There has been lots of interest in birds at Grasshoppers recently, from the youngest children to those who come to us before and after school.
As the statutory framework asks that practitioners observe children 'to understand their level of achievement, interests and learning styles ...to shape learning experiences ...reflecting those observations' https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/AllPublications/Page1/DFE-00023-2012
we have had lots of activities inside and out developing on these interests.
One of the children came back from a recent holiday talking about owls. From conversations with his parents, we found that he had been to a falconry display, so he and his friends got out reference books to look up what he had seen. These books were also used when one of the girls said she was woken up by a bird, we tried to identify the noisy culprit (although we doubt it was the brightly coloured Asian bird she identified!)
We had already started to clear up our wild life area (see previous blog) and took some bread out to put on the bird table and some water to fill the bird bath. We also made food with lard and bird seed which we put into empty yogurt pots and set in the fridge. Some went home but some was added to the bread for the birds here to enjoy.
The after school club children have been very interested in the swallows making a nest near one of the play room doors - two of them brought books in from home, which showed them phonetically how to make the appropriate bird call, so they tried talking to the new arrivals. The next day however they found that the nest had sadly fallen down!
Don't worry there is a happy ending.... as they relocated to the playhouse at the bottom of the garden, where there were at least 3 chicks!!