We’re nearing the end of the season and talk is shifting from fall to winter, especially with the sudden change in weather we experienced on Tuesday afternoon. Nothing beats cooler temps than a warm farm snack, so we pulled out our apple peeler and set to work, preparing a delicious smelling and tasting batch of apple sauce upon arrival. Some Farm Sprouts mentioned the ease of purchasing apple sauce at the grocery store, yet experiences like this help them begin to understand the work that goes into the process of getting apple sauce from tree to the store shelves. We utilized a variety of apples, including Tollgate apples! Other welcome activities included voting for sunflower or pumpkin seeds, pounding pumpkins, visiting our soft bunnies, and working with wool, another natural item we enjoy exploring as the weather turns. Farm Sprouts felted bracelets and dyed them a rainbow of colors. We’ll have a few different keepsakes, such as these wooly bracelets, prepared for Farm Sprouts to take home next week.
Our large group gathering revolved around animal coverings as we think about how animals prepare for winter. We’ve been comparing and contrasting our people bodies with animal bodies. What covers us? Why do we have hair on our heads? What covers our animals? How do their coverings keep them healthy and strong? We can ask so many fibrous questions about our animals! We read the book, “Feathers and Hair: What Animals Wear” by Jennifer Ward. We only regret that the book is missing wool! Want to learn more about wool? Check out this video or resource.
Other experiences of the day included working as bakers in our sensory table, filled with flour, oil, and cooking utensils. Many pies, cakes, and other imaginative baked goods were served up! Farm Sprouts engaged with seed or stick art and had a ball with a favorite engineering activity, which we call “apple ramps and rolls.” For this, they maneuver tubes and troughs to roll apples through with the support of ladders, stools, and baskets for collecting. They also had the big job of pressing apples using another amazing simple machine, our cider press. Farm Sprouts are excited to enjoy cider for their snack next week after experiencing how it was done long ago.
In the Animal Barn, Farm Sprouts were able to get their hands on a sheep, enjoying the feel of digging their fingers into the thick, fleecy wool coats of one of our sheep. We visited with our Silver Appleyard ducks and many other animals as well, including our rabbits, chickens, and goats. We were able to see and feel how the oils on the ducks’ feathers and sheep wool helped repel water and keep them dry. One of our focus areas of the program is slowly developing comfort and awareness about how to safely and constructively interact with our animals. You’ve seen us progress from interacting with our smaller animals and focusing on just one species to spending time in our barn with many. We were busy in the barnyard, but did well applying much of what we learned to stay safe and think like scientists around our animals!
To conclude the day, we ate warm apple sauce and roasted pumpkin seeds, harvested by Farm Sprouts the week prior during our dissection. Roasted pumpkin seeds make for a simple and nutritious snack. For a recipe, visit here. A few minutes of physical activity and play in the straw maze was the perfect ending to a sweet week. See you all soon for our final week of the season!
“Teaching kids how to feed themselves and how to live in a community responsibly is the center of an education.” – Alice Waters