This week’s activities

Autumn/winter walk

A group of children went on a walk to the nearby field (where the apple trees are) to see what they could notice about the trees and the natural environment. They noticed that the leaves had changed colour, some of them were yellow, others orange and lots were brown, where they had fallen to the ground and started to rot down. They also noticed that some of the apples that were left on the trees, or around the base of the trees, had started to go brown and rotten. They talked about why this had happened, the life cycle of the trees and how nothing goes to waste, as the leaves rot down to form compost and the apples are eaten by the wildlife that live and visit the field. They looked at how many leaves there were, with one child commenting that he had seen ‘10000’, whilst another child said it was only ‘100’.

As they looked at the leaves on the ground they noticed earth worms on the surface. They spent a long time watching the worms, noticing that it was hard work for the worms to burrow into the ground through the deep, oozy mud.

Finally, they played a game of ‘colour’ eye spy. They discovered the grey sky, the green grass, the brown bench and the teacher’s purple coat.

Helping wildlife

Another group of children went on a walk around the lovely school grounds. We are really lucky to be able to use the school grounds and especially lucky that there are so many areas to explore the natural world. Whilst on their walk, the children collected pinecones that had fallen from the trees. They discussed how the seasons are changing and how we are moving from the autumn to winter months, with temperatures dropping, the trees becoming barer and food being more scarce for wildlife.

Once they returned with their collection of pinecones, they thought about what they could do to help the wildlife that visits our garden, including the birds that fly in and out looking for food. The children went on to make pinecone bird feeders. Before they went on their walk, the teacher took the lard out of the fridge to soften it. She explained to the children how it had gone from being very cold and hard to becoming soft and pliable. The children squashed the lard around the pine cone and then rolled it in mixed seeds, noticing how the seeds stuck to the lard. Once they had finished, they used string to tie onto the pinecones so they could hang them from the trees.

We look forward to watching the birds as they visit the garden and know that we have helped in some small way to keep them healthy during the harsh winter months.

As always, there are photos on our website, anthonyroperpreschool.co.uk, and Facebook page.

Thank you.

The Pre-school Team