Fiordland visited by the bug man Rudd Kleinpaste

Lilli :– Rudd brought Dorothy, an insect, a weta, her back legs sticked on to my hand.  He helped us find bugs – millipedes, caterpillars and spiders.  He was funny when he hided his cap in his arms.  Please come and see us again.

Children showing Rudd the rotten log we visit to find insects

 We had very exciting visits to Nature Discovery Rudd Kleinpaste the "Bug Man"and Di Paton from Kids Restore New Zealand.
We met at the shed, introduced ourselves and then the children took great delight in showing our visitors around the Park.

First we took them to the rotten log where we often find insects. We found millipedes, caterpillars and spiders.
Rudd then brought out Dorothy the Weta which the children absolutely loved.  The photos tell the story.

Morgan:-  I was looking after him, welcoming him. Rudd you had a weta on your nose, you were crying with a weta on your nose. Rudd, he told us about the bugs we find there, - dark bugs.  I was very brave and let the weta on me and I didn’t move. Mum said he has a new appreciation of insects, so much so, that it took 20 minutes to bike to Kindergarten because he didn’t want to bike over any bugs!”

Ollie -: I like his weta I liked holding it.  Please come again.  I hope we find a stick insect next time

Chris:  Rudd helped us look for bugs. 

Jazmine:-  Thankyou Rudd for telling us about the bugs.  I like Rudd

 The children then took our visitors to the Gnuff house and then on to where we found the stick insect last week.

Thanks Rudd and Di for visiting we really enjoyed your company.

Talia :– I found a bug with Rudd – a caterpillar, and a millipede. He was funny.

Our great find

This week at Nature Discovery has been amazing.  On Monday we decided to go for a walk on the track, I suggested we go really slow so we could explore the side of the track and the ground in front of us, you never know what you will find.  Hunter was the first to make a magical discovery, there sitting on the edge of the track was a spiny head stick insect.  It was bright green, long and in no hurry to go anywhere.  Some children were very brave and let it climb on them, others were quite happy to stand back and just watch as the stick insect explored us.  Lilli was very brave, the stick insect liked her so much it crawled up to the top of her head!  After we had had a long look and talk about the stick insect we put it back where we found it so it could continue on its journey.  As Winter is leaving us and spring is making it presence, the children are noticing the changes in the trees and other plants.  There is no better way to look at these changes than being up the tree.  The view up there is great too we can see more that is happening on the ground and around the park.

Another magical day

Natures Gifts

On Monday at Nature Discovery the children got very creative with the different leaves and sticks they found.  They made a beautiful picture then framed it with bark and sticks.  On Tuesday when they came back to Kindergarten they told the children that go on Wednesday that they had left a surprise for them. On Wednesday the children set off to find the surprise that Mondays group had left for them.  The beautiful picture made everyone smile and after much discussion it was decided that we should add to it so that Mondays children could have a surprise too.  Everybody began searching and it became a treasure hunt.  Many of Natures beautiful treasures were found and another beautiful picture was created.

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.