Man in a plaid shirt and cap holds a white horse beside him in a barn, a young boy sits on the man's shoulders.
A Farm Day student dismounts by hugging the farmer, Dave Collard.

Preschoolers become farmers for a day


Bob Foos

White barn with a colorful quilt-style window; group of people gathered outside, a child on a balcony.
Help is sometimes needed to get down the hayloft ladder.

A highlight of the school year for little ones – and their teachers – is Farm Day.

Jenny Parker, an early childhood director at Heritage Preschool, remembers her own kids going to the farm, so the event must have been going on for 25 years.

It used to be just for the Parents as Teachers to take their children. But this year 160 preschoolers were taken by bus.

The main reason farm day endures, Parker, says, is that the owners, Dave and Nancy Collard, “are just always welcoming. They let the kids explore and get used to the farm environment.

“The horses and hayloft are always a big hit.

“A lot of kids don’t get outside as much. This is a good opportunity for that.

“I think the teachers enjoy it as much as the kids.”

Family and visitors walk toward a rustic stone barn with white doors on a grassy farm yard, a stroller nearby.
Woman holding a smiling toddler in a straw hat, inside a barn near a horse.
Older man with a cap holds a smiling girl as she reaches to pet a brown horse in a wooden barn stall.