Autumn Harvest Festival

One of the many things that I love about Grace's pre-school and school is the festivals that they celebrate. It's a lovely time for families to get together, and be involved in the school community and for the children to have enriching experiences.

Last week we got to celebrate the Autumn harvest. There was a list of ingredients, and families were asked to choose one to bring along. Duane picked Grace up that day, and chose the sour cream. Now sounds like an easy task, but I was a little concerned that I would be stuck looking for "organic, free-range, hand-milked sour cream that only came from happy cows" Turns out any would be fine, so off to the shops to find 2 large tubs of sour cream.

On the day of the festival, we all headed up to the pre-school at 3.30pm. We had been told to bring along our picnic baskets and blankets so that all the families could enjoy the harvest meal together outside.

The kids all had a great time running around the yard and playing. Grace loved showing Xav off to all her friends, "This is my brother Xavier", she would tell everyone so excitedly. They'd then run off and play together in the sandpit, on the swings or in the tree house.

As the sun started to set behind the beautiful hinterland, everyone gathered together in a large circle for some singing. The kids led the way, singing songs loudly that they had obviously been practicing for the festival. We all were then asked to tip-toe inside and find a nice comfy spot, and Miss Christine would tell a story. Miss Amanda sung a song about story time, a candle was lit and then Miss Christine revealed a table full of Autumn things. She retold a beautiful Autumn story that the kids had been learning over the past weeks about a bulb who was looking for the perfect place to rest.

After the story we all headed outside to get all the food ready. There were 4 tables set up and on each table were different foods that had to be prepared. Each family was asked to go around each table and start the preparation of the foods. The kids were all eager to have a go, their excitement was gorgeous! Hands were washed and dried, then straight to work.

The first activity we did was to squeeze the orange juice. Grace & Xav both loved it and were awesome little juicers, getting out as much as they could from each orange.

Next was scrubbing the potatoes.

Then the pumpkin had to be cut up:


And lastly all the bread had to be buttered:

All the kids loved being involved in the preparation of the food. You could see the satisfaction in their faces as they filled the large jug with orange juice, as they carefully scrubbed the dirt off the potatoes, as each piece of pumpkin was delicately diced and as each piece of bread was buttered.

After everything was prepared a large table was set up with all the food. Each family took in turns going up to get their meal. We all then sat down on our picnic rugs happily drinking the freshly squeezed orange juice and dipping freshly buttered bread into our steaming hot pumpkin soup with a dash of sour cream on top.

It was a beautiful afternoon and and a great chance to meet up with all the other families outside of the pick-up and drop-off times.