Our final day of this terms outdoor kindy week was a lovely day.  Some parents and siblings joined us around the fire this morning.

The air was cool and the fire attracted children on and off during the day, warming themselves as they decided on what they might play next.

The day was filled with rich, authentic play experiences, and lots of food!

Floral citrus creations were on the menu in muddy puddles kitchen….

Real life skills were practiced such as cooking buttering and eating fruit toast….

The wait was on to see who found the first egg of the day, and then getting to make that into egg in a hole…

Sweet, warm cups of milo were made to share with everyone….

Children problem solved getting from one side of the yard to the other without touching the ground…

There was the simple joy of splashing in the watercourse accompanied with squeals of delight as the droplets of cold water splashed up legs and onto bare skin….

Some took to quiet almost meditative activities such as drawing in a tray of sand…

The sandpit was filled with an enthusiastic group of workers who build tracks, islands, roads and decorated the lot in preparation for an upcoming wedding….

and the discovery of dinosaur footprints that were made and buried by children last year….

Amazing creativity was shown by children as they worked hard to create multi media masterpieces…

One of our favourite fireside activities, stick wrapping, was used to create some more decorations to add to the fairy garden….

Just before lunch we were lucky enough to have Mr North join us around the campfire with his guitar.   He sang with us and also told us an aboriginal story that had been taught to him when he worked in the north of the state…

It was a small group of children, and since we had so many staff available Janice and I decided to create a cooked lunch on the fire for everyone.  This group of children had requested we cook steak, chicken and bacon, so we already had these available.  Someone had bought in a leek for the soup, along with some of the stock we made yesterday and some thyme from the garden, it made the perfect base for a creamy pot of chicken, leek and bacon.  We also cooked up the soup, bacon, sausages, marinated steak, baked potatoes and pumpkin and served it all with bread and butter.

One of our families bought in a box of apples, so they were cored, stuffed with butter and sultanas, sprinkled with cinnamon, wrapped in foil and baked in the fire….

The final experience of the day was of course cooking marshmallows.  Today Katie & Janice seemed to be in competition to see how many they could get one each stick for the children to cook….

Everyone headed off smiling and exhausted for a good nights sleep.