Nature Kindergarten

Our children in Nature Kindergarten have been foraging the Wild Garlic that grows in their forest and using it to make their own pesto. The children were part of every step of the process, from foraging the leaves, washing them, chopping them, mixing the other ingredients and blending it all together. These experiences support the children in strengthening their connection to nature and learning about food processing 💚

Our children in Nature Kindergarten enjoyed inviting their families into the forest to take part in an egg-cellent treasure hunt to celebrate Easter. Since the children have been learning a lot about the birds in their environment, we challenged their knowledge to complete the treasure hunt so that they could share their learning with their families 🐰❤️

Our adventure bees usually take turns to go home with our Nature Kindergarten children at the weekends to experience their ‘family days’, but recently Santa collected them from the forest and brought them on an adventure of their own to the North Pole!

They shared daily updates with the children (via their elf) of all the things they got up to on their adventure, including meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus, playing in the snow, seeing the Northern Lights and meeting Santa’s reindeer. What an amazing adventure!!!

Huge thank you to everyone who has voted for us so far in the Best Creche category in the Mums & Tots awards ❤️

We're reaching out to all our families and teams, both past and present and asking you to please vote for us if you haven't done so already 👍

To vote follow the link below, select 'Product Voting' and click Park Academy👇

www.mumsandtots.ie/awards/

Voting closes tomorrow, thank you 🤞

Froebel said that "to climb a tree is for a child to discover a new world" ❤️

Our Nature Kindergarten children love to climb trees and see their environment from a completely different perspective. As well as the many physical benefits it provides, climbing also affords children the opportunity to build their self confidence and resilience, assess risk and problem solve.

In our Nature Kindergarten our children have been learning how to make Mandalas using the natural materials found in the forest. In Hindu/Buddhist practice, the circular symbol represents the universe and serves as a reminder that life is continuous. Making Mandalas is a great way for our children to practice mindfulness, connect with nature, as well as exploring shape, patterns, sequence and textures.

Recently in our Nature Kindergarten, our children escaped the forest and explored 'Under The Sea'. They made jellyfish, painted sea creatures, learned about the ecology of seaweed and played a dolphin echolocation game. To finish off their exploration the children were challenged to a pirate inspired treasure hunt, solving clues and finding pieces of map to put together and discover where the treasure was hidden.

In our Nature Kindergarten, we enjoy observing lots of different birds, animals and bugs in our forest, but this summer we had some extra special animal visitors to observe, learn about and even hold. Our children could hardly contain their excitement at meeting alpacas, lifting a snake and holding a scorpion, a tarantula, and a chameleon. We're very grateful for these new opportunities from Daves's Jungle and K2Alpacas 🐍

Recently in our Nature Kindergarten, our children celebrated all things Space by creating their very own space cinema in the forest. They projected the milky way and stars inside of it and our children watched a video of a real astronaut giving a tour of the International Space Station. Afterwards another astronaut in space read the story "If I were an astronaut" by Eric Braun 🚀