St Hilda’s Nursery Harpenden, Outing to Hatfield Mill

We were so excited for our first outing in a coach. When we were all ready we boarded the coach and set off for Hatfield. On the way we spotted goats, cows, horses and ducks and really enjoyed the journey. On arrival we met Nick who gave us a safety talk so we knew how to keep ourselves safe, whilst having lots of fun at the Mill. We then had a yummy snack and were ready for our first activity.

Nick read us the story ‘Little Red Hen’ and we learnt how wheat takes 200 days to grow before it is cut, the grain removed and then milled to make flour. We thought that the animals in the story were unkind to little red hen and were not surprised when she wouldn’t let them share her bread at the end. We thought that it would have been better to have worked as a team to make the flour and eat the bread. We then ordered the characters in the story by number and recognised the letters on them which we blended to say ‘Friends’. Well done Nursery.

We then moved into two groups. One group went off to make their bread whilst the other group worked in teams to make toy cogs turn together, investigated how grain felt, and worked as a team to roll a tray across the room. The group making the bread firstly had to wash their hands and then put on aprons and hats. We thought about the ingredients that were needed and then mixed together the flour, salt, yeast and water. We all had a piece of dough to roll and shape into a small cottage roll.

Once we’d all made our yummy bread and played with the teamwork activities we took it in turns to meet the Miller and see the river flowing under the Mill to make the millstones turn and grind the wheat into flour. We loved the rushing noise of the water as the water wheel turned round and around. We then went to make some paper flowers using tissue paper, pens and coloured paper. We had great fun and made some beautiful flowers.

We still had two more exciting activities to complete before our yummy picnic lunch. We planted cress seeds and then made a flower seed bomb. It was a mucky job mixing the soil with flour and water, then squeezing it into a ball, flattening it out and then putting the wildflower seeds in the middle before rolling it into a sausage. When it dries out a little in a couple of days we can throw it into the garden and hopefully a mini wild garden will grow.

Then came a really exciting bit of the day, our picnic lunch. We were so hungry and tucked into our picnics. We had lots of treats in them which were well deserved after our busy day.

Finally, we said our ‘thank yous’ to Nick and his team and took the coach back to school.  No one fell asleep on the coach which was surprising after such a busy day.

Well done Nursery, you were fabulous today and we are all so proud of you. Sleep well tonight!