Field Trip to Hidden Villa

No matter how busy life is, I find myself jumping at any and all opportunities to volunteer on school field trips. Now that the girls are in their second semester of kindergarten, there is not a need for parent volunteers during normal school days anymore, because the kindergartners have grown to be much more independent than they were at the beginning of the year. Yes, one of those bittersweet moments…..watching our children spread their wings and ready to fly, yet, we so desire for them to need us just a bit longer…

A few weeks ago, there was a kindergarten field trip to Hidden Villa, an organic farm in Los Altos Hills. Both Mimi and I eagerly signed our names up as chaperones, and got to enjoy a wonderful morning with the girls and their classmates.

Excited to leave the classroom for their field trip!
Excited to leave the classroom for their field trip!

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Each parent chaperone gets assigned 3-4 students to be responsible for. This time, I got Bridgette and two of her good friends, Madeline and Roxie!
Each parent chaperone gets assigned 3-4 students to be responsible for. This time, I got Bridgette and two of her good friends, Madeline and Roxie!
The kids started off with a little snack to fuel their energy up
The kids started off with a little snack to fuel their energy up
It took some effort to get this big group photo of all the kindergarteners!
It took some effort to get this big group photo of all the kindergarteners!
Goofy faces!
Goofy faces!
Loved how the tour started with "circle time", where the docents helped the kids to let loose by some funny jokes, songs, and dances!
Loved how the tour started with “circle time”, where the docents helped the kids to let loose by some funny jokes, songs, and dances!

DSC_3713DSC_3715DSC_3719We split up into groups, and our docent, nicknamed Starshine, was fantastic. She definitely knew how to speak the kids’ language, and fed all of us an abundance of information on the animals we visited. She also had a keen eye, and often spotted interesting things to see in the nature, such as banana slugs.

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Petting the gentle sheep and goats inside the farm
Petting the gentle sheep inside the farm

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Bridgette has always been a bit timid around animals, so she insisted on staying by the gate in the beginning :)
Bridgette has always been a bit timid around animals, so she insisted on staying by the gate in the beginning 🙂
Starshine was really good about helping Bridge to become more comfortable around the animals
Starshine was really good about helping Bridge to become more comfortable around the animals
We went through the recycled garden, where the kids found it hilarious that toilets were used as planters
We went through the recycled garden, where the kids found it hilarious that toilets were used as planters
Learning where the cows are milked
Learning where the cows are milked

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Checking out the banana slugs
Checking out the banana slugs

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Petting the chickens
Petting the chickens

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Checking out the adorable baby chicks
Checking out the adorable baby chicks

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Watching the sleepy pigs
Watching the sleepy pigs

While we were outside the pig pens, we had a rather traumatic experience! One of the pigs woke up and started moving around his pen, probably in search for food. A not-so-smart chicken happened to be in the corner of the pen, hatching her single egg for the day. With one quick movement, the pig scared the chicken away and immediately gobbled down the egg. We watched in horror as the chicken tried to save her egg, but couldn’t. The kids kept asking if pig had eaten the chicken’s baby.

This poor chicken was probably as traumatized as we were!
This poor chicken was probably as traumatized as we were!

DSC_3805DSC_3809DSC_3810After visiting all the animals, we ended up in the organic garden, where we learned about the 6 plant parts–roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds.

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Starshine cutting up the freshly picked carrot for everyone to try
Starshine cutting up the freshly picked carrot for everyone to try
The kids gave the carrot a thumbs up!
The kids gave the carrot a thumbs up!

hiddenvilla9IMG_2739The tour ended with some dried persimmons for us to try, and it was by far the best dried fruit I’ve had. Since then, my sister and I have been searching high and low all over town for dried persimmons, and finally found them at the grocery store in Stanford Mall! 🙂

All in all, we enjoyed our visit to Hidden Villa tremendously. I love seeing the kids learn outside of the classroom, and look forward to chaperoning more field trips in the future…

 

 

 

 

 

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