That was how one of our little ones summed up our day at the farm!

We have had a WONDERFUL day and we want to say a massive thank you to Aidy, our superb guide, who looked after us, kept us safe and shared his knowledge of all the animals on this working farm.

The day was made even more special as not only did the children have their lovely key people there to spend the day with, they were also joined by Laura (who is currently on maternity leave) and Eliza and as she’d spent so much time caring for them in Free-Flow beforehand it was great she could share in their special day making memories together before it is time to leave Jollies ready for school journeys to begin.

From seeing Izzy and Wizzy the meerkats and finding out they get a mouse and an egg for breakfast (they like to break the shell to get the yolk out apparently!), stroking Tiger (the rabbit) and Cutie Eyes (the Guinea pig), feeding the ravenous lambs… we loved seeing their tails wagging with joy as they guzzled their milk bottles down, feeding the carrots to all the animals in the paddocks was amazing too and we had our best ‘flat hands’ so we didn’t get nibbled fingers!

They made us giggle as they tickled our hands as they took the carrots from them and quite a few left us covered in slimy saliva It was ok though as our children knew the drill and we washed our hands constantly after touching and feeding the animals (as we’d listened to Aidy VERY carefully!) and we knew not to rub our eyes or put our hands in our mouths either.

We loved seeing the calves and the lambs and the piglets too…. Everywhere we looked it was fascinating and the farm was just awesome!

Swithens Farm also has some excellent play areas which we made sure to make use of; we especially loved the soft play, trampolines, tractors and the beach!!

Before catching the bus back to Jollies we popped into the farm shop and chose a toy to spend our pennies on…

Our children adored their BIG school leavers treat day and Aidy said they should be so very proud of themselves as they’d been AMAZING and had been a credit to Jollies

Thank you guys for a simply fabulous day at the farm!!! xxxx

It’s a mint eating dinosaur?!?!

When Elise went outside with her children they made a dinosaur touch and smell sensory tray together… They got some bark for the dinosaurs to stomp over and through and they picked some mint leaves for the dinosaurs to eat and for the children to smell too; as they loved the smells created when the leaves were rubbed and sniffed!

The children found it hilarious when they were feeding the leaves to the dinosaurs and it seemed that they were all refuelled after their feast as their stomping and roaring escalated as they ended up leaving their tray when they explored the whole garden terrain!! Xxxx

Sensory ways and dinosaur days spent playing here at Jollies… xxxx

Another lovely session on the story bus with Sally and co. Some fabulous actions and joining in with the stories and singing before we read our own choice of books in the hidey holes!

Possums have been training to be top gardeners in our Jolly garden recently…They have been busy learning about looking after our environment by watering the plants around our garden!

Natalie kept on filling up the watering cans and instructing her little ones about what to do and they all did a smashing job giving our plants a good old drink… We think we can safely say our children love gardening in Possums!!!! We think their mummies and daddies will be finding they’ve got some super helpers for in their gardens at home… xxxx

Free-Flow we’re playing outside with Emily when they discovered a worm! They took time to observe closely together and they noticed how long he was and how much he wriggled around.

One of the children placed a small twig in front of him and Emily commented and asked, “I wonder if he will go underneath, or on top of, the twig? ….. What do you think?”

This got our children pondering and they waited patiently and watched very closely and found that the worm went underneath their twig! “He’s super worm!!” one little one announced!

Another child then placed a second twig and asked their friends, “Do you think the worm will go underneath or on top of the twig?” They unanimously shouted “Underneath!” as the worm slowly wiggled its way under the twig. The children were just so excited by the wriggly wiggly worm’s antics and they shouted, “Emily! Look Emily! He is going underneath the twig”.

We like to take every opportunity gifted to us to enhance our children’s learning and understanding and Emily used this chance to focus upon some positional language and developed their conversation further in a very natural way.

Fascinating observation of nature ways and wriggly worm inspired days spent discussing together here at Jollies xxxx

(and gets the ducks onto a ‘boat’ too!)

Stephen closely observed some great teamwork going on recently in the water area within Free-Flow! This busy, focused group of collaborating friends were helping each other to get the ‘ducks on the boats’ enabling them to travel swimmingly down the plastic drainpipes! But how would this work?! How could they get them to travel in the quickest, smoothest, most effective way possible?! Lots of problem solving and critical thinking skills were called upon…

Of course… let’s help each other to pour and fill with the various jugs, buckets and containers to create LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of water, to throw down the tubes and help those ducks swim, swim, swim!

It’s amazing when a team comes together to achieve their self-selected task and complete a desired shared goal so successfully! Xxxx

make learning journeys possible and help our children to thrive… although that time of year is coming up when we have to begin to say goodbye to our BIG school leavers and it’s a real wrench to let them go as we’ve known and cared for them since they were tiny!!

Getting ready to spread their wings and fly… but us Jolly grown ups will have a tear in our eye….

Xxxx

a partner in crime!!!!

Friendships make our hearts smile here at Jollies… xxxx

Free Flow love roleplay!!! That’s definitely not a secret here at Jollies… There’s nothing they like more than putting on one of our masks and pretending to be Spiderman, Batman or basically any other superhero they can think of.

Recently one of the children asked if they could make their own mask, and not long after that ALL the children wanted to do this!

So that’s exactly what they did with Jess… their wish was her command!!! Our children had so much fun making their masks and they were so excited they could wear them and role-play until their hearts were content xxxx

Bob the Builder… Yes we can!! Cheeky Monkeys have enjoyed using the Bob the Builder play set to scoop and pour the green sand. Throughout this activity they worked upon their colour recognition as they chatted about, and passed each other, the different vehicles and construction items and they also focused upon their fine motor skills too as they transported the sand in a careful, coordinated way!

Master builders are what we have here at Jollies!! xxxx