Now that the really hot weather has passed, we have brought the chooks back to kinder. They were hatched here last December, under a chook who sat faithfully in our nesting box for exactly 21 days. This process was extremely interesting and exciting for everyone involved. Some of this year’s children were at the pre-kinders group and they remember the little balls of fluff we had then. One of the children asked where the chickens were when we brought them back – the bigger chooks don’t look much like a sweet little chicken! This led to looking at a book about the life story of a chook, and discussion about how things (and we!) change. We are waiting to see if the chooks are both hens before we decide if they should stay, but everyone enjoys feeding them some cabbage and any scraps from our snacks.

There are some very keen “backyard” biologists in the group. The worms from our worm farm came in for a while and prompted lots of investigation with observation, especially using the magnifying glasses and bug bottles. Chloe found this picture of a giant worm from Gippsland and showed it to Hollie – they thought it might have been a snake because it was soooooooo big. We have found out a lot about worms simply by watching them carefully, just like a scientist. Then Evan found a snail and we brought that inside for a few days – the children have drawn it a lot. The children noticed that its shell is like some of the sea shells we were looking at earlier in the year. It was fascinating to watch and some children really enjoyed drawing it.

Fire fighters are a very popular game, especially with the boys (Benjamin, Sebastian, TImothy and Ethan were on duty today). They gathered up the props of helmets and hoses that were available, but they extended these with their imagination. Tim was talking into the 2 way about where the fire was – “In Bendigo? We’re on our way!”  – he didn’t have a 2 way radio but his hand worked just as well.

Finger paint is always a huge area of interest for some of the children. It’s a sensory activity which is different every time they do it. They have spent weeks just swirling the gooey, squishy colors around. Their focus so far has been mainly on taking spoonfuls of different clear primary colors and swishing them all together to transform what they had and to make something new. Now some of them are creating more deliberate patterns, controlling their movements, just using their fingertips or writing their names. We haven’t really been trying to keep a permanent record of their creations – often they are smoothed over again in a flash to start again. But these new patterns invite a more lasting record, so we will start to take prints of them more often, if the children wish.