A QUICK STROLL TO THE CAFE....

April 20th 2023

We planted our vegetables earlier this week, and have been a bit worried about the snails and slugs that may visit Uxbridge at night and slither and nibble on our leaves of our plants.  We need our plants to survive so that we can harvest them.  Teacher Maya did some googling and from previous experience she had a grand plan.....

On Thursday we quickly strolled up the Uxbridge Cafe,  which is just through the art centre.  What a great little community we have as the lady was very helpful in our search for used coffee bean granules.  There was a a few people ordering their morning coffees so we had to wait and be patient.  We had a sneaky peek at the art work and looked at all the cool designs and colours as well as looking at the cake cabinet. 

Chloe really liked the look of the pink marshmallow slice - and told us that she has come to this cafe before with her whanau. 

We saw a few familiar faces at the cafe/art centre as well. 

Back to Kindy we went with a gigantic bag of coffee granules!.  "Wow I cant smell them Maya, like strong coffee " said Austin. 

When we got back to kindy a few friends wanted to see the what was in the big bag.  A lot of the children knew from the smell before we opened it that it was coffee.  We got to work carefully scooping and sprinkling the coffee granules on the garden around each plant so delicately.  

"This coffee powder is going to scare the snails and slugs away from the plants" said Austin

"Yeah it is very smelly for the insects they wont like it" said Chloe.

"Look I am being careful to sprinkle it " said Jack

"I am digging the garden" said Ashton

A wonderful day planting huawhenua

Today we spied on some vegetables/huawhenua sitting in our carpentry area. We thought that this was not a good home for them! This set us up for a busy day of mahi in the garden. Working together as a team with a a common goal, practising our social skills like waiting for our turn, communicating together and learning new words. We connected with Papatūānuku, mother earth and talked about how we will be able to be katiaki and care for these plants. What a day full of fun and learning.

Lucy saw the broccoli and said "That's a dinner food!"

We transported our plants very carefully and found a garden bed just waiting to be planted

Some of our friends used wagons and others carefully walked.

All our plant babies made it safely to the garden!

We had a korero about how these plants had to be held ever so gently just like a baby. We saw the roots of the plant, the leaves and the stem and that they all had be attached for it to grow!

Frank was right on the job digging holes deep into the ground.

Everly had a close up look of the roots and was keen to join in. She waited patiently for her turn!

Raphael and Owen set to work digging the holes for the lettuce. 
Raphael said " My Mum's a farmer. She has yellow flowers!"

Frank worked like a pro! Something tells me that he has helped with the gardening at home!

Hunter dug a space for the vegetables!

Hunter treated his plant ever so carefully and after digging setting it into the soil he patted the dirt down over the roots.

Daisy loved digging in the dirt! Ever so carefully she pushes the broccoli into the ground. 

Santiago was the man for the job. He also learnt all the names of the vegetables then told his friends after lunch all the names! Well done Santiago.

After carrying down the silverbeet Jack waited for his turn to plant. He was careful with holding our baby plants!

Chloe told us that " Plants need water and sun to grow."

Mason fetched his own watering can, filled it and gave our huawhenua a drink. 

Charlotte came to dig the final two holes for the Silver beet. She said  "I don't like spinach but my Mum does."

Just as we were about to finish something was wriggling in the soil. It was a worm! 

After that busy morning in the garden, we decided to make some signs so we could tell which plant was what! 

Come and see our garden, let's watch it grow together before we harvest the fruits of our labour for feeding our kindy pets and of course our own bellies!

Turtles bury their eggs!

 

Easter Bunny Hunt

 

Move like an animal

 

Animal enclosures

Making honey toast

The Bee lady gave us a pot of delicious honey that her wonderful bees had worked so hard to make. So of course we had to make some yummy runny, honey toast. 

The tamariki used their self help skills to cook their own toast, learning about the safety of using a toaster. 

While the toast was cooking we looked at the pictures and talked about HOW the bees make the honey and how we get it from them. 

Then we spread our own margarine and butter onto the warm bread and enjoyed it together for morning tea...Yummy yummy for our tummies!  

The Bee Lady

What a buzz it was having The Bee Lady come to visit Uxbridge. We loved learning all about this wonderful and magnificent insect that works so hard to pollinate our garden. She brought along with her a real bee hive and we found the Queen bee inside and listened  the sounds of the bees busily buzzing.  The Bee Lady knew so many interesting facts about bees and their important job. 

Did you know that bee's have 5 eyes and 4 wings? 

We learnt some new songs and rhymes too and even made our very own bees wax candle to take home. Best of all she left us a pot of  honey that the bee's worked so hard to make and we all had a taste! Delicious.