Early Years’ Christmas Trip

King’s Hawford is a special place at this time of year and it has been a pleasure to see how excited the children are getting in the run up to the end of term. As a treat children in Kindergarten 2 and Reception have enjoyed Christmas outings over the last week. Last Friday pupils from Kindergarten 2 donned the school bibs and boarded the school minibuses for a short trip down the A449 to Little Owl Farm Park. On Wednesday Reception children got to repeat to follow in their footsteps!

Kindergarten was a buzz with excitement ahead of the trip, for many this was their first off-site trip and their first journey in a school minibus! The children spent time exploring the Farm Park over the course of the day. They enjoyed spending time in the Soft Play Barn, the Petting Barns and made the most of the dry weather venturing to the top fields to see the animals and have a go on the go-karts (ably assisted where needed by the members of staff).

The highlight of the day for the children was of course meeting Santa and his elves in the Grotto! Santa spent time talking with each of the children before they were able to choose a present from the present grotto. It was a long day for many of the children but the excitement got them through!

On Wednesday of this week it was the turn of our Reception children. Thanks to Storm Barra the weather conditions weren’t the best on the day but that did not dampen the excitement of the 23 Reception children! After Miss Willis had loaded the packed lunches on to the bus it was time to depart.

On arrival at Little Owl Farm Park the children headed straight for the relatively warm soft play centre. The children (and the accompanying staff members) enjoyed exploring the Play Barn. The slides proved very popular with the children (and the staff).

After warming up in the soft play and burning off some energy the group headed across to the Petting Barn. Here the children enjoyed a small animal encounter which involved taking it in turns to stroke a variety of small animals. These included a guinea pig, a goat and a bunny rabbit. After the encounter the children spent time looking at the other animals in the Petting Barn.

On leaving the Petting Barn the children tucked into their packed lunches and looked back on their morning’s activities. Following their lunch the children excitedly headed across to the meerkat enclosure where they watched the meerkats have their lunch. The children had plenty of questions for the keeper and amused the adults in the group with their inquisitiveness.

Next up it was time to head to Santa’s Grotto! The excitement by this stage was indescribable. When we arrived in The Grotto we were greeted by Snowball the Elf! She helped the children warm up with an energetic dance and calmed any nerves before they headed further into The Grotto to meet the big man himself!

The children were almost lost for words on meeting Santa but quickly recovered their composure as Santa asked them all whether they had been good boys and girls. They each then got the opportunity to tell Santa what they would like for Christmas. It was then time to explore the present grotto where each child could select one present to take home with them!

Once the all important present decisions had been made the children spent time decorating gingerbread biscuits. With home time beckoning there was just enough time for a final visit to the Soft Play Barn and a snowball disco!

It is safe to say that all of the children thoroughly enjoyed their festive trip.