Today, I was with Year One children from Sedgeberrow C of E First school, who left as the least muddy class of the year so far…. At the start of the day the children and I talked about the seasons and the signs of Spring.  Later on the farm walk, we looked for baby animals, lush green dairy farmer grass and blossom on the trees. We also felt the warm spring air on our skin. The topic today was predator and prey. 

In pairs the children were given a soft toy. Each pair had to identify the animal and then think about what the animal eats and if it was eaten by another animal. We had lots of food chains within the soft toy collection.

The farm walk started by feeding the herbivore heifer cows some silage and then the children saw the young calves and held their food pellets. We then had a run in a grass field, before walking along a farm track looking for signs of badgers. In the distance we could see that Rob was moving the three big bulls into a new field and letting the heifers out from their winter housing. After finding two badger setts, the children walked alongside the field of excited heifers, as they ran around the field for the first time since the autumn. 

After lunch the children looked at my animal bone collection and could see the large teeth and strong jaw of a predator badger. Sadly the buzzards on the farm weren’t to be seen as the weather was slightly grey and damp. 

Tags: March, Predator, Prey