If you are looking for corn lesson plans for preschoolers, I have a plethora of corn-y ideas for all the subjects to share with you. Also, you’ll love my pages How to Homeschool Preschool and Fall Season Unit Study {Pumpkins, Leaves, Corn, & More}.
Choose the lesson plans and activities that you like from the list.
Then put them together to create your custom unit study as short or as long as you like.
There are options for science, math, history, and language arts ideas.
Corn has a long history from when it was first domesticated by native peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago.
Then the native Americans passed it on to newcomers and throughout modern history.
Today, it is used in a wide variety of applications.
For example, corn meal, corn starch, corn syrup, tortillas, hominy, cooking oil, ethanol, adhesives, and much more.
We are much more dependent on corn than we realize.
Corn has become the most widely grown crop in the western hemisphere.
History and Uses of Flint Corn
You know the beautiful multicolored ears of corn you find in the fall?
That is Flint Corn or Indian corn.
Flint corn is used for ornamental purposes, but it is also used for semolina flour, popcorn, and as a high-quality feed grain.
The flint corn plant grows wild.
Thousands of years ago it was domesticated so that its ears were larger.
And it became important to the diet of the natives of that area.
It looked much different back then than it does now.
Explorers took corn back with them and spread it throughout the world and it now grows primarily in Central and South America.
Before you dig into lesson plans, pick up a few books to pore over.
Learning About Corn Books
6 Books About Corn and Resources for Multiple Ages
Books for kids who want to learn about corn.
With simple prose and beautiful illustrations, award-winning author-illustrator Aliki tells the story of how Native American farmers thousands of years ago found and nourished a wild grass plant and made corn an important part of their lives. They learned the best ways to grow and store and use its fat yellow kernels. And then they shared this knowledge with the new settlers of America.
Find out everything about this versatile and important grain—its history as a crop, the four main types, and how we grow and use it to make everything from food to paper to medicine!
How does a corn seed become corn on the cob? Follow each step in nature's cycle―from planting to picking and eating―in this fascinating book!
GROW. For the best results, it's essential to cover your seeds with about one inch of soil and tamp down firmly before watering lightly.You can plant your seeds in either rows or hills. If you are planting them in rows, plant one seed every 4 inches in rows that are 18 to 24 inches apart.
Learn the difference between a farrow and a barrow, and what distinguishes a weanling from a yearling. Country and city mice alike will delight in Julia Rothman’s charming illustrated guide to the curious parts and pieces of rural living. Dissecting everything from the shapes of squash varieties to how a barn is constructed and what makes up a beehive to crop rotation patterns, Rothman gives a richly entertaining tour of the quirky details of country life.
How does a seed become a yummy ear of corn? A farmer plants seeds. The seeds change into plants. Plants grow. Soon cobs grow on the plants. Learn about the life cycle of corn step by step.
Next, look at these corn lesson plans for preschoolers.
10 Corn Lesson Plans For Preschoolers
- Check out this Fun Corn Life Cycle Preschool Sensory Bin and Printable Life Cycle Foldout for a lesson plan that is truly hands-on and enjoyable.
- This Sprouting Indian Corn is a wonderful activity to observe and record over a few weeks as it sprouts and can even be planted to grow your own and observe the life cycle firsthand.
- Try my Popcorn Science Mini Unit Study Which Brand Pops the Best as a fun-at-home idea but it also works for science fairs or co-op presentations as well.
- Investigate an ear of corn while Learning About the Parts of Corn Using Montessori Printables.
- This Corn And Popcorn Fall Science & Sensory Play For Kids comes with a free printable and a whole host of activity ideas for completing it from weighing and measuring to counting and density tests.
- Grab an inexpensive bag of candy corn and do this Fun Candy Corn Stem Activity Which Liquid Dissolves Candy Corn Faster, don’t forget to snack on some while you are conducting your experiment.
- This Geronimo Stilton Field Trip to Niagara Falls Summary And Fun Corn Craft is a great way to learn about Native Americans who lived along Niagara Falls for a fantastic history slant.
- With this DIY Native American Corn Meal activity, you can grind your own cornmeal and then use it in a recipe, this gives kids a small idea of how much work went into grinding corn by hand.
- If you want to focus on Indian/Flint corn don’t forget to include a tasty snack like these Mini Indian Corn Treats.
- This Corn Maze Numbers Math activity is a wonderfully creative idea for incorporating some math skills into your lesson plans.
How to Create a Paper Bag Corn Craft
This craft idea is inexpensive and quite easy, making it a great preschool craft.
You will need:
- A paper bag
- Paper plate
- Craft paint- green craft paint
- Round sponge stamper
- Something to stuff the bag- newspaper, construction paper, tissue paper, etc.
- Rubber band
First, cut strips ⅓ of the way down from the top opening of the bag, you can make them as thin or thick as you like this will create the top husk.
Paint the husks and a border all around the bag green.
You can either lay it flat or open it over you hand and paint it so that you can get the sides and the opposite side of the bag as well.
Use a paper plate so it’s easier to clean up the mess later and make it like a paint palette with dabs of paint in whatever colors you like.
I went with a colorful flint/Indian corn variety.
Stamp all over the bag on the inside of the green husk you painted with your colors. If you don’t have the round stampers, you can use fingerprints pressed into the paint, q tips, or a pencil eraser to make dots.
Let the bag dry completely and stuff the inside with napkins, tissue paper, or whatever you are using.
Gather the top just below the green husk and close it by wrapping a rubber band around it a few times.
Squeeze and move the bag around to give it more of a corn shape.
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