Our Horse Stable

This month we have learned so much about horses and where they live.

This week we worked on creating our own horse stable.

It has two stalls.

The first with double doors that contains, at the moment, a bale of hay.

The other side has a swing door and some grooming equipment.

Just like at Sprout Meadows grooming the horse has been popular.

As well as feeding the horse.

Once the frame was built we talked about what colour it should be.

We have seen two barns now and the children have their idea from books

of what colour it should be but we used a picture from our

visit to the Therapeutic Riding Stable for inspiration.

We went with white with green doors just like the Therapeutic stables.

As the children play, the hay from the other stall has slowly migrated to the horses 

stall which meant we had to do some 'mucking out'.

Many times I would find several children tucked in the stall with the horse.

Telling stories and getting to know each other.

Building Our Barn

    Welcome to our first cardboard box creation of this school year.   
      
Two families donated these great boxes which worked perfect for a barn.

Using a poster of a farm as a reference we began by planning where to cut the doors and windows.

The flat box needed to be cut in half to make it lighter for the roof.  Once the doors and windows were cut we pulled open the doors and went inside to push the windows open.

The box is a great size for the children to easily walk or crawl in depending on their age and size.  The animals were soon moved in and the play began.
        
                        A productive first day of building.


                                        Day 2 was painting. 
When we visited the Petting Farm we talked about what colour to paint our barn.  Most children said red.  I wonder if that was because most barns in the story books we read are red.

We only paint one coat so it doesn't take long for it to dry and the children are soon back inside.  These little ones that are just over a year old loved crawling in and playing peek-a-boo with their mom, who was on the outside.

         
    
                             Our finished barn, or is it?