Wednesday, 22 August 2012

Zoo Lab: Creepy Crawly Fun!

One day, a man called Karl from Zoo Lab brought some strange and wonderful creepy crawlies to show the children. But first, he told us 4 rules: 
  • No shouting or loud noises -- it will frighten the creatures!
  • No walking around -- we might step on them accidentally!
  • No touching our faces after handling the animals -- germs!
  • WASH HANDS AFTER to get rid of the yucky stuff!

A lot of the children were not afraid at all; they very excitedly touched and stroked our new friends:
  • a hissing cockroach
  • a millipede
  • a 5-foot python
  • a toad
  • a tarantula (we didn't touch this one because she was grumpy)
  • a black rat
  • a giant land snail
Karl told us some very interesting things about the creatures he looks after. For example, did you know that a tarantula is sick all over her dinner before she slurps it up again like soup and fluffs her bottom when she's cross, a cockroach lives on even if it is inside your tummy, a giant land snail's poo changes colour to match what he's eaten, you can count a millipede's legs by counting how many segments it's got and double it, a toad swallows food with its eyes....

Pssst! And that toad wee'd all over the floor!

Eughhhh!

Of course the children absolutely LOVED all these yucky details and were fuelled to look for, explore, observe and look after other creatures we may have in our own garden!













Emergency Services: Visit from a Fire Engine

















Trains



Construction Machines: Paving our Roads













Thursday, 9 August 2012

Travel by Air


The children talked about their green
elastic band-propelled aeroplane.

Perfect take-off!

          We had a busy week exploring how people travel by air. The children tried to work out how a plane takes off, glides through the air and lands in a landing strip. It was discussed that a typical aeroplane has to have important parts such as the wings, engine and tail to fly as well as wheels to land. A couple of children were telling their friends that the wheels actually go INSIDE the aeroplane when it is on the air!



A crash into the "forest" of giant fennel flowers!
      A lot of our little ones said that when they grow up -- and if they wanted -- they can become drivers of these planes called "pilots". Helicopter drivers are also called "pilots", too. All they have to do is go to flying school.

Everybody's safe...
We had parachutes on!

          On long trips on the aeroplane, there is a person going around giving drinks and snacks to the passengers and checks that the seatbelts are clicked on.












The children studied the mechanism
of a simple glider plane.


Our aeroplane preparing for take-off.



Get ready for my red
helicopter balloon!
The air in this balloon
propels the rotors.















Our Stickle-Bricks air transport vehicles
designed by our future pilots!

Let's skip all the aeroplane and
helicopter adventure and go 
straight for the rocket ship!
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1... BLAST OFF!!!!!
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