A lamb visitor

Today, my manager invited a special guest to bring one a lamb from her farmyard to show to the children. The children really liked it. They had so much fun with it. They were asked to sit in a circle and that they will get to take turns to pat the lamb. Gonzalez-Mena (1998) mentions that, “we should encourage sharing and taking turns….most comply with an adult’s requests more often than not” (p. 326).  

The teachers started patting the lamb first, to show the children that it is okay to pat the lamb. MacNaughton and Williams (2004) states that “showing children how to do something can be the most effective to assist learning. In general, demonstration can be used to teach children how to do something….when support or encouragement will assist with success or perservance” (p. 56). Some of the children were a bit afraid of touching him but other children was excited about patting the lamb when it was going to be their turn. For the children who was afraid, I asked them if they wanted to pat the lamb together so that they could still have another try at patting the lamb. A few more children agreed and we patted the lamb together. The lamb is very soft and cute. (He had a coat on him and at the beginning, he was a little afraid of letting the children pat him but when he got use to it, he was walking around the children and letting some of the children hug him.) I think that this was a good experience for the children as the “children develop increasing control over their bodies, locomotor skills, non-locomotor skills, manipulative skills…co-ordination” (The Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 86).

When all the children got their turn to pat the lamb, the special guest asked one of the teachers to feed it some milk. We got to see the lamb drinking the milk. The children found it quite funny as it drank quite fast and it wanted to jump at the same time.

After when the lamb was feed, the children were asked to make space for the lamb to work pass them. When the lamb got space, the lamb started walking off. It walked around the playground and the children followed. They were very excited and interested in looking at the lamb. When the lamb walked into a corner, the children crowded the lamb and they all wanted to pat the lamb again. I think that at this area, “children develop confidence with moving in space….playing near and with others” (The Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 86).  

When it was time for the lamb to go, most of the children began to miss the lamb already. But some of the children came and talked to me about the lamb. I asked them questions about what they enjoyed and what they liked about the lamb. They thought about it and some said they think the lamb was very soft, a few of the children said that the lamb was very funny. But overall, I think the children really enjoyed having the special guest and the lamb coming over to visit. It was a great and fun experience for everyone.