A Special Visit from the Farm!
Last week we had a visit from a pair of special little animals - two kids (baby goats) that one of our wonderful families rescued from the bush. Our tamariki were so excited when they saw a special crate being carried onto the front lawn. “What do you think is in the crate?”, we asked them and their minds began to wonder. 😊
As we approached the crate, two furry little bodies came into sight and soon all edges of the crate were surrounded by curious little faces.
“They are so small”, one of our curious little ones said whilst another asked, “What are their names?”. One was called Unicorn and the other was called Honey – how cute! We then noticed that you could tell them apart by the white patch on one of their faces!
Soon they were invited out of the crate to explore our front play area. We had recently done some planting in the garden and this captured their attention, moving closer to the flowers for a nibble. Our little ones were very careful when moving closer to Unicorn and Honey and were intrigued by everything – their furry bodies, the way they made little bleating sounds and the fact that they were wandering and exploring different parts of the garden.
“I think it’s time for their milk”, our lovely mum said – as she brought along a bucket filled with two giant bottles. She explained that they had to buy special powder which was then mixed with water to make up the special milk. We watched intently as each kid (goat) was fed from a giant bottle. This was very interesting and some of our little ones were lucky enough to even have a go at feeding them!
As our new furry friends roamed around the front garden area, we spoke about what we could see, what we already knew and what sort of pets we have at home. Later in the afternoon at our art table, some of our tamariki were eager to put their thoughts onto paper – drawing the kids that they had seen, touched and heard earlier in the day. We were lucky enough to have an older sibling from our wonderful family (a Buckle My Shoe graduate) stay and support our tamariki with their drawings. She had conversations about the kids (goats) with them to fuel and extend on our tamariki’s ideas even further. 👍
This experience was great for our tamariki as they were able to grow their knowledge around kids (goats) in a hands-on and fun way. It is really important for our little ones to learn about how to be gentle with others – especially with animals and what is involved with looking after pets.
We also really enjoyed and appreciated having family contribute to our curriculum, as some of the best learning happens through holistic experiences with links to home!
We look forward to another visit from Unicorn and Honey and can’t wait to get regular updates on what they are up to on the farm! 😊