Explorers Week

WOW! What an incredible end to term 1 with our very first explorers week! 

Our first exciting event was the arrival of our friend, Eleanor, from Rookery Farm. “brrmmmm brmmm" - What is that sound? We couldn't believe it when around the corner came a great big tractor! Eleanor had heard that lots of you loved playing farms and tractors and so she brought her tractor for us to see. We all went out to have a look - the children couldn't believe how tall the tractor wheels were, some  even sat inside the biggest wheels at the back, and when she lifted the hood so we could see the engine we were all amazed. "Wow it's sooooo big!"

Eleanor showed us some of the wheat that she grows on her farm, she gave some of the children a little bag to take home. "It looks like bird food" one of the children commented - he was right, but Eleanor told us that we use wheat to make flour for bread ,cakes and cereal like Weetabix!

After we waved Eleanor and her tractor goodbye, we used some flour made from wheat to make some yummy bread for the snack bar. We also used some of our toy tractors and cars to make some fabulous pictures with paint!

TOFFEE & TICKLE

Next up was the first of our animal visitors.  We were all super excited to welcome the guinea pigs, Toffee and Tickle!  They had travelled to Ladybirds in a big box that had some hay and a wooden tunnel. Yvie, their owner, had brought a bag with her, full of delicious treats for the guinea pigs to eat and a blanket to put on top of us while we held them. The children were all very keen to hold and stroke the guinea pigs, but we needed to use our great listening to hear the rules, we needed to be quiet and calm and very gentle. We were so impressed - the children all followed our rules beautifully as they had their turn with Toffee and Tickle .

There were lots of questions for Yvie.  "Do they have teeth?" "Do they have tails?" "What do they eat?" "Where do they live?" Yvie could answer all of the questions as she is an expert! We fed them lots of different foods, but they both enjoyed the carrot the best! Yvie told us what the guinea pigs need to keep them happy and safe. They need special guinea pig nuggets, vegetables and herbs and grass to eat. They need fresh water to drink and hay to nibble on too. We saw a picture of their amazing indoor house and all the fun spaces they had to play in. We wondered how the guinea pigs felt and what they looked like, it was wonderful to hear the children describing them, "small"..."soft"..."warm." What a wonderful visit, thank you Yvie, Toffee and Tickle!

BUDDHA

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, a more exotic friend came to visit next...we were so lucky to meet Buddha the corn snake.  Before we met him it was so important to wash our hands and be calm as we went into the challenge zone.

Sitting on our mats beautifully, I could see the children were so interested and ready to listen to Gareth. Buddha was already out of his box and wrapped around Gareth's arm when we met him, he was moving so slowly, coiling his body around to hold himself safely, as he moved, Gareth moved his hand to keep him safe.

Slowly, we chose to touch Buddha or just to watch. We talked all about how Buddha felt and how soft and warm he was, some of the children thought he might feel wet, but he felt dry. Gareth explained how if you stroke his scales one way, the feel smooth, but if you stroke them the other way, they feel jagged. Some of the children noticed Buddha's tongue moving very quickly in and out of his mouth, Gareth explained how snakes use their tongues to taste the air as they don't have noses to smell.

We spoke about what food Buddha might like to eat, we guessed sandwiches, pizza, carrots, but Buddha actually likes to eat small mice and he only needs feeding once every week or two weeks. Gareth explained how Buddha doesn't chew the mice, but opens his mouth so wide, swallows the mouse whole and the mouse travels through Buddha's body to get to his tummy. This isn't like us at all, we need to chew our food really carefully when we eat and we eat meals and snacks everyday to give us energy. We looked at the colours and patterns on Buddha's body, he was white underneath, with an orange and red pattern on top.

There was one more very special thing to show us, something long and white with patterns on it - it was the skin Buddha had shed. When snakes shed their skin, they wriggle their head first and make a hole to move through before leaving the skin behind them.

Thank you so much to Gareth for sharing Buddha the snake with us!

GEORGE & ZIPPY

To top off this extraordinary week we had a wonderful visit from two unusual farm animals...George and Zippy the alpacas!  This visit was kindly sponsored by Newbury Building Society - thank you!

Before we went to meet them we had some questions about these wonderful animals and we wrote these on a poster for the handlers. We wondered how many teeth they had, where they lived and what they liked to eat! We guessed they might have one or two teeth but actually they have 32 teeth, and they used them to chomp and munch grain, carrots and grapes during their visit.  We fed the alpacas their breakfast, they were very hungry! We thought they might live in the rainforest or in the farm, their handlers told us that wild alpacas live in the mountains where their furry coats keep them warm, but George and Zippy do live on a farm, we were right!

We were so impressed with how well the children listened to the safety rules, stroking the alpacas soft fur gently and feeding them safely too. "They are so soft!" "They look like llamas!" "I like the white one, he make a funny noise" - the children were full of observations, it was great to listen to them talk about the alpacas.

When it was time to go we all waved goodbye to George and Zippy - thank you for visiting us!