PS1  learn about animal care and the relationship between  humans and animals.

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  • Post category:Preschool

The PS1  visited the Petting zoo at Japalouppe on Friday 9th February, as a part of their unit of Inquiry ‘Sharing the planet’. This was to deepen their understanding of their environment and the animals who are closely associated with us in our daily lives.

 

We started our bus ride at 8:45 to Japalouppe, with a bus full of excited children who had been looking forward to the trip and waiting patiently to visit the animals. Some of the children had some experience interacting with animals, whereas, others were eager to meet the animals. As soon as we got off our buses, we were greeted with horses and ponies of different sizes and colours who were getting ready for the horse show that was happening that day.

The children had their snack  on arrival and were introduced to an old dog. They were each given a bucket which consisted of carrot, bread and cabbage cut into strips so that that they  could feed the animals. We started by feeding the love birds and parrots with bread. This was followed by visiting and feeding more animals at the zoo. The horses, emus, goats, cow, pig and rabbit were fed cabbage and carrot sticks while the ducks, geese, turtles and chicken were fed pieces of bread by our very enthusiastic feeders.

The opportunity to pet and interact with the rabbits,  kid and the guinea pig was enjoyed immensely, especially by some of the children who were initially anxious being  close to the animals.They were risk takers as they petted and fed the animals despite their inhibitions.

We spent the last few minutes with a little Afghan Hound puppy who was very excited to be with the children.

It was a wonderfully engaging trip which encouraged the children to be curious, respectful and appreciative of animals. It also helped the children understand our responsibility towards animals who play an important part in our lives.