Ready to be in Nature - 24 June 2019
Eight intrepid bush kindy explorers arrived dressed for any weather and full of excitement and energy. We trotted through the apple orchard following the cabbage tree Southland Community Nursery signs along the path. We talked about the pest traps around and what kind of pests they are keeping out of our forests. The bright red apples still on the tree were seen. We shuffled our feet through the soggy Autumn fall leaves knowing they had fallen off the trees. We smelt the leaves of the bay tree, then a hen over the fence caught the eyes and attention, before we counted how many case moths we could spot within the berry enclosure - quite tricky due to their wonderful camouflage. Routine and rumbling tummies set us off on a trek to find a spot for some kai, first back towards the carpark and for a closer look at the pest traps, before finally agreeing to go to the classroom (nature education centre). The doors of the habitat tunnel were explored and talked about with inquiring minds wanting to know what was behind each door. Once tummies were satisfied we went out around the bush track. We noticed the seeds on the forest floor, looked at how we collect seeds for the nursery to grow plants, noticed delicate fungi, talked about how the Rances are protecting this bush area forever (with a QEII covenant), commented on the wet ground (of the kahikatea swamp forest) and went fishing in a wet puddle in the forest! We checked out the seeds inside of the mingimingi berries and sat and marvelled at the forest we had just walked through. After some lunch we sowed some mingimingi seeds, filling the tray with dirt, flattening it with some blocks, sprinkling the seeds and covering with stones.
These fantastic inquiring minds thought about and wondered about things they weren’t familiar with and their noticing was only distracted by excitement at being at a new place, with so many things to see and explore. I learnt lots about their bush kindy site too.
Bronwyn
Posted: 26 June 2019