EYFS visit Tyland Barn

On Tuesday 7th July the EYFS visited Tyland Barn Nature Reserve for our very first school trip! We had such an excellent day and the children were a real credit to East Farleigh Primary School. Here's what we got up to...

Undoubtedly one of the things the children were most excited about was the coach trip! They were fantastic at walking down the hill and enjoyed looking out the window on our journey. When we arrived we met with our instructors for the day, Sarah and Vanessa, and had an introductory talk about the conservational work that happens at Tyland Barn.

EYFS Trip - travelling

After this it was time for our first activity - Pond Dipping! Sarah gave us a safety talk and we discussed some of the things we might find in the water before we split off into groups to go hunting! We collected many different things including a LOT of snails! When we had finished we got to look under a microscope at some of our finds including: water boatmen, little fish, pond snails and damsel fly nymphs!

EYFS Trip - pond dipping

After a wonderful morning Pond Dipping it was time for some lunch! For some, it was their first time having a packed lunch and with this brought a whole new wave of excitement! Once they'd eaten, the children had the oportunity to explore the area and we finished off with a deliciously cool ice lolly in the shade!

EYFS Trip - lunch and lollies!

In the afternoon we split into two groups for the activities, the first was exploring the natural play area inlcuding mud kitchen and den role play areas.

EYFS Trip - Playing

The second activity was fire starting, which was a first for most of the children. Sarah taught us how to use a flint to create sparks to start fires and we all got to have a go! We were first taught about fire safety and how to use the flint carefully and sensibly. We used cotton pads and turned them into 'bunny ears' ensuring the fluffy centre was showing ready to catch the sparks! Once this was done we stood in our safety position and all had a go at creating sparks to make our cotton pads catch fire! When the fire had gone out the grown ups popped them in a bucket of water. Great fun was had by all!

EYFS Trip - Fire Starting

We had a brilliant day at Tyland Barn, I was so proud of the children's confidence to try new activities. They were so incredibly well behaved and polite to the staff there, they were a pleasure to take out for the day and I hope we made some wonderful memories on their very first school trip :)