The very lovely pre-school aged children from Dormer House School came out to the farm in very hot weather. The children were wonderful and coped with the heat extremely well. At the start of the day the children were asked what could be dangerous on a real farm and they had plenty of answers with some great ideas. Before the weather became too hot we went down to the pond and did some pond dipping. We were lucky and saw dragon flies whizzing around the pond. 

Today Year 1 from Sedgeberrow C of E School enjoyed looking at the wheat on the farm. First we looked at an example of ripe wheat in the classroom, they then looked at seeds and finally flour. After snack the children ground some wheat seeds with a pepper mill and could see the flour inside. We then took a walk in the wheat field and they loved running along the tram lines. They then picked some grass plants which have gone to seed just as the wheat has done.

The other half of the morning was spent thinking about fairy tales and in particular the story of the ugly duckling. We thought about the ‘ugly’ dragon fly nymph turning into a beautiful dragonfly. This week has seen the first sightings of this years dragon flies. The pond dipping was great fun….if a little hot!   

The weather was glorious today as Year 3 from Bengeworth Academy came to the farm to do their Stone age topic. After the health and safety talk the children told me lots of things about their topic and what they had been doing in school. I talked to them about Stone age food. It is amazing to think wheat has been feeding man for thousands of years. The children weren’t quite so keen on the idea of eating insects….

On the farm the children mixed charcoal from my camp fire with a little olive oil and then drew cave paintings on the concrete floor of the shed. After that the children were asked to draw a story board on the silage bales using chalk. 

 

As the day was so lovely instead of making stone age round houses in the den building wood, we decided to be hunter-gatherers down by the pond. The first dragon flies and damsel flies of the year were flying around. The children were really engaged with finding the pond creatures. 

After lunch the children had some very imaginative ideas in the playwood and were very disappointed to learn that the coach had arrived to take them back to school….

A lovely but exhausting day spent hosting a ten year birthday party this morning and a party for two five year olds this afternoon. 

This morning William and his friends decided to have the whole party in the play wood. The boys were really creative as they built two ‘bases’ from upcycled materials from the farm. Both groups showed fantastic skills of team work and woodland safety. At break time we lit the camp fire and enjoyed toasting marshmallows, before the boys made the finishing touches to their base camps. 

I have had a lovely week with all the Year 1 children from Bengeworth Academy. Our topic this week has been castles. The children recently visited Warwick Castle and told me lots of things about their trip. In addition to what they learnt at the castle, I was able to tell them about the food that people would eat in a medieval castle.