Today we took 18 children to Standalone farm. It was such a glorious hot day so we made sure each child had a bottle of water and each staff member. The children were fantastic. We looked the geese first and then moved onto the horses.

The geese have fantastic blue eyes and were not worried about coming close to us, which the children were cool about.

There were 2 shire horses and 2 small ponies.

The goat was really eager to see us too.

As we went to see cows we met some doves, Canadian geese and ducks.

The piglets were really big and some of the pigs were huge. We walked round to the donkeys who were eager for a stroke before we sat in the shade and had some snack and lots of water.

We walked round to the Alpaca’s who had recently been sheared and liked being touched by the children- they felt really soft. One was really interested in the camera.

After the Alpaca’s we did a long walk round the field in the shade looking for the sheep and lambs. They were very sensible lying in the shade.

We washed our hands in a very big trough and then went off the the lovely learning barn, where we had stored our lunches earlier. It was so cool in the barn and we all enjoyed our lunches. We decided to go and find the small animals before having fun on the play equipment.

We met Chas and Dave, the rabbits and few of their friends.

We ended the day by having an ice lolly each and then playing in the tractor barn before the parents and carers picked up.

The children were fabulous. A huge thanks goes out to their parents and their carers for allowing us to take their children out for such a fun day. Also a massive thank you to all the Woodentops ladies for all their fantastic support during our visit.

We’re planning next years visit already.

Wow today we had lovely weather and brilliant children who we took round the RSPB with 3 really helpful RSPB volunteers. We met in the car park, making sure the children knew who their key person was to walk round with.

We did a walk along the woody area and to the Hide. We were impressed at finding a squirrel eating the bird food.

A chaffinch joined him and then 2 ducks decided to have a swim and wash.

A woodpecker flew in and ate some nuts from the bird feeder, we spotted a chaffinch flying in before going on his way.

Then we walked to the owl, looking for some rabbits and finding one or two late bluebells still flowering. The children liked touching the owl and commenting how tall he was.

We walked on to the pond and spotted  geese with their 5 goslings.

We sat and had our snack before walking to the den area.

The den area was fantastic, we had children hiding in the dens already built and then adding more large pieces of wood to them. We made nests using lots of sticks and branches and the children collected leaf liter to make the nest ‘soft’. One child sat in the nest to see how comfortable it was. Then we made ‘wands’ and collecting pieces of leaves and cones to attach to their sticks. Lots of talk about what they were finding and what could have made holes in the ground and trees. We sifted the leaf litter and found lots of little bugs and spiders.

We had a picnic lunch back at the gate house, and found a very small centipede next to our mats, we carefully watched him and then placed the centipede on the plants beside us.

Once we finished lunch we sat and sang some songs whilst we waited for parents, grandparents and carers to meet us.

We’re really proud of how our children behaved today, they were polite and listened to us as we walked round.

This week we all discovered how much fun could be have with a hoop and lots of bubbly water. The children mixed the bubbles on the path and then used the hoop in the bubble mixture and made enormous bubbles. We had lots of fun blowing them and chasing them round the garden.

Inside we played with the dinosaurs in their ‘habitat’- lots of leaves, wooden pieces and twigs. The children took the dinosaurs over to the playdoh and made footprints in it. So we got out the clay out and made footprints to go in the dinosaurs habitat and to take some home.

Later on the children worked together on a box making it into a home for the dinosaurs, one made a dinosaur egg, others painted the top, one of them made a paddling pool and a tree. Fantastic team work

The children asked to do ‘big’ drawings, they laid their pieces of paper on the floor, chose their pens and pencils and then drew huge pictures using both hands.

The children also built tall towers using the thin bricks. Again working together to balance the bricks on tops of each other.

This week we were lucky enough to have 2 lambs from Lambtastic visit us. Here’s is Precious and Treacle.

The children were very cautious to begin with, once they realised that they were babies and needed to have some milk, they all lined up to watch Neil feeding them before having a go.

The lambs enjoyed our garden, having a nibble at the grass and sniffing the toys. At one point, Precious curled up on the ground for a bit of a chill.

Today the children really enjoyed the lovely weather outside. Inside preschool they did some intricate building with the ‘FUN BLOX’.

Outside they all wanted to continue with more construction and building. We supplied reels, cardboard boxes, stepping stones of wood, slabs of wood, wooden slats, boxes and crates.

They worked together to build the obstacle course, tried it out, adjusted it, added more bits and tried it out again.

This morning we were visited by 3 drakes and a duck, they were initially in the car park until I opened the gate to unload my car and they waddled through. The children came in from the garden and they watched the ducks walk down the back driveway. We gave them some oats and persuaded them that going on the main road was not a smart move.

They munched the oats and then went back to the brook at the bottom of the field.