FREE Farm Theme Printable – Old Maid Card Game
Have you ever seen a preschooler who isn’t interested in farm animals? In my classroom, farm themed printables and activities are a huge hit, and this Old Maid-inspired card game is no exception. It’s one of our favorite farm activities for preschoolers.
This game not only brings smiles but also helps develop sorting and visual skills—all wrapped up in a fun, free printable that you can easily access to enrich your preschool activities.
Step into the world of farm-themed activities for preschoolers with our super fun Old Maid card game, designed to be a blend of fun with learning.
This educational card game is a strategic tool for nurturing essential developmental skills.
As kids play the farm-themed Old Maid card game, they learn to sort and organize by matching farm animals like cows, pigs, chickens, and sheep. This helps them recognize and tell apart different animals. The game also boosts their memory as they remember which cards have been played. Plus, it encourages oral language skills, as kids take turns and talk with each other while playing.
This farm themed Old Maid is a free children’s card game, and luckily it also has some wonderful educational benefits as well! It’s definitely one to keep with your other farm preschool activities.
Farm-Themed Old Maid Card Game for Preschoolers
The Farm-Themed Old Maid is a card game designed for preschoolers, featuring farm animals and teaching sorting and visual discrimination skills.
Players draw cards to make matches while avoiding the “farmer” card, enhancing skills like turn-taking and strategic thinking.
It helps develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and social interaction, laying a foundation for future learning.
The simple rules and engaging farm theme captivate young learners, making it a perfect educational tool that feels like play.
Benefits of Playing Cards Games with Preschoolers
Before I go on, I had to share some excellent reasons to play card games with your preschooler. They are more than just fun, more than literacy and math. Here are some benefits to playing card games with your little one.
Playing games with kids improve and encourage:
- fine motor skills
- hand-eye coordination
- social interaction
- oral language skills
- problem solving
- the value of success and disappointment
- turn taking
- encouraging others
- confidence
And these are just some of the benefits.
Free Farm Theme Game for Preschoolers
This game has to be added to your other free preschool printables. You could even use the cards in a farm sensory bin or as a basic matching game. It’s a fun way to get young children to start talking about farm life because they will start asking questions!
What You Get
This farm printable offers three full color pages of farm animal playing cards, featuring a total of twelve different farm animals.
How to Prepare the Card Game
Print the cards in color, preferably on heavy cardstock and then laminate and cut apart. You will need to print at least two copies of the cards, so matches can be made, but remove the second farmer card.
If you are playing with a larger group, no worries! Just print another two copies of the cards, but remove all of the farmer cards from the second batch. You only want one farmer card per game, and you must have enough copies of all the other cards to make matches. (Yes, that means even numbers).
The Game Set Up
The object of the game Old Maid is to make as many matches as possible without getting stuck with the “old maid”. In the case of my farm theme printable game, you don’t want to get stuck with the farmer.
This game is designed for just a few players, maybe four or so, certainly no more. You could play with more, but you’d want to make more copies of the game.
Distribute the cards, face down, to all players. Some player may end up with a few more cards than another, but that is ok.
Once they have been delt, the preschoolers can then look at their cards and make any matches from their hand. The matches are placed off to the side of each player.
How to Play
Now the game can begin. Select a preschooler to go first. That player draws a card from another player of his choice. If the card is a match to one in his hand, he can place the match with the others he is collecting.
The game continues to the next player and continues until all the cards have been matched and one player is left with the farmer card (“old maid”).
The anticipation of which card will be drawn is sometimes unbearable. The player holding the cards must keep a straight face to keep from giving away if the person drawing is grabbing the farmer card.
In a typical game with my preschoolers, the farmer card gets passed around several times. As the game progresses, more and more animal matches are made, increasing the probability of drawing the farmer card until there is a 50/50 chance.
This card game can easily be added to your farm animal activities since it’s also a free farm printable. It’s just right for preschoolers, but older children will still enjoy the game.
You can grab this freebies, as well as other free printables for preschoolers at the end of the post.
Farm Themed Picture Books
Amp up your farm preschool theme with amazing picture books! Here I’ve created two book lists for you: one of fiction books and one of non-fiction books.
