Playing Search & Rescue in Fiordland

Monday 6th August 2012

Today we showed the children how to play Search and Rescue.  In this game we get an adult and a couple of children to pretend they are lost in the bush.  They leave clues of arrows made from branches, stones or leaves to guide the Searchers to them.
Lilli said, "We have to find the people who are lost. We have to follow the arrows.  We listen for sounds to help us find them. I liked playing this game because it was fun hiding with you."

We discovered many beautiful cobwebs in the trees.  The foggy morning made the cobwebs look all beautiful.

At Nature Discovery we like to climb trees.  We have been encouraging the children to make their own risk assessment when climbing.
Today, Degan measured the branch against his arm to make sure it was big enough before he started climbing.
Degan's Story: "I looked at a branch to see if it was safe.  It was safe because my arm was smaller.  Then I climbed it.  I went a wee bit far."

Feeding birds in Fiordland

Wednesday 1st August 2012

Today at Nature Discovery we made bird feeders.

Kaira's story" "We made bird feeders so the birds can have something to eat at winter time.  We used peanut butter, bird food - little seeds and pine cones.  I put peanut butter on the pine cone and I rolled it in the bird food because the peanut butter was sticky. We tied string on the pine cone and we hung them up on trees.  I saw one bird eat the bird feeders and I was sneaking up quietly so I could see a bird eating it."

There was lots to discover and explore at Nature Discovery today.  A tree had fallen over and it's roots were exposed, we had fun looking at them and hiding in the cave the tree had created.  The tree was also great for climbing and it was fun weaving in and out of the branches.  The highlight of the day was when we found a Weta in the bark, it was so surprised it jumped and landed on Hannah jacket.  Hannah was very surprised and a wee bit scared especially because the Weta was very happy there and didn't want to move on.  Hannah stood nice and still so we could all get a good at it.  I admired Hannah's courage and by the end of it she felt very proud that the Weta had selected her to have a rest on.

Fiordland Kindergarten wins Environment and Conservation Southland Award

Last night Southland held it's annual Environment and Conservation Awards.  Fiordland Kindergarten had been nominated for it's Nature Discovery programme in the Schools category.  We are happy to say  that the judges loved our programme and we won this section.

Nature Discovery on a Monday

Due to the huge educational and environmental benefits of our Nature Discovery programme we are now running it on two days.  A second group of children had their first day this Monday and what fun they had.  The were all so excited and loved going on the bush adventure.

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!!!!