The field trip doesn't have to end when the bus pulls out.
Everything you need to plan a farm visit to Midwest Harvest Hills, get your class ready before you come, and keep the learning going for weeks afterward. Built for busy teachers. Free to use. No sign-up.
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School & group tours at a glance
Tours run on weekdays from September 1 through October 31. Every tour is guided, runs rain or shine, and can be customized for your grade level or unit of study.
What's included in a standard tour
- Guided hayride through the property
- Petting farm visit with our goats, pigs, baby Highland cows, chickens, and bunnies (feed available)
- The small corn maze, sized for elementary students
- One small pumpkin and one apple per student to bring back to the classroom
- Time to explore the play areas
Good to know
- Bus parking is available right on site.
- Sack lunches are welcome. Groups may pre-arrange to eat in the covered pavilion. (Outside food is otherwise not allowed.)
- Restrooms are on site.
- Weather: tours run rain or shine, but your group may reschedule for bad weather. Dress kids for mud, wind, and sun.
- Handwashing stations are posted at the petting farm. Please plan a wash stop before lunch.
- Cards are accepted everywhere on the property; there is no ATM.
Who your students will meet
Our petting-farm regulars show up in the classroom activities below, so learn their names now.
Three ways to arrive with curious kids
Students who have already tried to grow something show up with better questions. None of these take more than 20 minutes of class time to start.
Farming in a Glove
Five seeds, a clear plastic glove, a damp cotton ball in each finger, and a sunny window. Students watch germination happen day by day and record what they see. Free lesson plans exist for K–2 and 3–5.
Lesson plan, grades K–2 →Lesson plan, grades 3–5 →Farm vocabulary + KWL chart
Introduce the words your guide will use: orchard, patch, vine, blossom, pollinate, harvest, livestock, bushel, peck. Then build a class KWL chart. Bring the "W" column with you and hand it to your tour guide.
Printable word cards in the Teacher Packet →Read-aloud + one big question
Pick a farm read-aloud (Pumpkin Jack, From Seed to Pumpkin, Apples by Gail Gibbons, or Pumpkin Circle) and give every student one question to answer on the farm. They'll be listening for it.
"Our Food Grows" lesson, K–2 →
Classroom activities by grade band
Each activity uses the pumpkin and apple your students brought home, or something they saw on the tour. Standards references are Wisconsin's science, math, and ELA standards (which align with NGSS and Common Core).
Hands-on, five senses, and lots of talking. Every activity works with the pumpkin and apple on each student's desk.
Pumpkin Investigation Station
Look, touch, smell, tap. Count the ribs, feel the stem, roll it. Then cut one class pumpkin open: scoop, count seeds in groups of ten, and dry a few on a paper towel. Ask: what does a pumpkin need to grow? (Connect back to Farming in a Glove.)
Will It Sink or Float? Then Measure It
Predict, test in a tub of water, record with a tally. Then measure each pumpkin "around the middle" with a string and compare string lengths on the board: longest, shortest, same.
"On the Farm I Saw…" Class Book
Each student draws one thing from the trip and dictates or writes a sentence: On the farm I saw Stevie the goat eat from my hand. Bind it, read it at circle time, send it to the farm for the gift shop wall.
Where Does Food Come From?
Sort picture cards into "grows on a plant" and "comes from an animal." Trace an apple from tree → bin → farm store → lunch bag. Who are the helpers along the way? (Farmer, picker, driver, cook.)
Apple Five-Senses Chart
Before eating the apple, fill in a class chart: looks like, feels like, smells like, sounds like (the crunch!), tastes like. Save the seeds for a windowsill planting.
Thank-You Note to a Farm Animal
Shared writing: the class writes a thank-you to Milton, Lucky, or Lottie and Dottie. Model the parts of a letter. Mail it or email a photo of it to the farm; we read every one to the animals. Really.
Measurement, life cycles, and first real data. Students can work in pairs with their own pumpkins and apples.
Pumpkin & Apple Life Cycle Wheels
Seed → sprout → vine or tree → blossom → fruit → seed. Students build a rotating paper wheel for each and label the stage they saw on the farm (fruit!). Discuss why the farm picks pumpkins in October and apples in September.
Pumpkin Data Day
Measure each pumpkin's circumference (cm), height, and weight, and count its ribs. Build a class bar graph for rib count and a line plot for height. Which measurement was the best predictor of seed count? Cut open the biggest and smallest to find out.
A Day in the Life of Stevie the Goat
Narrative writing from an animal's point of view: what does Stevie see, hear, and want when a school bus pulls in? Use the tour as the setting; require three sensory details and a beginning, middle, and end.