- Amstutz, Lisa J. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 24 Pages – 01/01/2019 (Publication Date) – Pebble Books (Publisher)
- Used Book in Good Condition
- D. M. Rice (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Amstutz, Lisa J. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 24 Pages – 01/01/2019 (Publication Date) – Pebble Books (Publisher)
- Cari Meister (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 24 Pages – 08/01/2016 (Publication Date) – Jump! (Publisher)
These farm themed picture books are sure to get your preschoolers laughing over all the silly things about farm animals.
- Hardcover Book
- Blackall, Sophie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Griffith, Chambrae (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 22 Pages – 08/28/2023 (Publication Date) – Cottage Door Press (Publisher)
- Priddy, Roger (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 20 Pages – 03/07/2017 (Publication Date) – Priddy Books US (Publisher)
- Hardcover Book
- Rinker, Sherri Duskey (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- A tour of the farm, printed in a virtually indestructible book
- Encourages early reading, visual exploration, image recognition skills
- An early-learning adventure babies can really sink their gums into
Get Your FREE Farm Theme Printable Old Maid Card Game!
Think this is something your preschooler will love? (Say yes. Because I know your preschooler will adore this game). You can download your free copy below.
Our Favorite Farm Theme Toys
- SKILL DEVELOPMENT: Number recognition, 1:1 Correspondence, Numerical order, Counting, Matching,…
- Numbered from 1-10, each cow displays a digit on its front half and a set of corresponding spots on…
- In addition to numbers, each cow comes with its own colorful accents that boost matching skills with…
- 🎅 FARM PLAYSET: Playset with 3 Transport Farm Tractor, 14 farm figurines, 14 fence, 2 bales of…
- 💗 SAFE & REALISTIC FARM FIGURES: 15 Pcs unique farm figurines with vibrant colors, 8pcs 4-5 inch…
- 😍 EASY STORAGE: It is enough for 2 to 3 players to spend the quality time together. When playtime…
- Family Farm Animals Toy Set: The farm animal figurines playset includes 8 Pcs 4.5-5.8 inch farm…
- Realistic Farm Animals Figurine: Unique non-repetitive plastic farm animals with realistic colors…
- Child Friendly Farm Animal Figurines Playset: The farm corral set is made of durable ABS plastic,…
- FARM ANIMALS FOR TODDLERS: 10 different animals can be sorted in so many ways. There are even male…
- FINE MOTOR TOYS FOR TODDLERS: Great for promoting fine motor skills these realistic looking animals…
- 6 OF EACH ANIMAL: Includes 6 of each: horse, pig, rooster, hen, cow goat, sheep, dog, ram, donkey
- Wooden Puzzles for Kids: 4 packs wooden puzzles for kids ages 3-5 years old. The 4-in-1 farm wooden…
- Easy to Complete: With removable paper illustration to guide for where the pieces go, kids can use…
- Safe & Durable Wooden Materials: The wood animal jigsaw puzzle is precisely cut for the perfect…
Preschool Farm Activities
There’s enough awesome ideas here that you can probably do all your lesson planning from this one post!
Farm CVC Words // A Dab of Glue Will Do
Farm Counting Cards // Playdough to Plato
Expressing Feelings on the Farm // Liz’s Early Learning Spot
Count and Graph on the Farm // Sara J Creations
Pigs in the Mud Alphabet Match // The Kindergarten Connection
Farm Animal Puzzles // Powerful Mothering
Farm Play Dough Activity // Mom Inspired Life
Farm Washing Sensory Bin // Coffee Cups and Crayons
Farm Counting Book // Recipe for Teaching
Interactive Farm Book // Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station
Gross Motor Farm Game // Modern Preschool
Farm Animal Sorting // Still Playing School
Farm Fence Number Ordering Mats // Fairy Poppins
Farm Letter Sound Matching Clip Cards // Schooling a Monkey
Farm Muffin Tin Syllable Counting Game // The Educators’ Spin on It
Farm Emergent Reader // The Letters of Literacy
Playful Farm Animals Hands on Math // Stir the Wonder
Farm Busy Box // Teach Me Mommy
Farm Animal Ten Frame Cards // Preschool Inspirations
Farm Addition Cards // The Stem Laboratory
I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
I wonder how long my son will be able to keep a straight face for! What a fun game this sounds.