Orange cakes

Baking and flag making was on the children's agenda today.  The important part of baking is making sure that the fire has a good ember base so heaps of fire wood is required.  While some children were involved in the making and mixing of the cakes others helped by splitting wood and ensuring there was a good collection of pine cones.  It was a team effort and well worth the hard work because the cakes cooked in orange peel tasted delicious.

The Stick Insect

Monday 9th February

While we were at the "Bouncy Horses",  Ashen was searching for insects and made an exciting discovery.  On one of the trees was a green Stick Insect, which he carefully picked up to show all of us.
If you want to find bugs of any sort, Ashen is your man, he seems to know where the best places are to find them and has inspired the other children to join him in his searching.


Ashen's Story:
"I found a stick insect.  He was on the tree.  I looked on the tree and I saw it.  He has got 6 legs and he looks like a stick.  I have that in my Bug Book.  He can turn brown because he looks lie a stick.  If he is green he looks like a leaf and rats can't find him."


Well done Ashen, it was a great find and after we all looked at him, you said that we had to put him back where you found him.  We watched him crawl up the high in the tree but we could still see him because he was still green. I wonder if he will be there next week?

Art in the Park

Today it was art in the park.  Children made stick insects out of sticks, wrote their names then went on a colour walk.  It was a relaxed day finding different colours and treasures on the ground that the children could make their rainbow nature pictures with.

Tall trees, ducks and lakes

 Sammy and George found this huge eucalyptus tree that reached up to the sky.

We watched the ducks at Lake Henry and saw some trout rising.

We saw more ducks on the shore of Lake Te Anau.  We kept very still and they came right up to us.
It was a beautiful day here in summer in Fiordland.

Bug Hunting in Fiordland

Bug hunting was on the agenda today, so down to the pines we wandered.  In a log we found a huhu grub that was beginning to change into a beetle.  It was all white and hardly moved the whole time we studied it.  The children were amazed to find that it was changing without being a cocoon like a caterpillar.  Next someone found an interesting white bug that had us searching our insect books, we still don't know what type of bug it is so more research will have be done at Kindergarten!!  Back to the shed and there were still more bugs to find. No log or piece of wood was left unturned.  What an exciting day.

The missing mouse

Monday we found a dead mouse, everyone was excited!  We studied his tiny little claws, teeth and whiskers.  Then came the discussion what do to this mouse.  Esmē was fascinated with the mouse and wouldn't let it out of her sight it was her that came up this the idea to bury it.  Off we went to find a good place to put the mouse to rest.  One of the other children remembered that last week they had buried a weasel and thought we could put the mouse beside him.  Everyone agreed and so of we went to find the spot.  Once there the digging started.  We found a nice piece of bark to sit the mouse on and Esmē decorated him with coloured leaves off the gum trees.  It was decided to cover him with a stone so we could come back and look at him without having to dig him up.  Everyone was happy.  On Wednesday the second Nature Discovery group, who had heard about the mouse wanted to go and have a look.  Off we went.  From the photos we found the spot and the stone he was under.  We lifted the stone and... the mouse was gone!! What happened to mouse?  Lots of theories were discussed and it was called the great mouse mystery.  The investigation has started.

Reflection Lake Henry Fiordland

Today was and absolutely beautiful day at the park.  The children took time to study the reflections in the water of Lake Henry. 

Ben said "The water was flat I could see the fish.  There was red from the trees.  I could see my face.  That's it my head's ran out!"

Zack looking at his reflection.
"I looked in the lake and I saw me -  the water was still"

"I was looking in there because I wanted to see if there were any fish and because I was leaning in there I could see some sparkling stuff and I could see my dog hat and the colour of it - my reflection.  The water was very smooth." said Lily
Sasha said " I could see the trees, it is like glass.  I could see me and Lily."