We’re heading over to our Pre-School Adel setting this week to see what’s been going on. Just like our Horsforth setting; Adel follows a child centred approach with a focus on creativity and project based learning.

Our Adel children began talking about farms when we returned in September and since then we found out what they know and learn and followed that interest.

They began talking about the animals and especially pigs so we focussed in on this particular animal to learn more about them. We read non-fiction books together and looked at the internet for facts about what pigs do and look like. We read The 3 Little Pigs story in English and Spanish and made their houses inside and outside in the garden.

We used pigs for maths, shapes, estimating, counting and size ordering. We had sensory play with shaving foam, mud and paint to make muddy pigs, investigated real pig snouts and baked our own pig snout biscuits. We talked about our senses and animal senses and our Atelierista worked with the children on smelling different scents and choosing which to use in their ‘smelly snouts’ as well as making a group Papier–mâché pig.

Horses became the animal of interest so again we asked the children what they knew and wanted to know about them. The children always suggest we can read books and look at the internet for information so we did this and discovered lots of new facts about how many jobs they do and what they look like.

Since then we have learned about their hooves and horseshoes, and made horseshoes using clay, tools, and metallic paint with our Atelierista. We have role played using cowboy hats and learned about cowboys, made hobby horses to race on the field, used sewing skills to make sock puppets and went on a trip to Hope Pastures to see some real horses up close.

The children have been talking about tractors and combine harvesters so we are learning more about them and what they are used for. We have had tractors in paint to make tracks, washed them and used them in the mud, we have been singing the old Wurzels Combine Harvester song together and have read non-fiction and fiction books about tractors. At the moment the children have been telling us what the tractors do to help farms and which food might grow on a farm, so we will be following this path to learn more about farm produce and planning lots of activities to support this journey togetherincluding visiting a local farm.