bug hunt | Cunningsburgh Early Years Term 4 2022-23 V2

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The bairns noticed a new vehicle in the car park, a motorbike, and were curious to learn more. The owner asked if they would like to sit on the bike and the bairns also tried to reach the handlebars from the seat. The bairns spoke about their experiences of seeing motorbikes before and commented on the bike’s colour and how to use the foot rests to climb up to the seat. As the biker left, the bairns listened to the sound of the engine.

We headed back to the airport this week with a small group who missed out on getting onto a plane during the first trip due to the fire alarm going off. After catching the service bus to the airport, we waited to get our security passes. We were taken to security where we placed our jackets, vests and hats into the trays and walked through the scanner. When the scanner turned red and beeped, we had to have our hands and feet swabbed. We watched the test strip being analysed by the special machine and then we were given the all clear to head out to the plane. While we were waiting on the tarmac we saw a helicopter land. We took our seats on the plane and fastened our seatbelts. There was lots of discussion about the safety cards and where we might want to go on holiday – “Vancouver” and “South Africa”. We took turns to sit in the cockpit and see all the buttons, knobs, gauges and levers. Then it was time to get back on the bus with a quick detour to the Salvation Army Polycrub on the way back to nursery.

We were invited to a showcase of musical instruments that pupils can learn in school. The bairns were shown a fiddle, viola, violin, cello, piano, coronet, trumpet, baritone, trombone, flute, clarinet, saxophone, accordion and drums. The instructors explained that the instruments belong to different families – string, brass and woodwind. They played a tune with each instrument ranging from traditional to classical and finishing with a lively rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody which had everyone up on their feet for a boogie!

We welcomed a parent to the setting to share their hobby – bug hunting. The bairns collected many bugs from the garden, finding out that the best places to look were under things, in the dark damp soil. There was great success finding woodlouse, slugs, larvae, beetles and spiders. We took our bug pots inside to view our findings under a microscope. We noticed the different textures, the slug’s eyes and we found out that a woodlouse carries it’s babies inside a small brood pouch under their bellies. We found out a fun fact – if you weighed all the bugs in the world they would be heavier than all the humans. We spoke about the number of legs that each bug has and that you can tell that an insect is fully grown when they have their legs. A slug doesn’t have leg but instead has one foot and lots of tiny sharp teeth making it one of the most ferocious bugs.

We were lucky to have a visit from “real life Bookbug”! The bairns got a chance to give Bookbug a hug or a handshake before they had to be on their way. We sang the welcome song, played a stretching game, sang nursery rhyme including Old Macdonald and then we listened to the story of Mr Mole who was having trouble getting home to Mrs Mole.

The preschoolers had their first transition visit to the canteen for lunch of macaroni, yoghurt and fruit. They lined up at the hatch before receiving their trays and picking up their pudding and a cup. While seated, the bairns noticed lots of empty chairs and wondered why there were so many. After the bairns had eaten their lunch, they cleared their trays away, following the instructions from the canteen staff. They also saw and heard why there were so many extra chairs when the school bairns joined them for lunch.

After experiencing a fire evacuation process at the airport, the bairns had lots of questions about fire. We talked about what makes a fire using the fire triangle of fuel, heat and oxygen and how to keep safe. Fire can also be used safely to help us for cooking and keeping warm. We also discussed how fire can be dangerous and that it has to be respected. Before practicing being safe while lighting and extinguishing fire, we agreed on some rules 1) an adult must be present who has the skills to help you, 2) use a safe space that is away from sources of fuel, open and off the grass, 3) use safe tools such as a flint fire striker, safe container for fire and a bucket of water. The bairns recognised that it was safe to use a flint fire striker with an adult but knew that fires could also be started using lighters and matches. The bairns made a safety circle with flour because this is safe for the environment. We spoke about how we need this at nursery because there are lots of bairns but if there are only one adult and one child, for example at home, this wouldn’t be needed. The bairns all listened to the instructions, watching how to use the flint fire striker and then had a turn themselves making sparks and lighting the cotton wool before using tongs to pick up the fire ball and extinguish it by dunking it into the bucket of water.