Science World and Creekside Development Centre have enjoyed a blossoming relationship over the past few months thanks to the opening of our Ken Spencer Science Park and thanks to our Early Learning Specialist, Jacki Mayo, who usually runs our Big Science for Little Hands program but in this case has also designed specialty programs for Creekside’s 3–5 year olds.
The daycare students visit weekly and have loved their Science Park outings from the get go. The first thing they connected with was the chickens. The children learned about our chicken coop and the habits of the chickens, including their egg-laying. Not only did the children get to see and touch freshly laid warm eggs, but they also got to feed the chickens with rye seeds and grass.
On another visit, Creekside’s preschoolers got to plant radishes in some biodegradable planters (you can try making some at home). Once the seedlings had grown a little, Jacki gave the returning preschoolers magnifying glasses and stick rulers to measure and learn more about the growing plants. The students took their little plants, magnifying glasses and rulers to their classroom to keep the observations going.
Another ongoing activity that was designed for the Creekside group was a garden bed in which they planted a row of plants each week. The idea was that the children could observe and compare the various growing stages of a plant as each week progressed. We placed an owl statue on the planter to watch over the seeds and seedlings and protect them from birds (particularly the smart crows who were watching us do the planting!).
Come and visit the Ken Spencer Science Park before the end of the summer, and check out the plaque explaining the specialty lettuce bed that is dedicated to the Creekside preschoolers. The children will continue to observe the growing plants, compare the growth stages, care for their plants and hopefully help with our fall plantings too!