Exploring in Fiordland

Wednesday July 18th

Today was showery and a little windy so we decided to explore the area that we have named the "Pines".  It is very sheltered from the wind and rain.

We found a small tree stump and a log to make a seesaw.  But when Connor and Poppy tried it, the log broke.  We looked closely at the log and discovered that the wood inside was soft and crumbly, that was why it broke so easily.  Another theory put forward by one of the children was that Connor was too big.  We found another that was firmer and Mason and Poppy tested it this time.  It worked perfectly.  We had fun having turns.
"The seesaw started to get some cracks and then it was soft inside and it was all mushy.  And then we had to go and get a new log.  I had a turn with Poppy, it was fun."  said Georgia.

Connor saw something interesting in the distance so we all went to investigate.  We found a tree that had fallen over and left a big holes where the roots had been.

We could climb down into the hollow it had made. It was quite dark in the corner and Hayden found a hole that looked like a cave.  We used the torches to see if there was anything inside but it was empty.  The roots sticking out looked a little bit like glow worms hanging down.

We had great fun looking for bugs and climbing on top to look down at the others inside.

"Actually I was digging for treasure and I find nothing. I found some holes, I shined my torch to try and look for something, I was trying to look for a spider.  The storm last time blowed the tree over so it made a big hole." said Connor

 Georgia and Mason found a hut and decided that it needed more stick on it.  While they were searching they found an interesting looking log and decided that it looked like a rocket.  We found a special place to stand it up near the hut so that the next time we go to the "Pines" we can play with it.

"We found it at the branches and the rocks.  The rocket was about to blast off.  We took a photo of me and Mason at the rocket.  It was about 50 metres big." said Georgia.

We had a great day.  Even on days that are windy and showery, we can still have lots of FUN!!!!!

Fun in Fiordland

Wednesday 13th June

Today the children decided to go to the Gnuff's House but on the way we passed the hill going down to the climbing trees.  We had fun running up and down the hill so decided to stay for awhile.

 We found sticks and long pieces of bark to make a high jump to jump over.  We couldn't get it very high as it kept falling over.  We had fun having turns to jump over it.

 Next, we made a huge pile on leaves to jump into.  There were so many leaves that they soon covered our legs.  This gave us an idea to cover ourselves so you could only see our faces.

 It was fun.    Jack's dog thought so too and kept trying to join us so we covered him up and Judy took this photo. 

 Here are Hannah and Georgia all covered up.  We can only see their faces.

 After morning tea, we headed off to the Gnuff's House to show Jack's Dad as he had never seen it before.  Jack and Hayden couldn't find the bouncy log so Jack's Dad found two logs and wedged them into the other logs so we could have two new bouncy logs.  

 There were many tiny branches sticking out on them so we had to cut them off before we could sit on them.  Jack got straight to work with the secateurs and soon they were ready.

 Hayden and Jack tested the bouncy log to make sure that it work work properly.  Then we had fun bouncing on them.  We pretended that we were having a horse race  against each other.  

It was fun!!!!

Autumn at Fiordland Kindergarten Nature Discovery

Autumn time at Ivan Wilson Park is AMAAAAZING!  The colours are just so beautiful.  What person can resist shuffling through the leaves, and the joy of throwing them in the air.  Here the children are doing just that.

Then it was time to trick our friends, and hide each other in the leaves - Can you see Jack? 

On our travels today we went to the jumping rocks, and under the rock where we often find skinks we found a tiny baby skink - we were so excited. 
We all had fun jumping off and climbing on the rocks. 

Then we were off on another adventure to a part of the park we have only just discovered.  We found a really muddy patch and decided to camouflage our faces with mud.  Hayden put the mud on Richard! "Dad looked like an army man" said Beth.

"I put stuff on my face and it was cool.  Then I put mud on richard's face, it was gooey, it made me laugh", said Hayden.

Then it started to rain, we had fun catching the raindrops on our tongues.
"It felt splishy, splashy - it tasted yummy" said Lukas.

After lunch we went down to the singing log; we sang lots of songs with a very long version of Old McDonald.  the boys peeled off some of the log's bark, which attracted the fantails.  When we sat still they came very very close, almost sitting on our feet.  
They were so cute.






"I was quite surprised, that they came really close, and they flew around us" said Beth.

Fun in Fiordland

March 7th 2012

Another day in paradise. It looked like we were going to get some rain so we headed for the trees where the bouncy trees branches were. On the way we found a great place to have morning tea so decided to stay there. We hung up the swing, found another bouncy tree, a tree stump with baby Huhu grubs and beetles and plenty of sticks to create with.

Lukas and Chelsea set to work making things with the sticks using the plastic ties to hold them together.

Lukas's Story: "I was trying to make a four and a five but it came out like a jet plane with rocket boosters and boomers. I used sticks and plastic ties to hold it together so it don't break apart. My Mum helped me, she hold it for me."
We also made a bow and arrow with the sticks and string. We had turns at trying it out. It was quite hard learning how to make the arrow fly.

Joshua said, "Sage's Dad pointed the arrow and it did fly."

Sage said," I got to fly the arrow. I fired it , you pull the string back and then let it go. My Dad, he picked up the arrow and he helped me make a sword."

Chelsea said, "I made a airplane with sticks and ties. I did the ties up so they would stuck together. Lukas's Mum helped me tie them up and held the sticks and I tightened up."

Gabi said, " I drew a picture on some bark. it was easy because it was real flat."

Camp cooking

Yay, today we got to test out our new fire, that was purchased with a Meridian Energy grant. The fire arrived all the way from Germany, we had been waiting very patiently for the fire ban to be lifted. After a team Hui at Kindergarten the day before it was decided that we would make pikelets. Setting up the new fire was very exciting, we had to look at the little level to make sure our fire was level and sturdy. We didn't want our pikelets sliding off. Everybody got a turn at doing something and it was a well stirred batter by the end of it which is probably why they tasted so good. The light drizzle made the baking and cooking experience so much more fun and everybody agreed they were the best tasting pikelets except for the black bits. As a side attraction the rain had made a little a mudslide which some of us enjoyed sliding down.

Down in the Pines

Another great day at Nature Discovery, down in the pines we climbed trees, made a swing, found huhu grubs and big weta's that jumped everywhere! The soil was nice and dry, just right for digging and sliding on. We found blackberries that weren't quite ripe and made a group discussion to keep an eye on them so we can all have a tasty treat when they are ready. Looking at the huhu grubs we had lots of questions and can't wait to investigate these back at Kindy. The insect book was well used to identify every little bug we found. Can't wait for next week!

Fun in Fiordland

Wednesday 15th February 2012

We had another great day at Nature Discovery, the children decided to go to the Gnuff's house area to play and work. on the way we played 'Hide and Seek' in the long grass.

When we got to the Gnuff house we added to the cubby that they started a couple of weeks ago using the logs that we found on the ground.

With help from Tony, our parent help, we made a seesaw using the logs.

We had lunch in the Gnuff House using rocks and logs as seats.

Chelsea's Story:

"We made a seesaw. We used 4 sticks. One stick on the top to rock on. It was fun cos it just was. We are eating lunch at the hut. We sat on sticks and rocks."

Lukas's Story:

"Bouncing on the bouncer. We made it out of logs. Three logs on the ground and put the long log on top of the 3 logs. We builded a hut and we took a photo. We are eating lunch in the Gnuff house. I sat on a log. We were running down the big hills and we played hide and seek in the long grass."