Hello, I hope you all had a lovely Easter and didn’t eat too much chocolate! This week has been great to meet our new children whether they have moved down from the Hive or they are new into Free Rangers altogether. I decided this week would be a great week to start bug hunting. It’s been great to see all the bugs slowly re-appearing over the spring.
We had our snack in the cabin followed by our rules as we normally do. This week our main focus has been on our bug rule which we say “we must look after our bugs”. Luckily here the children told me it wouldn’t be a good idea to stand on the bugs but instead I must wave at them and say hello (phew).
We started our hunt at some flat wood which is very dark and damp for our bugs. We lifted this up to reveal all the fast moving woodlice and slow moving slugs. When looking at the bugs I had to refrain myself from calling woodlice chucky-pigs (this is what I have called them from a young age. I blame my mum!) The children pointed out all the bugs and used words to communicate what they were, “look, it’s a spider.’
As we wondered around the paddock the children showed me where we could look under next. I couldn’t believe the amount of logs and planks of wood I found myself lifting, however it was all worth it. We lifted several logs all piled on each other and under the last one we found a tiny newt. It stayed still to pretend it was dead but myself and the children could see it blinking. How amazing for our toddlers to maybe see their first ever newt in our paddock at Free Rangers.
The bug hunt was rounded up at the corrugated sheets. Here we all know what things live under the sheets and it is very exciting. Under the first sheet we would find a slow worm. Every time we lifted it up I’m sure they thought to themselves “oh here they are again” but the children loved it. Watching them slowly moving and slithering off into the grass was great to see. Under the second sheet we saw some mice. On one day we didn’t think the mouse was there until Nic spotted the bed moving and before we knew it out popped a tiny mouse. Very cute. The children were amazed at the mouse but unfortunately they move a little quicker than the slow worm, and so it dashed off.
I reminded the children of all the things we had found and asked them what they had enjoyed finding. Once we had seen the slow worm and mouse the children would have forgotten about any other bugs (I don’t blame them, it’s not often you see them.)
What a lovely week, I look forward to spending more time bug hunting next week.
Thanks for reading,
Lauren