Today at the farm, our focus was to continue to get the younger children more comfortable with the animals, smells, noises, and slippery spots on the ground (sometimes it’s just mud, but sometimes it’s pooh!).  So we spent our morning seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting things.

Shortly after we arrived, I caught a chicken.  Most of our younger group is still rather intimidated by the chickens, so this was an opportunity to touch, smell, and hear the chickens up close.  (No, we didn’t taste them:)  As we touched the chickens, we compared how different the combs and waddle felt to the softness their feathers.

We also fed the goats.  Touching the grain is sensory experience that all of the children enjoy.  They run the grain through their fingers, sometimes gently and sometimes squeezing it tightly to change how it feels.

We compared  how the goats tongue felt to the cows tongue as they ate grain from our hands.  (The goat’s tongue is very soft, while the cow’s tongue is hard and also rough textured like a cat.)

Sunscreen, the fabulous farm kitten, blessed us with some sweet loving moments.  The children listened to her purr and felt the softness of her furr and the prickle of her whiskers.  Thankfully, nobody felt the sharpness of her claws!

 Next, Charlotte brought out a variety of fresh farm fruits for us to sample: grapes, persimmons, and paw paws.  

 

 Several friends enjoyed the sensory experience of walking, stomping, and yes, even jumping in the mud.  Their boots stuck to the mud and it squished and it squelched as they squealed. 

 The geese were in rare form today and at different points they were being very loud.  The children watched them closely and listened to them call angrily to each other.  (Well, at least it sounded angry. They may have just been making lunch plans.)

 While in the woods, we listened to the leaves crunch as we walked.  The children also gathered nuts from the ground.  They noticed that the opened shells of the walnuts had a strong smell.

In the prairie, we listened to the wind and played with the ripe, fuzzy milkweed seeds.  We threw the fuzzy seeds the air and watched them blow away.  It was another great day to be at the farm!

Back at WF, Melinda had a delightful, peaceful morning with the standby group.  They spent a relaxed morning reading books, painting at the easel, playing games with the parachute, and helping Melinda with lunch and cots.