WF, 6/5/2025 | Wee Friends Early Childhood Program LLC

Good Afternoon!

We are winding up farm season as we head into summer. We decided to touch on some of our favorite places at Prairie Winds Farm. First we visited the barn and fed the horses. We held and petted the chickens. Then we decided to go exploring to visit places we had not visited before. We took a new path through the meadow which lead us to many new discoveries in our interaction with nature.

We found a toad as we walked. We each took a turn to hold it. Three kids said it was their first time ever holding a toad. We talked about its habitat and how it is alike and different from a frog. We also found a large millipede and talked about similarities and differences when compared with a centipede. For instance, one is a vegetarian and the other, a predatory creature. The last type of animal we discovered was the slug… and they were everywhere. We found “whole families” of slugs, according to one friend. One friend asked why we had not seen so many slugs before. We had a discussion about what conditions where different in the environment. It was decided that since the slugs needed very wet places and the day was very wet, that this must be a contributing factor. One friend said he wanted to build a “wet house” for the slugs:) Lots of learning at our “Wee Friends Nature School” today.

Our gross motor work out was in full swing as friends found and gathered fallen branches. They voluntarily chose to drag or carry the branches all the way back down the trail to the look out, so they could make a fort! What dedication! Ryan commented that he would be very strong after this! The kids exemplified some amazing team work during this endeavor. It was hard work so it took cooperation, negotiation and problem solving!

Arthur was over the moon this morning after asking for help solving a puzzle. This puzzle has a collection of cards to choose from and two colored blocks that have to be put into the square a specific way. He did the puzzle several times and became very confident so I introduced Ka-Noodle, one of Wee Friends favorite past time activities. Ka-noodle works in levels (1-6) and gets more challenging in each level. Activities like this are great for spacial awareness as well as fine motor control.