Farm Frenzy is a straightforward time-management game, where the player controls a farm, raising animals and selling products to the market. The main game screen is mostly occupied by a central bare patch of land where the farm animals roam, surrounded by a series of farm implements and machines. All necessary actions are performed with clicks over interactive hotspots of the scenery.

The objective is displayed at the start of the level, usually requiring a certain amount of resources, money or other goals. Initially, the player has to click on the well to collect water and on the ground to grow the grass that feeds most of the livestock. The animals can be purchased from a tab at the top, to eat the turf and generate products every few moments. Geese lay eggs, sheep shed cotton, cows produce milk, and all these resources have to be collected and stacked on boxes at the bottom storage shed. The boxes have to be shipped to the market by clicking on the truck, that takes a few moments to make the transportation of all the selected goods. A small animation at the bottom-right shows the vehicle going back and forth between the farm and the city.

Dangerous bears appear randomly on the farm, and kill any animal that cross their paths. They have to be quickly contained on cages, and afterwards collected on boxes to be sold as a product. If the cage remains untouched on the field for too long, the bear eventually breaks free and runs out of the farm. The storage space at the bottom is limited, and sometimes bears and other products can't be stored on time and disappear after a while.

The structures surrounding the game field are used to process the raw materials produced by the farm into more refined products, like powdered eggs, cheese, baked goods and other items. The stars received after completing a level have to be spent on upgrades to the machines on the shop screen, to make them more efficient and unlock new levels. There is no time limit to complete each stage, but finishing within a specific time frame, shown at the top, gives awards and bonus stars.