We go to the allotment at least once a week and today was allotment day. And what a great day it was- playing in the sand pit, mud kitchen, swings, helping around and looking for minibeasts are a few of the children’s favourite activities. Today they did all of them.
First things first, let me tell you how nice our vegetables are doing. Even better, let me show you :
We are growing the peppers and the tomatoes in pots in the greenhouse, to be planted out later. The salads are very plentiful, we harvested some today, the courgette has flowered and we have our first ripe strawberry.
It feels like this month’s most important job has been weeding, especially with all the rain, the weeds grow very fast.Also trying to protect the smaller plants from slugs is proving to be difficult. Aside the slug pellets we also tried eggshells but it didn’t work as the kale and the rocket salads have been totally eaten.
Now, the fun part. I told you we have so much fun at the allotment. And the best part is the learning that’s happening while having all this fun.
Cooking a chocolate cake in the mud kitchen or making coffee are the most loved recipes. Ha ha even the children know our coffee addiction as they keep offering us coffee. Joke aside, is lovely to see the children emulate what they see at home- mixing ingredients together, adding a bit of seasoning, washing up the dishes, they even help clean the whole kitchen before we go. And the language going on is the best- from telling each other what they are making to problem-solving when a difficult situation arises.
The swings are very popular. And let me tell you how uninspired we were when we bought two plastic swings from the shop. Lucky someone stole them(didn’t think that way when it happened) and we were forced to find an alternative which was to make swings using tyres. The children either sit or stand on these, they now learnt how to go on them and swing without any help. One of the boys actually used the swing as a climbing frame and climbed on and off the apple tree. Yes it was a bit scary letting him do that but taking risks safely brings so much satisfaction. You should have seen his happy face when he first did it.
The sand pit- building sand castles and volcanoes, filling and emptying buckets, making pies…the play is endless, so imaginative, such a perfect place for practising teamwork, sharing and taking turns…
Looking for minibeasts has become one of the children’s favourite activities. Snails and lady birds are definitely the best ones and today was a good day.
Observing little creatures in their natural environment, being able to touch, feel and play with is the easiest way to understand and learn about animals.Telling the children that snails are slimy will never compare to them touching and actually feeling.
Today we found three snails and the children got leaves to feed them, put them to sleep under the leaves and even named them.
Helping around the allotment is very rewarding for the children. They come and ask what they can help us with and take pride in doing a good job. Today they watered the plants, moved the weeds in the compost bin and helped clean the pond. And a lot of the “why” questions are answered while helping-why do we need to water the plants, why do we need to take the weeds out, why do we need to clean the pond, why why why…
So yes another great day at the allotment.
Dee's Childcare 