A trip to the Butterfly and Insect Park at Sentosa
Last Tuesday, I took the kids to the Butterfly and Insect Park at Sentosa as a follow-up to our insects theme. While the place was quite run-down (I don't understand why with the high entrance fee but I guess they don't get much traffic), the children enjoyed looking at the yucky (to me : )) bugs and butterflies flying freely in the closure. My sons particularly liked the beetles (because they are good fighters) and Ihsan of course loves to point out the dung beetles.
Be careful when you climb up the treehouse, Sarah took a tumble and had to be calmed down quite a bit. (She's fine btw). The children were also mesmerised by the leaf and stick insects. I did not really get into the facts about insects (as I don't usually on such learning trips) and just let them be in awe of what they witnessed and maybe throw in a fact or two here and there in passing.
The next day, in culmination of the continued reading of Gruffalo in the car and at home, I had the kids draw their favourite insect that they saw at the park and write a description on the insect along the lines of how the Gruffalo was described. I had the idea when the boys started describing each other the same way in the car when we were heading out for the park.
Here is Ihsan's rendition of the Hercules Rhino Beetle/ Dynastes Hercules:
He had terrible tusks,
and terrible claws,
and he sucks his food with his mouth,
in his jaws
He has six knees,
and 12 toes,
and a very, very short nose
He has no tongue,
his eyes are black,
and he has spotches all over his back.
So, you can encourage your kids to do the same. It can be anything you are doing now; they can describe their friends' quirks, their pets, their favourite things. It can also be used to describe their fears and maybe help them overcome them when they put things in perspective, just like how mouse overcame those who wanted to prey on him in the book.
Be careful when you climb up the treehouse, Sarah took a tumble and had to be calmed down quite a bit. (She's fine btw). The children were also mesmerised by the leaf and stick insects. I did not really get into the facts about insects (as I don't usually on such learning trips) and just let them be in awe of what they witnessed and maybe throw in a fact or two here and there in passing.
The next day, in culmination of the continued reading of Gruffalo in the car and at home, I had the kids draw their favourite insect that they saw at the park and write a description on the insect along the lines of how the Gruffalo was described. I had the idea when the boys started describing each other the same way in the car when we were heading out for the park.
Here is Ihsan's rendition of the Hercules Rhino Beetle/ Dynastes Hercules:
He had terrible tusks,
and terrible claws,
and he sucks his food with his mouth,
in his jaws
He has six knees,
and 12 toes,
and a very, very short nose
He has no tongue,
his eyes are black,
and he has spotches all over his back.
So, you can encourage your kids to do the same. It can be anything you are doing now; they can describe their friends' quirks, their pets, their favourite things. It can also be used to describe their fears and maybe help them overcome them when they put things in perspective, just like how mouse overcame those who wanted to prey on him in the book.
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