Fort Worth Stock Show field trips

Children - and many adults- learn best through hands on experiences, so I take the children on a lot of field trips.  There are many wonderful places we can go to learn about our world, but one of my favorites is the Fort Worth Stock Show.  Check out all the fun things we were able to do!

We saw how cotton grows, then felt cotton bolls with the seeds still inside.  We saw a miniature cotton gin separate the seeds from the fibers, and found out that there is cotton fiber in our clothes and our money, and that cotton seed oil is in peanut butter and toothpaste.  We use cotton every day!

 We took turns sitting in the cool vehicles in the vendor hall.  Pretend is always fun!

 We even sat in tractors, and tried them out.  Farmers get to use some cool tools!

 Wow!  Tractors can be HUGE!  We didn't realize they were so big.

 The wheels on some of the tractors were a LOT bigger than us, and they made comfy seats.

We always stop to see the statue of Midnight bucking a cowboy off.  Later one of these children remembered the horse's name as "Nightmare"!

 We saw tiny chicks, freshly hatched, huddling together in an incubator.  Aren't they fascinating?!

You can see how engaged the children are with the new experiences at the Stock Show.

 The ducklings were adorable - and we noticed how they huddled together under a heat lamp, peeped, and puddled in the water.

 There are milking demonstrations every hour, so we saw how large cows really are, learned about dairy products and how they are important for our bodies, and saw a cow being milked.

 We pretended to milk the model cow, which also showed us how big cows stomachs are.

 There were cow hats to wear, and lots of farm themed products available to purchase.  Everyone showed me which boots they thought were the best.

 In the petting zoo we were able to interact with and touch goats, rabbits, chickens, llamas, cows, a pony, a wallaby... did I miss anything?  There were a lot of animals for the children to experience.  Most of the children were cautious at first, but once they started touching animals, they loved it. 

 When she saw this cow, one child announced, "That's bull!" 

 This llama even decided to join our group photo!  We love the Stock Show!