Gaver Farm Kindergarten Trip

My youngest son's kindergarten class went on a field trip to Gaver Farm in Maryland. The day was overcast and started cold but warmed up nicely by the afternoon. We arrived with the admonitions to keep our groups together (each chaperone had three or four children) and not to buy anything at the gift shop. Sadly, that also included buying things at the Donut Hut, which looked like the most awesome shop ever.

No purchases today!

First we took a hay ride to pick out pumpkins. My son was a little disappointed that the cart that was not full of hay. The ride was fun nonetheless. We saw pumpkin fields and Christmas tree fields as we rode along.

Hayless hay ride

The big group split up. I had three boys to take around. The farm has all sorts of fun activities that my little cadre of boys enjoyed.

The shortest tunnel ever

A duck race had the boys hand pumping water to move rubber duckies down a rain gutter. The gutters were arranged so that pumps were on both sides. Thus the boys were constantly feeding ducks to each other.

Pumping for fun

Nearby, some goats and alpacas watched without much interest.

Animals on the farm!

My son enjoyed trying to toss rings onto various fruits. He was not very good but did have a good time.

Ring toss

A fire truck converted into slides sat at the bottom of the hill. The boys enjoyed climbing up and sliding down. One side had straight slides, the other corkscrew slides. The only real disappointment with the fire truck was that they couldn't get in and sit behind the steering wheel.

Straight slides

Corkscrew slides

Hose controls outside the cab

Another ring toss simulated lassoing a horse.

Hula hoops or horse wrangling?

They rode on a cow made out of metal containers. They needed boosts but also loved jumping down.

Simulated cow

Another set of slides was attached to a boat. The boys had fun playing captain and pretending the ship was attacked by monsters (aka chaperones like me).

Boat

We walked back up the hill to have lunch. After picnicking, we saw some goats who really wanted us to feed them. Luckily, the "no shopping" restriction was a good excuse not to buy any feed for the critters.

Not always hungry but always ready to eat something

A small graveyard, with tombs dating back to the 1800s, is in the middle of the farm. The kindergartners didn't notice, which was probably a good thing.

A small cemetery

One big attraction at the farm is the corn maze. We went in with enthusiasm. I soon had to establish a turn-based system for deciding which way to go. Every fork in the path was a chance for the next boy to choose a direction. After about ten minutes, the boys were less enthusiastic. In another two minutes, we were picking the path that led us toward the noise of kids playing. Eventually, we had to bushwhack out of the maze. We came across a path that wasn't the exit but that did get us out of the corn.

Paying no attention to the sign

Which way to go?

We did some more activities, including shooting some hoops and riding some tricycles.

That bike is too big!

The day went by quickly. We didn't have the chance to try the big slides because they were still too wet from the previous night's rain. We did make it back to the buses on time and even managed to pick up our pumpkins to take home.

The pumpkin