We have been really busy with our farm shop and farm activities this week. The garden has been full of fun and lots of happy memories have been made enjoying all the games we have played – we have made a chicken that lays eggs to much hilarity, we have planted spring bulbs, harvested some more apples, built a tractor and enjoyed riding the bikes and exploring our new climbing cubes and mini stage – lots of physical challenge in the garden with some excellent jumping!
Inside we have also been milking cows….not real ones! We made gloves into udders and filled them with milk and made a tiny pin prick hole so that we could squeeze out the milk! Fantastic for hand strength and lots of laughs at the same time. The children really enjoyed making their own sensory farm tray – we get lots of ides from pinterest and education blogs and websites but we do like to let the children lead and make the activities if we can and I had a big bunch of happy helpers cutting grass for me for our tray, it gives them real ownership and we have some excellent rule followers too – ensuring they were safe and that the grass was safely delivered inside for the tray! Another fun activity was washing muddy animals using toothbrushes, there was a lot of mud!
We cook our own snacks at pre-school so Wednesday morning is always a baking morning for the children. There was a focus on reading stories as well and fine motor craft.
Circle times were a big hit this week, they are voluntary this year as we have a longer free flow period which is creating a wonderful atmosphere for the children, less stop points during the day which inhibit exploration but when we ring the tambourine or triangle every single child in their groups comes running in for circle time. They have been rewarded with a visit from some chickens, lots of farm craft, learning about numbers and how to match quantity to a number, we went on a hedgehog hunt in our garden and learnt some farmyard facts. The Stars also love coming together for songs, and this week they have progressed to shape puzzles and a shape song, learning the animal boogie, using the big parachute and following instructions and drawing to songs and learning each others names.
We really feel so settled and happy with the groups and are looking forward to a really super busy year, getting out in our community – we will be sending our requests for parents to help us on trips so please lend a hand if you can! Thank you to everyone who has volunteered on the committee as well, I look forward to working with you all and sharing our plans for the year.
