What a busy day we had down on the farm this week and once again we have been so lucky with the sunny weather. The children started the day by singing a chorus of ‘Mary had a little lamb’ as we travelled to the farm in our Nursery mini bus. It kept us very entertained on our journey.
Once arriving at Farm School the children quickly found brushes and made sure that Buttons, Caramel and Fudge the Shetland Ponies were groomed and looking neat and tidy. It is amazing to see how much more confident the children are to be around the animals in just a short space of time. The children had to take a break from brushing though, as Herbie the sheep was making it very clear that he wanted some attention too! The children were very sympathetic and went to find some carrots to feed him. This made Herbie very happy and the children were able to feel his fleece as he munched away.
Next we went to meet the 12 new arrivals on the farm ….. chickens! The children were able to see all of the chickens and noticed that there were lots of differences between them. Some had white feathers and some had black feathers and some were even speckled. Farmer Bex told us lots of interesting information about the chickens and we learnt how to tell if a chicken has eaten well or not. The children even had the very important task of naming two of the chickens. After a little bit of discussion the children decided on Popcorn and Cucumber!
Just before lunch the farm had a visit from Tom the Farrier. The children were fascinated by how the horses had their hooves filed and how a new shoe was put on. We were able to feel a horse shoe and even found some of the hoof that had been filed off. This promoted lots of discussion and many questions. What a great experience.
In the afternoon we had a trailer ride around the farm and met some more lovely animals. We met Goose the horse and learnt all the things that a horse and its rider need to be able to ride. We looked at and held a saddle, bridle, bit, head collar and girth. The children even took on the responsibility of leading a pony around the arena. They were all so sensible and remained calm, listening to all instructions to keep both themselves and the ponies safe. Well done Pre-school! We also saw lots of cows as we travelled around the farm and a day old calf came to see us. She is now called Cheese as the pre school children wanted to give her a name too. We spoke about how the cows are milked and the children used the milking machine to practise milking a cow. The language the children were using was wide and varied and we had a competition to see who could get the most ‘milk’ out. It was such fun.
This week were were very luck to have Barry filming our day at Farm School – you can see the video on our YouTube page – enjoy! And if you’ve missed any of our previous updates on farm School, you’ll find all the news here.
