Our Trip to Bocketts Farm!
The preschool children have been looking forward to their Bockett’s farm trip this week and had an amazing time on the day. On the build up to the trip, the children have had lots of discussions about what animals they think will be at the farm and made each other laugh when one of the children suggested a giraffe and another suggested a squirrel. On the day before the trip at tea time, a group of children were discussing excitedly what they were going to have in their sandwiches and the contents of their lunch boxes. The children also had the opportunity to participate in many activities on the build up including clay animal shape moulding, farm collage sticking and even the chance to see and go on the tractors that belong to the groundsmen of Imber Court.
On the morning of the trip, the children arrived to nursery very excited and could not wait to get going, with many questions being asked throughout breakfast time such as “Is the coach here yet?”, “When can I have my lunch box?” and “When are we going?”. When it was time to get on the coach, the children found their group of friends and teacher for the day and eagerly waited to take their turns to climb the steps up to the coach and got settled in their seats. One of the children asked straight away, “Is it time to eat our lunch now?” When the children arrived at the farm, there was a lot of excited squeals, claps and laughter when they could see the sign to the farm and the children were ready to get going, but first there was the safety talk which the children listened to with lots of concentration and participated with suggestions about the rules of the day.
First the children went on to the tractor ride and whilst at the top of the hill with lots of viewing opportunities, one of the children let out a little gasp and said, “I can see the whole of the world!” whilst looking in every direction. The children got to see a Highland cow, pigs with their piglets, a very large horse called Ted and they were very fond of the curly haired goats. The children observed a sheep pen very quietly and showed lots of care when they discovered that 2 lambs had only been born just a few hours prior. The most exciting part of the day was the pig race with the children cheering on the colour pig they wanted to win and raising the coloured flags. On the coach journey back and when the children got back to nursery, they were engaging in many activities about their favourite parts of the day.
Fresh Smells & Outside Adventures!
With the arrival of spring, the toddlers have been really enjoying the outside spaces! Many children have been making comments about the weather, “It’s a lovely sunny day”, “It’s so nice outside”, “The suns come out” and showing off their sun hats and sunglasses. As all of the plants around the garden have started to bloom and vegetables have began sprouting in the growing area, the toddlers have started to take notice and went on a tour of all of the new additions. A couple of children made their way to a small collection of beautiful white flowers and leaned in for a smell. One child mentioned that they liked the smell while another laughed as the flower tickled their nose. After a short period, they moved onto a planter which contained lots of herbs and plants with different smells. As the children leaned in for a smell, smiles bloomed on their faces as they took in the different aromas. After this they made their way to a different planter and began carefully feeling the different textures of the leaves, “This one’s soft”, “Ah this one’s tickling me!”.
To go with the sunny weather, the home corner inside the toddler room was turned into an ice cream shop with cones, scoops and tissue paper ice cream for the children to serve! There were calls across the room of “WHO WANTS ICE CREAM?!” and lots of responses of “MEEE!”. As the children began scooping, serving and handing out ice creams, they had lots of discussions of their favourite flavours, “I like pink”, “I like the white one”. One of the children serving the ice cream reminded their friends to use their manners, “Say please and thank you… there you go!”. As the commotion died down some of the toddlers serving began making ice creams for themselves, with one child stating, “Mmm… it’s so nummy!”.
Over the last couple of weeks in the Under Twos room the children have been eager to get outside as much as possible, whether that be in the garden or out and about on their daily walks, leading to the children spending a lot of their day outside taking part in activities or choosing to explore their surroundings.
In the garden, the children chose to get some clay out by pointing at the bag. As the table was being set up, a small group of children made their way over, intrigued with what they saw. One child pointed at the clay and said, “Oh… play dough!” as they looked around at peers, almost as if to see their reactions too. Once a practitioner confirmed it was clay, the children were all able to repeat the word and applauded each other for doing so. Once the table was set up, some of the children ventured deeper into the garden to see what they could use with and add to the clay. Some children brought pine cones, others brought sticks and scoops. Together they stood around the table and explored the clay, how it felt and what marks different objects left within the clay. One of the children pushed their index finger into the middle of the clay block and said, “Uh oh! Hole!” and pointed it out to friends around them. Everyone at the table began to poke the clay, making as many holes as they possible could and giggling together as they showed off their marks.
The exploration continued out and about on the daily nature walks, where the children took part in lots of hunting and gathering activities. During one morning walk, the children we able to explore and collect natural materials such as, grass, leaves, sticks and flowers. Once they’d collected their items, the children could stick down their findings onto sticky tape and make a little keepsake to take home. The children were very enthusiastic in gathering their items and would run back and forth, bringing the most exciting things to stick down. Some children were even able to name the things they had chosen such as ‘flower’, ‘stick’ and even ‘daisy’.
The Great Hatch!
The last couple of weeks have been a very exciting time at nursery for the children with the arrival of 5 duckling eggs. On the build up to the ducklings coming to nursery, the preschool children have had many opportunities to engage in lots activities including learning about various life cycles and creating their own nests whilst engaging in imaginative play with natural resources collected from the nursery grounds. Once the duckling eggs arrived, the children were eager to take a look inside the cage and were intrigued when instantly they could see two little beaks poking out from two eggs which had already started to crack. The children were keen to learn all about what the incubator was for and why the ducklings needed the warmth from the heat pad, with one of the children explaining, “It’s just like using a blanket in our beds”.
The children could not wait to get in to preschool each morning (and even some of their older siblings) to monitor how the ducklings were doing! Once all 5 eggs had hatched and the fluffy ducklings were ready to play, the children were so excited to hold, stroke and even watch the ducklings have a swim around the paddling pool. Groups of children spent many moments throughout the day, seemingly admiring the ducklings, smiling at them as they watched them cuddled together and sleeping. The children showed great kindness and care throughout the time the ducklings were at nursery, often reminding their friends to stroke gently and to use their quiet voices if the ducklings were trying to sleep.
