Lexi Jones

ECE 251
Lesson Plan

Activity Name: Milking a Cow

Approximate Length of Experience: 10-15 minutes
Age and Number of Children: 10 four year olds
Goal: To become more familiar with where milk and other dairy products
come from as well as the actual process of milking a cow
Domain: Physical (Fine/gross motor skills)
Content: Facts include: What is the purpose of cows on the farm? How is a
cow milked? What are some other dairy products we make using cow milk?
Vocabulary words include: Cow, calf, bull, milk, cheese, pasture, beef,
udder, teat
Objectives: Participation in this activity will increase the childs
ability to
1.
2.
3.
4.

Demonstrate milking a cow using a rubber glove

Describe milking a cow using proper vocabulary
Identify the different uses of cows milk
Describe what cows do and are used for on a farm

Materials: Latex gloves, needle or straight pin, small bowls/buckets, water

(or milk), paper towels, pictures of cows
Procedure: Begin the lesson by asking the class, What are some different
things we get from cows on the farm? (memory)
If no response, ask the class: What are some of your favorite dairy
products? (memory)
Then tell them which of those products we can get from cows (milk, cheese,
yogurt, ice cream).

Next, describe to the class that to get these things from cows, we have to
milk them. Introduce the vocabulary words udder and teat. Show the
class pictures of a cow and their udder.

Then, pull out a latex glove and fill it with water (or milk). Tie off the top.
Poke a hole in each fingertip of the glove and ask the class: What does this
glove filled with water resemble (or look like to you)? (memory)
Show the children how to milk the cow by pulling on the udders. Place
the bowl under the glove for the water to pour into.

After that, provide latex gloves filled with water for a few classmates at a
time to try to milk the udder themselves. During this activity, ask the class
the following questions:
What do you know about cows? (memory)
How difficult do you think it would be to milk an actual cow? (divergent)
What might make milking a cow more or less difficult? (evaluative)
Can you milk both boy and girl cows? (convergent)
If a cow has a calf, what do you think her udder would be used for?
(divergent)

Extension: If children appear to be interested in the activity, continue with

the following: Teach the process of getting milk from cow to cup. Ask
children: What do you think is the very first step to getting milk from cows?
(divergent)
Have pictures laminated with each step for children to sort in the order they
think is correct then discuss. Pictures should include: Calves being born,
cows grazing, a farmer milking a cow, the farmer selling the milk to a
distributor/store, milk being on a shelf in a grocery store, and then a picture
of a child pouring milk into a cup from the gallon. Ask: What do you think is
the hardest step in this process? What do you think is the easiest step?
(evaluative)

Simplification: What do you know about cows? What are some things we
get from cows? What are some different dairy products we make using milk?

Evaluation: To evaluate the effectiveness of this activity, observe the

children and write down their reactions and any comments/questions that
they answered during this activity. Ask the children what they learned from
this activity and what their favorite part was.

What Next: Assuming the lesson was a success, the focus of the next
lesson would be to discuss what else we get from cows (beef) OR do an
activity on another farm animal, like a chicken, and teach about what we get
from chickens (eggs, meat).

Evaluation of appropriateness of the category (type) of questions

used:
With the questions I chose to ask the class with my activity, I tried to use a
variety of all different types of questions. I also tried not to ask too many
questions but instead focus on the quality of my questions. When I asked
both of the questions: How difficult do you think it would be to milk an
actual cow? (divergent) What might make milking a cow more or less

difficult? (evaluative), my goal was to have questions that encouraged

open-ended answered and deeper thinking. I do not have a correct answer in
mind, I just want to see what the children would come up with in response. I
labeled the second question as evaluative because I considered that a
question that judges something, by judging the situation of what would
make milking a cow easier or harder. During my lesson, I showed the class
pictures of a cow and its udder and after filling a latex glove up with water
and poking holes in it, I asked the class what it resembles. I chose to ask this
question to focus on their short term memory and see if they actually
processed the pictures I showed them and were able to identify something
similar as the pictures with the glove. I also had several questions that
focused on the different dairy products we get using cows milk, I asked what
some of the childrens favorite dairy products were (memory) and I asked
what are some different things we get from cows on the farm (memory). I
categorized both these questions as memory because they have narrow
answers and it is on the lower level of thinking. However, asking the
childrens favorite dairy products could also have been categorized as
evaluative under the value section because it is asking what they like best.
I chose to put it as a memory question because they have to think back to
what dairy foods they have had in the past and which ones they liked.