New children at Village Kids?

Today we created some new friends.
Louise saved all the egg shells for the last few weeks and brought some cress seeds in the shopping for Bex and today she made 'cress heads' with the children.
First Laura and Bex drew faces on the egg shells. Then we put wet cotton balls in the egg shells and sprinkled the seeds onto the wet cotton wool.
We placed them in the sun so they would grow! Hopefully they will grow quickly so check in each day to follow the progress.

Puff Painting - 03 May 2011

This morning Bex came to work rather excited about an art idea she had! "We could do puff painting with the children!"
What a fantastic idea! We looked on the internet for the recipe and then talked about the process and how the children could be part of the whole process.
Bex mixed up the paint and we got some paper. We also put the microwave on a small table so the children could be part of the whole process.
The children loved to dot the paint onto the paper then take it to Sandy to put in the microwave. Holly loved to open the door for the paintings to in the microwave.





When Sandy turned the microwave on, the children stood back and watched the paintings go round and round and puff up! It was so exciting!
The puffy creations were awesome - we have to do this activity again soon!

Welcome Sandy!

We have a new staff member on our team - Sandy!
Sandy has experience with children, mainly working with children with special needs and relieving in kindergartens.
Sandy also has a background in chefing!
I know you will all help us making her feel welcome in the Moreporks!

Teddy Bear's Picnic

Last Thursday was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for our Teddy Bear's picnic. The whole centre and a few helpful parents took a drive over to the park on the Marine Parade in Napier.
The children were very excited as they belted up in the cars with their teddies. Once there their expressions were priceless when they saw the playground.

Everyone had a blast. The children loved the playground, and it was great that we were fenced in. As you can see in the photos the children loved climbing up the steps, the swings, the tunnel and the giant abacus and naughts and crosses. The big hit of the day was the blue slide and the seagulls. The seagulls hung around trying to get a taste of our delicious baked goods but were chased away by the children. The children thought this was hilarious and alot of fun, it was gorgeous to watch.

Louise had been busy the day before baking treats for our picnic. When it came to morning tea the children sat on picnic rugs with their teddies and had a feast. There was cakes and cookies, fruit and tea and scones for the parents. Not only were we here for a teddy bears picnic but it was a special day for our friend Jack. He turned 2!!! So to celebrate mum baked a delicious chocolate cake to share with all of us. Thanks Jack's mum and to all our lovely parent helpers for spending a day at the park with us :)

Meet and Greet

Last night we had a meet and greet at the centre. It was great to spend time with some of our parents in a relaxed environment.
As well as chatting, we started some mosaics that we will put into our outdoor environment when it is completed.
Here are some photos of last nights efforts! Feel free to drop in and add to the mosaics so we can finish them!

Children's Day

The Morepork's playground improvements!!!

Our playground, while awesome and natural, has been a blank canvas! We started to think about what we could incorporate into the outdoor area to enhance it and give the children an awesome, natural, more tactile area.

Paul had a plan and we liked it! So Paul began to build. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to our lemon tree but we are excited about the new garden that will take its place.

Watch this space for daily updates on our playground progress.

What's in our egg? Day 8 (14th March)

When we got to Village Kids this morning we checked our crocodile and guess what we saw?!

Our crocodile was so big but his foot was still stuck in his egg so we gave the egg a little shake and our crocodile floated right on out!

We all had a feel of the shell and we looked at the patterns inside the egg.
We all had a feel of the crocodile's back to see what he felt like. It was bumpy and hard.


Amelia and I measured our crocodile and he was 11cm long. I wonder how long he will be tomorrow?

It was really cool to see how gentle the children were when they touched the crocodile. They are understanding how to care for creatures in the environment.

We need to give our crocodile a name, I wonder what the children will decide on? Watch this space in the next few days for the children's decision.

What's in our egg? Day 5 (11th March)

There was not much change in our egg today! I think we may have to help him out of his shell so he can grow properly now.

Amelia was so good at listening to instructions and looking with her eyes. I explained that we had to be very careful and gentle with the crocodile as he was still so little! I gave each Amelia and Hannah some of the shell to touch and feel.




Hannah thought the crocodile was cool too but she didn't like the feel of the shell. Amelia rubbed the shell between her fingers and broke her piece in two, which illustrated how soft and fragile the shell was.


Lilly and William were curious but was okay just to look.



It was great to see the children being gentle with the crocodile and his shell. It is further reiterating to the children how to care for the creatures in our environment.

What's in our egg? Day 4 (10th March)

Look how our crocodile has grown!