour lesson, party, or family activity on the military.
- Laws and Obedience Lesson – Looking for a fun way to help preschoolers learn about obedience and laws? Create and eat edible 10 Commandments, play Cops and Robbers after reading about police officers, act of the fall of Adam and Eve, and more!
- Illusion & Deception Lesson – Use this fun, hands-on lesson or family activity to explore deception and illusions in art, magic tricks, literature, and more!
- Attributes of God Lesson for Young Children – Are you wondering how to teach your preschooler or young child about God and His character? Use this fun, hands-on lesson, family activity, or play group time to explore who God is and what He is like!
- Gingerbread Man Lesson for Kindergarten – Ready for a fun kindergarten literature lesson on The Gingerbread Man? Compare and contrast two versions of the story, decorate gingerbread cookies, create character finger puppets to re-tell the story, and more in this fun literature lesson on The Gingerbread Man!
- Fun, FREE Hands-on Unit Studies – Over the years I have posted over 30 science and social-studies based unit studies, compromised of more than 140 lessons. The unit studies include the Human Body, Simple Machines, Earth Science, Medieval Period, American Revolution, Pioneer Life, Countries of the World, and many more! For each lesson I have included activities (with photos), our favorite books and YouTube video clips, lapbook links, and other resources.
Good YouTube Clips on Horses
Video Clips on Horse Breeds
KONOS Curriculum
KONOS Volume I
Would you like to teach this way every day?
Konos Curriculum – http://www.konos.com/www/index.html
I use Konos Curriculum as a springboard from which to plan my lessons. It’s a wonderful Christian curriculum and was created by moms with active children! You can even watch free on-line videos as Jessica, one of the co-authors of Konos, walks you through a unit. (Look for the Explanation Videos tab.)
© 2012 Shannon
Which Horse Breed Is Your Favorite? – Or just leave a note to let me know you dropped by! I love getting feedback from you!
Shannon (author) from Florida on July 16, 2014:
@MadAboutHorses: 🙂
MadAboutHorses on July 14, 2014:
Don’t have one.
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