Our Duckling Visitors!

The toddlers were so very excited for the arrival of the duck eggs this week and even more exited to see one hatch out on the very same day they arrived! In the lead up to their arrival the children made their own pond pictures and crafted ducks with play dough, collage materials and lots of natural resources. They also got to enjoy the story ‘Farmer Duck’ at circle times, where they were able to investigate the story sack with lots of different ducks inside. A group in particular really seemed to enjoy a water activity with ducks, frogs, lily pads and bubble wrap frogspawn. A couple of children began moving their arms at a fast pace creating waves in the water, causing the ducks to move around on top of the water causing lots of giggles. As plenty of splashes ensued there were smiles and laughs as the some of the children began getting droplets of water all over each other. One child began balancing a duck on one of the floating lily pads, “Woah woah it’s going to fall off!”.

As the toddlers got to go and visit the ducklings while they were hatching there was excitement in the air and each child’s eyes lit up and they had cautious but excited little smiles on their faces as they approached. One child asked why the duck was still inside the incubator and once it was explained that we needed to wait for a friend to hatch out so he had some company she began telling her friends, “We need to wait for two ducks!” whilst holding up two fingers, “one more duck needs to hatch out!”. Another child kept looking from the duck that had hatched to the eggs that had cracks in before stating, “I like it!” with a big beaming smile. A group of children began getting louder with their excitement until a friend gently reminded them to not scare the ducks and held their finger to their lips saying, “Shh we need to be quiet!”.

The under 2s have been very excited to meet the ducklings this week at nursery and watch as the eggs begin to shake and crack, and see the ducklings coming out and fluffing up in the incubator. On their way to preschool to visit the ducklings, the Under 2s smiled and looked around showing their excitement brewing. A couple of the children were slightly hesitant when they first saw the ducklings, standing slightly back as they peered into the cage, but after a moment they carefully approached and began to point at them, curious as to what they saw. One of the ducklings opened its beak which made the children giggle. They overheard some of the preschoolers saying “It’s talking, it’s saying quack quack!”, to which the Under 2s began saying, “Quack, quack!”. They have also been able to join in with a duck themed circle time, where the children sang about Old Macdonald’s ducks on the farm, 5 little ducks, and reading through the book of the month ‘Farmer Duck’. 

Whilst out on the daily walks, the children have been on the hunt to find some ducks in the river which they can feed. Whilst walking in the buggies, the children excitedly shouted ‘Duck!’, and ‘Quack quack!’ as soon as they spotted a couple of them swimming along. When the ducks came onto the grass, one of the children excitedly exclaimed ‘Hello duck’ whilst waving, which led to a couple more children also waving to the ducks as they approached. Once the children were out of the buggies, they all peered curiously at the ducks, with a couple of them crouching down to inspect them closer. When one of the children shouted ‘Duck’, another turned quickly and let out a quiet ‘Shh’, before a group of them sat down and watched from a slight distance as the ducks tucked into their snacks that the children had thrown them.