Flower Toadstools

Wednesday 23rd March

It is that time of the year that the toadstools start appearing  in all sorts of magical places.

Today, we found many toadstools, the children said that some looked like flowers.

They have become very aware of how beautiful they are and they are very careful not to stand on them. Whenever they find one that has been stood on, they cry out "Oh no!!" and are quite saddened that somebody could destroy such beautiful things.  We have many budding conservationists in the making. 

Elephants at Nature Discovery

Today at Nature Discovery we decided to build a new shelter, Tony's Dad, Roberto and Riyanna's Dad, Jeremy were on hand to help. Hamish used the pruners to make sure the cuttings were the right size for the wall and Lucy was beside him checking the measurements with the measuring tape. After this we went down to Lake Henry where we discovered lots of blue gum bark. What could we make with the bark? "An Elephant" said Tony. Once again team work was required. Working together the children created an Elephant, it was magical. Georgia found a perfect place inside the Elephants tummy to have a rest, it was a very busy day, we still haven't found the earth star fungi. Maybe next time...

Autumn harvesting in Fiordland

Today at Nature Discovery we found autumn fruits to harvest, they were up the high track beside the climbing rocks. We ate the blackberries, and today we are going to make crab apple jelly at Kindergarten.

Martha said "I tasted everything - it was yummy. I got blackberry juice on my fingers. Mia got a blackberry face from eating them"

Lucy said "I collected 8 apples - some people got them of for me and some I picked myself."

Toni said "I picked blackberries they tasted like strawberries, I picked the crab apples.'

James Said "The blackberries tasted good, the bushes were prickly, I picked heaps of apples, I tasted one but it was it was a wee bit sour."

Riyanna said "I didn't like the blackberries."

Agustin said "We were picking the berries, and some apples, I got seven I think"

Fixing the Gnuff's House

We had been told that the Gnuff's house was damaged so we took some wire along with us to see if we could fix it. When we saw it, we found that one side of it had fallen down with the trees that had been thinned out. Today, we had two Dads (Tim & Andrew) helping us and they quickly set to work reliving their childhood escapades. The children helped pull the fallen house logs into a pile and some pruned the leaves off the fallen trees so that they could be used. Others decorated the existing sides with drawings. Here are a couple of stories from the children about happened.

James: "The Gnuff House is broken cos one log falled down on top of it. We fixed it. We fixed it with the strong wood. I helped pull the logs out. Hamish's Dad fixed it. He put the logs up. He put the roof on the logs."

Riyanna: "At the Gnuff house there is a rainbow. It's sunny. There is a bird, he's going to the rainbow. There are deer at the Gnuff house, they are making sure it's alright. The bird and the deer, they talk to the Gnuffs. The Gnuffs will be happy we fixed their house."