Our Day Out to Bocketts Farm!
What a lovely day at Bockett’s farm the pre-school children had! They were so excited when getting in to nursery, showing each other their lunch boxes and water bottles. Sophie said to Immy, “You know I brought this food from my home, there’s even a snack in there!”. Immy responded, “But we can’t feed our food to the farm animals, they have their own special food”. Sophie laughed and then quite seriously said, “I’m not sharing my food”. The coach journey to the farm was full of giggles, chatting and singing songs, the favourite was clearly ‘baa baa black sheep’. Once we arrived at the farm, Rowan couldn’t wait to get off of the coach, calling out, “Come on everyone, this is so much fun already, I can see some chickens!”. This gained his friend’s interest, with all of them looking out the window to see what animals they could spot. Alastair saw a sheep and called out, “Look this way, there’s some sheep here!”.
After stepping off the coach and meeting our tour guide, the children were very good at listening to the house rules before going straight off for a tractor ride around the farm. The children couldn’t wait to get on, Lana had the biggest smile on her face and whispered “Wow” once she saw the tractor. When the tractor starting moving, it was quite a bumpy ride which made all of the children laugh. There were so many animals on route including pigs, goats, sheep, chickens and cows. When Zach saw the pigs, he covered his nose, laughing, “They’re too smelly”, which made his friends laugh again.
Another great moment was the pig race. The children picked the colour pig they would like to win the race and eagerly lined up along the fence, waiting for the pigs to start. Once the countdown from 10-1 was over and the pigs had set off, Alastair was calling out, “Come on yellow, you can do it”. Tommy said, “Nooo, yellow won’t win, it’s going to be the blue pig”. Indeed the blue pig did win the race and Tommy cheered lots. The rest of the day was filled with lots of animal stroking including a 2 day old goat which the children couldn’t get enough of. Isabelle looked at him, put her hand across her chest and with a gentle voice said, “Ooh, he’s sooo cute”. The day was finished with lots of fun bouncing on the inflatable cushion, with Ethan telling Tristan, “This has been so much fun!”, whilst bouncing around and laughing.
The coach journey home was definitely quieter than on the way to the farm! The children were talking about favourite parts of their day, Jonny said he loved the tractor ride, Alba loved stroking the goat and Youcef liked seeing the yellow tractor. Some of the children used this time to sneak in a little nap time in. We cant wait for our next visit!
Father's Day Breakfast!
What a fantastic turnout for our Fathers Day Breakfast! Thank you to all the Dads for coming in to spend the morning with the children and make it such a great event. It was lovely to see the children show their dads around the nursery, share breakfast and engage with the range of activities. There were ball games galore in the garden, with lots of throwing, catching and kicking going on, and that was just the dads! Inside there was lots of interest in the new preschool role play area, with lots of budding archaeologists dressing up to look the part and explore the fossils within. It was so great to see everyone having such a good time, even if it may have made saying goodbye that little bit more difficult. We look forward to welcoming parents back soon when we have our next social event. Thank you all once again we hope you have a wonderful Fathers Day on Sunday!
Animal Habitats, Sports & Vegetables!
Over the last couple of weeks, the toddlers have been learning about different habitats that some of their favorite animals live in, as well as exploring some more exotic animals and environments they may not be familiar with. Margot absolutely loved exploring the jungle den, so much so that she didn’t want to come out! Jude and Cleo hid inside with the elephants and lions, roaring at all of their friends - “ROAR! I’m a lion!”. Kitty used all of the different animals to eat up the vines and leaves - “Munch, munch.”. While playing, Cecilia was surprised to hear jungle sounds coming from the speaker. She said, “I can hear it!” with a gasp, which led Esmeralda to whisper, “I can hear frogs in the jungle.”
After learning about some more environments through other activities, including desert, ocean, and rocky terrains, the toddlers were put to the test with a slightly more challenging activity: “Can you find where I live?”. Freddie was able to remember where some of the more tricky animals went, including the arctic fox. “He lives in the snow,” he said and the reindeer “He helps Christmas!”. Isabelle was so confident with the under the sea animals, quickly placing them in their correct habitat and telling some of her friends, “This one’s a squid. He goes there. And starfish too.” Eloise was keen to join in too, pointing out the “Big beetle” and the “Big spider! Ah, he’s a little bit scary for me.”
Outside, the toddlers loved experimenting with different sports. Jasper jumped straight into the ball games and began kicking every ball he could see, with an excited “Whoa!” and pointing every time the ball zoomed through the air. Joshua joined in with the ball games too, laughing as he ran fast after each ball, saying “Running!” and “Fast!”
Tennis was a big hit as Amélie and Oliver each picked up a racket and began throwing and hitting balls back and forth, sometimes sending balls flying in the complete opposite direction to each other. Sophie decided she was going to be a ball girl and help her friends out by fetching some of the balls for them. “Oliver, balls gone all the way over there!” she said. “Oh, it’s okay. I go get it.”
Over the past couple of weeks, the under twos have been investigating animals in their play. To encourage physical development, there was an activity available for the little ones to have the chance to unstick various sized animals that had been taped down to a table and to the floor. Arlo was the first to get fully engaged in this activity, really concentrating on what he was doing. He used his finger to peel off the initial bit and then excitedly used his whole hand to rip the rest of the tape away. Edward and India sat and watched what Arlo was doing before getting fully engaged themselves. Edward was happy to show staff that he had got a giraffe, and India had the biggest smile on her face when she managed to peel the tape away from the cow and the horse.
They also enjoyed getting messy at a group floor painting activity, using the animals to make prints on paper. Ava could not wait to get involved. Eagerly, she took hold of the horse and placed it directly into the paints, ensuring that she covered the whole of the horse's body. She then went on to rubbing the horse onto the paper, as well as her hands. Amelie watched, smiling, when she saw that some of the other children had made prints with the farm animals' feet, and then confidently leaned forward to take hold of her own horse to have a go herself. Oliver was making "clip-clop" sounds and laughing as he moved his horse around the paper.
Outside in the garden, the children enjoyed digging for carrots and potatoes in the mud garden. Monty bent down to look at what was hidden in the mud, whilst Blair used the rake to move some soil around and dig deeper for the carrots. She was babbling away whilst doing so, now and again looking at her friends as if she was talking to them. She eventually got to the buried vegetables and proudly lifted up a potato. Harry picked up a potato and said "Wow", and gave himself a clap. Monty was trying to put the potatoes and carrots back into the mud once he had pulled them out, and then used his hands to pat the soil back down over the top.
