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.

Painting Leaves

We have been playing with leaves.

Shaking them from the tree and raking them up

into baskets.

An invitation to paint leaves the same colours as the ones we are seeing outside.

Watercolour paints and leaf shaped paper invited them to paint.

Mixing the paint and water was a side bonus for the toddlers.

I noticed calmness and focus.

The children really enjoyed this activity and we had so many leaves

that we used them as a border on our bulletin board.

Revisiting the Pumpkin Patch - Small World Play

Last week we visited Shamrock Farms Pumpkin Patch

and enjoyed searching in the fields for our own pumpkins to take home.

Back at school I set up a simple small world play with dirt, real and fake pumpkins,

a farmer and tractor and buildings.  

One building I painted to look similar to the small playhouse 

at Shamrock Farms.

Our Visit to the Riding Stable

We are so lucky to live in a very generous community.

When I started looking for a place that has horses that would be willing to 

share them with us

I was a bit worried that we wouldn't be able to find one that was 

affordable for our families.

Then I was referred to Sprout Meadow Farm

Trish and Chris, that own Sprout Meadow invited us to come, visit

and learn about their horses.

We split into three groups and the first learned about grooming.

Lindsey showed us different combs, brushes and tools they use

to clean the horse.

This was the children's favourite activity.

The second group followed Trish and had a tour of the barn

and walked around the farm and met all of the horses.

The third group had to put on a helmet and follow some tracks.

We met Chris by the ring and was introduced to Beetle.

All the children, 3 and over, that wanted to ride

enjoyed a walk around the ring on Beetle.

A couple of bonuses were checking out the pond and

the ducks that live there.

As well as meeting Buddy the cat.