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Recently there has been a growing interest in ‘animals’. The children have been learning more about these through art experiences, videos and books about animals, with support of their teachers to impart new knowledge.

To extend on this, we decided to create a real-world experience with animals.
Today, we had a special visit from “old macdonald’s farm”. We made a special animal day for this and invited the children to dress up as animals and we prepared for the visit with farm animal imaginative play and reading books about the animals. The lovely people brought their truck in with farm animals for the children to see and meet. In the truck, there were many farm animals including a rat, sheep, a goat, pig, chickens and ponies. In groups, the children visited the truck in our carpark to see and pat the animals. They were entranced by this and shared their knowledge with their teachers during the experience.

As an extra experience, the preschool children took turns riding the ponies in the carpark. They were informed about safety and equipped with helmets while riding the ponies. This was a great hands-on experience for the children, as they were able to actively engage with the ponies while riding. They were able to experience movement and animals in a whole new way.

We were very grateful to have this experience at Lollipops Takanini and as part of our curriculum. Te Whariki (the New Zealand early childhood education curriculum) says, “Children become increasingly capable of making connections between people, places, and things.” This experience allowed our children to make real connections and understand the animals that they have been learning about in their classrooms. As a centre, our philosophy is child-led, and we believe that these experiences enrich children's learning and experiences.

From here, we will continue to follow children’s interests to engage them in the world around them and as Nelp priorities mentions “Ensure children and their whanau are at the centre of education”. This will be done through daily experiences as well as community engagement and special excursions in our community.