Hillside pupils meet new furry and feathered friends
HILLSIDE DAY NURSERY pupils loved having a surprise visit from Shadow the rabbit and two orphaned ducklings.
Usually chicken eggs are incubated ahead of Easter to learn about life cycles, but last year’s brood hatched as the first lockdown began.
This was an extra special treat to compensate for last year.
Three-year-olds Oliver Felbabel, Blossom Travers, Faith Sarre and Finley Shephard particularly loved meeting their new furry and feathered friends.
Faith said: ‘I liked it when the rabbit hopped everywhere in its cage. I don’t have any at home. I do have two dogs, called Chaz and Dave.’
Blossom said: ‘I have a cat called Arnie. I’d never held a duckling before.’
Nursery owner Sharon Coffell said the children were thrilled to be back seeing their friends again.
‘We want them to have the best time before going into big school.’
Since waiting is difficult at a young age, children found out on the day that they had surprise visitors.
‘These ducklings were orphaned and we thought to have them in for two days so all our children can learn about them and watch them swim. Someone called them Daisy and Donald on Thursday, but they are two girls so we have Daisy and Tulip.’
Mrs Coffell also runs Maylands Day Nursery and children from there came to see Shadow, Daisy and Tulip.
‘These months are all about learning life cycles and growth. We are holding a sunflower competition and everyone gets a prize for trying. We’re also growing violas, primulas, peas, veg and herbs. It’s all about helping the children grow and develop and to learn responsibility for other living things.’
Chicks are due to hatch on 20 April. ‘Which means all the children can see them hatch and grow from being a day old. They grow really quite quickly – all of a sudden the next day they’re all fluffy. We keep them here as long as we can and then they join my chickens at home.’
When incubating eggs previously, children and staff were fascinated to learn that chicks cheep to each other before hatching.
Mrs Gordon takes the chicks home overnight to look after and Shadow belongs to Ms Chalker. Daisy and Tulip were adopted by a farmer who supplies the eggs to incubate.
Pictures were taken to show parents and many other Easter-themed creations were made.
