Old MacDonald may be one of the most famous fictitious farmers, if not the most famous farmer, in the world. His fantastic farm has been celebrated in a variety of formats over the years, as a chant, as a song and as a book. The characters may change from one version to another, with a sheep here and a pig there, here a horse, there a dog, everywhere an Old MacDonald, but whatever creatures live on the farm, they're always very noisy!
This BritLit Primary Kit includes ideas to engage the children in the tale in addition to a host of activities to exploit the story and to extend the topic of farms and farm animals. You can also find online and printable materials for learners on the British Council's LearnEnglish Kids website.
Activities – a collection of materials related to the story
- Colour Old MacDonald's animals – A4 size animals
- Colour Old MacDonald's animals – Teacher's notes
- Label Old MacDonald – Label Old MacDonald
- Look and spell the animal words – Unscramble the letters to spell the names
- Old MacDonald animal noises – Match the speech bubbles to the animals
- Old MacDonald riddles – Read sentences and guess the animals
- Old MacDonald card games – Play Pelmanism, Snap and Animal noises
- Old MacDonald vocabulary checklist – Read and repeat key words
- Order Old MacDonald animals – Listen to the story and put the animals in order
- Read and colour Old MacDonald – Read and colour according to description
- Spot the differences pairwork – Identify the differences
- Spot the differences sentence completion – Consolidates the speaking practice
- What is it? – Look at the pictures and guess the animals
Flashcards – to help you build up vocabulary and support understanding
- Farm and tractor – Large A4 visuals to present farm and tractor
- Farm animals – Visuals of dogs, sheep, cows, pigs, horse, horse and cat, donkey, etc.
- Old MacDonald – Large A4 visual to present the character
- Old MacDonald had a farm – Old MacDonald, farm, dogs, sheep, ducks, etc.
- Mini flashcards with pictures and words – Smaller visuals of all vocabulary items above to cut out and stick onto card
- Old MacDonald had a farm (with words) – Visuals and words
Additional activities – a collection of materials related to the theme of farms and animals
- Farm animal board game
- Farm animal crossword A
- Farm animal crossword B
- Farm animal facts
- Farm animal noises
- Farm animal wordsearch A
- Farm animal wordsearch B
- How many are there 1
- How many are there 2
- Label the farm
- Label parts of the animals
- Look and read
- Match the animals and the numbers
- Old MacDonald had a house
- Old MacDonald had a zoo
- Picture dictionary
- What the animals do on the farm
- Whose legs are they?
About this BritLit Kit
This is part of a short series of kits for primary school learners of English. It was produced to respond to the initiative of governments, including the Portuguese government, to lower the age at which English is taught in state schools. Written by Carolyne Ardron and Sue Clarke, illustrations by Paul Millard.