School excursion

Today was the last day of early learning for the term. It is a program run by schools which caters for 0-5 years. It is not a play group and is quite structured. In third term just the pre-kindergarten aged children go to prepare them for kinder next year - which of course will be Miss Hallie. It goes from 9-11 am. They start with time on the mat with a story and song. Miss M talks about the letter of the day (sounds like Sesame Street) and they have a rotation of activites, some morning tea, more activities and then finish on the mat.

For our last day today we went to Brickendon animal farm at Longford. All week I have been marvelling at the wonderful weather... well today was absolutely miserable. It rained and rained but we all decided to go - rain, hail or shine.

While we waited for the bus, the kids decided to play with some lego to keep them entertained. They all could hardly contain their excitement.



The first most exciting part of the day was the bus trip. Hallie and Oliver had never been on a bus so they had a blast. We had a lovely time chatting to Bob the bus driver and looking out the window... at the rain.


Once we got there, our guide Louise showed us around the property and we got to help her feed the animals - all 20 of us. First we fed the turkeys and chooks and ducks. Well Oliver decided to chase the turkeys like he does the seagulls but they aren't as placid as seagulls. Everyone roared with laughter watching him chase them around. I remember doing the same on my Pop's farm at Staverton out near Sheffield but they use to chase us back.


Next we fed the baby calf and horses, followed by this monstrosity of a pig. I think her name was somoething tame like Fleur which did not seem to fit her personality or her physique. It needed to be something like Houdini.


We then moved onto the goats. This one goat would not stop head butting Oliver. He seemed to be attracted to Oliver and made a beeline straight for him. Luckily he didn't have horns. Oliver was not at all perturbed until he head butted him right in the face and then he had enough and let out this long wail. Oliver was so funny the whole day. He was so at ease with the animals and jumped in every single mud puddle along the way. Don't forget it was teeming with rain the whole time we went around the farm feeding the animals.

After we had some lunch, we had a play in the activity paddock. There was a circuit of fun things to do like find the eggs in the hay - they weren't real eggs, paint a doghouse, gumboot throwing activity - just farm-type things which all the kids loved.

Here is a shot of Jenni Rixon, our teacher aide - she was avoiding the camera all day - gotcha Jenni.







This is Hallie and Oliver's teacher Jo McNeill giving Oliver a push on the tyre swing, shaped into a horse - very clever.

Finally Louise brought out a one day old baby lamb and bottle-fed it in front of the kids. They all went quiet as she knelt down and fed him. It was so cute. I'm sure they all wanted to take him home. On the bus trip back home Oliver fell asleep. We were all wet through and exhausted but it was worth it to see all the kids have such a wonderful day.