Map the Farm
From memory, students draw a map of the farm with a compass rose and key: barn, pavilion, petting farm, corn maze, pumpkin field, bus parking. Compare maps and discuss why the same place looks different to different people.
Farm Store Math
Use real farm prices: mini pumpkin $1, small $5, medium $7, large $9; apples $5 a half peck (about 5 lb) or $10 a peck. Students "shop" for a fall display with $25, then figure out which is the better deal per pound on apples.
Why Did the Apple Turn Brown?
Slice one apple into four. Leave one plain; dip the others in lemon juice, water, and salt water. Check every 15 minutes and record. Introduce the word oxidation and connect it to why farms wax and refrigerate apples.
Systems, careers, argument, and a little economics. These run well as a two-week mini-unit or a station rotation.
Pollination Problem
Every pumpkin your class received needed a bee. Research how squash pollination works, then engineer a "pollinator" from craft supplies that can move pollen (cornstarch) from one paper flower to another. Test and redesign. Discuss what a farm loses without bees.
Run the Pumpkin Patch
Students are given a one-acre patch, a yield estimate, and the farm's real price list. They decide how many of each size to grow, project revenue, subtract seed, labor, and hayride fuel costs, and present a plan. Add a twist: a hailstorm wipes out 20 percent of the crop.
Opinion Writing: Should Every School Take a Farm Trip?
Students take a position and support it with three reasons drawn from their own visit, one piece of evidence from a source (the resources below work), and a counterargument. Strongest essays get sent to the farm; we post one each season.
Farm Careers Interview
Brainstorm every job it takes to run a 37-acre farm and event venue: animal care, crop picking, kitchen, gift shop, tour guide, marketing, bookkeeping, licensing. Students pick one, write five interview questions, and we'll answer a class set by email.
Apple Variety Taste Test (with data)
Bring in three varieties. Blind-test for sweetness, tartness, crunch on a 1–5 scale; graph class results and calculate the mean and mode. Then research why Wisconsin grows the varieties it does (winter hardiness, growing season).
Field Guide to the Petting Farm
Each pair writes a nonfiction field-guide entry for one farm animal: diet, habitat, behavior observed on the tour, a labeled diagram, and one "did you know." Compile into a class field guide and share with a younger class before their trip.
How a farm visit fits your curriculum
A quick map for principals and permission slips. Wisconsin's academic standards for science are built on NGSS; math and ELA standards align with Common Core. Use this table when you need to justify the trip in a lesson plan.
| Tour stop | What students experience | Science | Math & ELA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pumpkin field | How pumpkins grow on vines, why they're picked before frost, sizes and shapes | K-LS1-1 2-LS2-2 3-LS1-1 | K.MD.A 2.MD.A 3.MD.B |
| Apple orchard | Trees vs. vines, blossoms to fruit, seasonal harvest, varieties | K-LS1-1 4-LS1-1 5-LS1-1 | W.K.2 W.3.3 W.4.7 |
| Petting farm | Animal needs, care, life cycles, safe handling and handwashing | K-LS1-1 3-LS1-1 3-LS4-3 | SL.K.4 W.2.3 W.5.2 |
| Hayride | The farm as a system: fields, equipment, buildings, land use | K-ESS3-1 5-ESS3-1 | WI SS.Geog maps & land use |
| Corn maze | Corn as a crop, navigation, cooperation | 2-LS2-1 | WI SS.Geog spatial thinking |
| Farm store | Producers and consumers, pricing, why things cost what they cost | — | 2.MD.C.8 4.OA.A.3 WI SS.Econ |
Codes are provided as a starting point. Please confirm against your district's current standards documents.
Grab-and-go lessons you don't have to write
Agriculture in the Classroom publishes hundreds of free, standards-aligned K–12 lessons. We've pulled the ones that match our farm. Everything below is free.
The Classroom Grow-Off
Every student leaves with a pumpkin, and every pumpkin is full of seeds. Scoop, rinse, and dry a handful, store them in an envelope over winter, plant them in spring, and journal all summer. Send us a photo of your biggest pumpkin by October 1. We'll feature the winning classrooms on our Facebook page and hand out bragging rights at the next fall tour.
Seeds didn't make it? Try scrap gardening: regrow green onions, celery, or lettuce from kitchen scraps in a cup of water on the windowsill. Farming does not require a farm.
- Email photos and class projects to the farm. We answer student questions and read every letter to the animals.
- Tag @midwestharvesthills on Facebook or Instagram; we share classroom posts all year.
- Coming back next fall? Returning classes can book early. Watch your email in late summer.
- Want a specific topic covered on your tour (pollination, life cycles, simple machines)? Add it to your booking notes.
Classroom ideas on this page draw on the free lesson library at National Agriculture in the Classroom and the NAFDMA article Not Another Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch!