A fluttery affair at Science Centre Singapore!

Do you know that the butterfly:

• Has 4 wings?
• Can taste with their feet?
• Can see red, yellow and green?

Those were amongst some of the things that the kiddo and I learnt about in our recent visit to Butterflies Up-Close! Developed in partnership with Sentosa’s Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom (BIK), Butterflies Up-Close takes visitors on an immersive journey through all four stages of a butterfly’s metamorphosis – from egg to adulthood and the kiddo and I, had the chance to tour around in this latest exhibit at the Science Centre Singapore.

We are not new to the whole metamorphosis process having previously bought a kit where we witnessed the process and then setting them free. But we still found loads to marvel at, when we visited Butterflies Up-Close at the Science Centre recently.

:: The set up

One of the latest exhibits at the Science Centre Singapore, Butterflies Up-Close is segregated into 4 zones, with the last zone being the enclosure. The exhibition is simple but well thought through.

The first zone was an “introduction” from a higher level where even a World Map is placed and children can learn about some of the different butterfly species from around the world before entering the exhibition. This is where we also saw a breath-taking artwork ~ made with more than 4 thousand wings (none of the butterflies were killed for this artwork but they were specimens carefully collected by the artist over many many months). (See pic below) 

The second zone focuses on "orientation" where a key feature are big fibreglass models of a big Atlas Moth and a Jezebel butterfly so that hildren can see the main differences between the 2.

The third zone is a walk way through of the life cycle of the butterfly with fun facts where children can lift up the ladybirds to unveil the information panels and read the information.

Pic above: our guide S, getting the kiddo acquainted with the life cycle

Above pic: information panels are peppered with fun facts on these beauties

To encourage children to read up and go through the 4 zones, a small butterfly booklet is handed out where children can look for various stations at the different zones to emboss on the booklet. (See pic below)

:: The Enclosure 
The enclosure is the last part and definitely the best part of the exhibition where it is a small air-conditioned area with a dome in the centre of the room. The butterflies at the enclosure are all free range where you can observe them up close and personal.

Above pic: butterflies lapping it all up!

A glass case stands on the left side of enclosure where chrysalis and cocoons are hanging in it. I love how pretty the metalic colored chrysalis are in this case. These are all "live" chrysalis and cocoons which are slowly metamorphosing.

Here's a fun fact: do you know that the chrysalis of butterflies are different from species to species?

Look at how large the Atlas moth is!!!

Be advised that these butterflies are quite "inquisitive" and do not shy away from visitors. Over the hour that we were there, we had some that landed on our heads, shoulders, bags, and even hands. The kiddo was unfazed as frankly, they do not bite or cause any itch so she was pretty cool with them. 

The variety of butterflies there is amazing. They are specially brought into this enclosure where the temperature is specially controlled and some of them have host plants specially brought in too. 

Just check out these colorful beauties! 

(Check out the bevy of beauties)

If you are looking at an educational spiel to this, the dome houses 2 stations where one shows the magnified butterfly parts while the other allows children to interact with the exhibit to see the iridescent colors of the butterflies as they "glimmered" and "shone" at various angles. 

The enclosure is not a large one but one can easily stay there for an hour to 2 if you take the time to sit and observe. We did just that and I even managed to observe the proboscis (tongue) of a butterfly where it curled and uncurled! Here's the clip to share! :) 

Our hour there flew by so quickly that the kiddo actually asked to head back again. This will be a lovely place for an unhurried morning where you can just enjoy the cool temperature and beauty of these butterflies. 

Now, in case you are not aware, the Science Centre Singapore has waived off all entrance fees for Singapore citizens on off-peak period. Hence you only need to pay $10 for an adult / for a child and $8 for senior citizen to visit this exhibit. (Details can be found here.)

:: Location 

15 Science Centre Road

Singapore 609081

Tel: (65) 6425-2500

Fax: (65) 6565-9533

Facebook page 

Click here for a driving map / bus information

Disclaimer: We were invited to visit Butterflies Up-Close so that we can share our experience on it. We are not compensated for the post. All opinions are entirely ours. 

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts (both to the kiddo and my furkid), food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!  

Homeschool Unit Study - The Mysterious Ancient Egypt

Dumpling chanced upon some information on Ancient Egypt and mummies a few weeks ago and being the inquisitive person that she is, she bombarded me with tons of questions over a period of a few days. So, that marked the start of our most intensive unit study ever - Ancient Egypt.

What I naively thought was supposed to last over perhaps a period of 2 weeks stretched into about 6 weeks. We read loads (we must have read around 40+ books!!), spanning from reading on introduction into the mysterious world of Ancient Egypt to understanding more about 'Mummies', to the building of Pyramids to the mystery of King Tut before we finished off with Cleopatra, the last Pharaoh.

These are just a fraction of the titles we read through as I had unfortunately deleted away some photos of the other titles we read..

In particular, I found the Nat Geo title below as well as one which is written by Aliki - Mummies Made in Egypt informative and well presented. This is a heavy topic and certainly left many areas for discussion.

I had the opportunity to extend into a bit of drawing and creative writing...

We also extended to some spatial awareness activities

With God's grace, one of the homelearning forum mummies who knew that I was doing this unit saw this Project pack being sold and helped me get it (Thank you Harn Ing!) 

It was a great topic. From understanding the Egyptians' culture, way of life and their superstitions, we also extended to biblical focus on the entire Exodus chapter (and where I had just, over the weekend, managed to get my hands on apparently the only copy of Prince of Egypt DVD from the Library Board!)

Then, we had a chance to visit the Mummy Exhibition on my birthday earlier in the week! Dumpling was so excited (she has been bugging me for weeks to bring her there) and we arrived so early that the museum was not yet opened.

(Taking pic outside while waiting for the museum to open doors)

As always, we brought along our homeschool share Ancient Egypt lapbook. For this unit, I downloaded the free resource from HomeschoolShare and I also added on elements of our own as well as some other random resources from the internet.  

Which Dumpling was more than happy to share her knowledge with one of the staff manning the booth for the Quest activity packs (whoever says that homeschoolers are unsocialised??!?!?)

These Quest bags consist of 4 activities for 3 different age groups and here's a peek at how the Preschooler bag looks like. They were meant to let the children learn a bit more about some 'sacred' animals - Cobra, Falcon, etc. The activities are offered FOC but are not for the child to keep; they are to be returned after the session. Personally, I feel that it would have been great if there's some sort of an activity book to be given out to the children where they get to keep it after the exhibition. 

Now, what goes on in the 'show'?

Before entering into the exhibit hall, there's a screening of a 20min 3D film which looks into the life of one of the most well traveled mummy bought by the British Museum - Nesperennub. Who was he? What did he do and how did he die? The show is not scary but definitely graphic as it uses computer graphics to explain and examine the various parts of his body as well as explain his profession with the hieroglyphs on his cartonnage. 

The show is recommended for 6YOs and above but because we have been homeschooling on this topic for the past weeks, Dumpling has seen some Nat Geo clips and was basically quite prepared. Nonetheless, I gave her a shawl to cover her face with in case it got graphic. 

(Tip: you may want to bring along some pins to secure the sides of the glasses down as they were definitely too big / loose for the little ones)

For Dumpling, seeing these exhibits in life is no longer just a 'fancy' event but instead, it was something which she could relate too - what these small figurines are, what were they use for and why were they buried?

Dumpling also enjoyed seeing the actual Papyrus as we had read up on the making of it as 'paper' and she got to see a close up scroll in the show. The details on that scroll was just amazing. 

And of course, the star of the show: the cartonnage of Nesperennub. 

Source: The British Museum

Here's a close up of the Hieroglyphs on the cartonnage

Here's a Hieroglyphics chart for your reference!

Source

It was a lovely lovely unit study and field trip. I learnt just as much as Dumpling along the way and the topic provided us with many hours of discussion and bonding over reading. If you are visiting the Art Science Museum for this exhibition, I would recommend you to read up together with the kiddos to have some background knowledge so that they are able to understand and enjoy the exhibits better. :) Here's a parting shot from us! 

Till the next homeschool post! 

Mama Sue 

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram! 

GIVEAWAY ~ Smart Kids Asia 2013!

Beanie N Us is pleased to share that we have 4 sets of goodie bags from SmartKids Asia as a giveaway!!!

SmartKids Asia is the World's Largest Educational Kids Fair  with tons of Entertainment, Educational activities, Health demonstrations, games and fun experience to engage your kids!

This signature family event draws nearly 100,000+ parents and kids, with more than 100+ educational activities and learning programs that fulfills the cultural educational and social needs of all children in our community. Combined with Education, Healthcare and Family services and programmes, SmartKids Asia provides an ideal platform for parents to explore and focus on raising a well-rounded child who is well-balanced, healthy and happy.
More than that, during the 3 days (15 - 17 March, at Singapore Expo Hall 5), free trial classes are offered to the public! From music programs to Math, and from Drama to Bento sessions, your children will be spoilt for choices. 

So, what's in the goodie bag?
Here's a sneak peek!

1) Just answer this simple question!
When and Where is SmartKids Asia 2013 going to be held? 

2) Would be great if you can Like Beanie N Us and SmartKids Asia FB page

The 4 winners will be picked randomly. Please leave your FULL NAME & EMAIL ADDRESS so that I can contact you. 

NOTE: THE GOODIE BAGS ARE TO BE COLLECTED FROM THE MANAGEMENT OFFICE AT THE FAIR. 

CONTEST CLOSES 10 MARCH 2359 HOURS (SG TIME). CONTEST IS ONLY OPENED TO THOSE RESIDING IN SINGAPORE. GOOD LUCK!

My BIG Birthday Weekend!

I had a ball of a time on the weekend of my birthday and thank you so much to those of you who posted on my FB and left me such wonderful wishes. 

It is sort of hard to recap the activities we did but I basically visited the Harry Potter exhibition (a "must visit" for Dumpling and I before it is gone) and we had a great lunch at Triple Three. 

The Harry Potter Exhibition is a must-visit for us because we enjoyed the movies and for me, the series a lot. It was just surreal to see the artifacts here that were in the movies. Additionally, for Dumpling, she decided (yes, it was HER who decided and requested for it), that she will have a Harry Potter themed birthday this year. So the visit was also for me to get a bit of inspiration for her party too. :)

Unfortunately the exhibition did NOT allow for photography. Seriously, all these no photography rules are getting to me - first it was the Titanic and now Harry Potter. Grrrrrrr... 'Cos some of the artifacts there were just awesome! 

Anyhow, Dumpling being a Harry Potter fan was dressed very appropriately for the occasion:

Here are some more shots while we were queuing to get in 

And one of from the wizard's chess which was absolutely gorgeous!

And of course our parting shot in front of Hogwarts! :)

On the next day, we went for a very yummy luncheon at Triple 3. I am not sure if you have been to Triple 3 before but that's amongst one of our favourite places for buffets. In fact, spread is so good that I will be blogging about it separately. :) 

But on the day we were there, it was Children's Day weekend and so, there were activities for the kiddos. 

Which included face painting! Dumpling wanted to try but was a little unsure so what's a mama gotta do...

Except to join in the fun! :p 

There was also a balloon sculptor for the celebration as well as a DIY cupcake making workshop! Dumpling made a cupcake for me as I was eating (and she was away with her grandaunt) but I decided to suss out the place once I was done with my food. 

I was impressed with what they had for the workshop - it was very comprehensive! There was buttercream in very pretty colours as well as a wide choice of sugar and chocolate toppings!!!! 

Dumpling decided that she wanted a go at the decoration and this time in "dots and confetti design". LOL

The team that Mandarin Orchard selected for the activities was well chosen. Apparently, they are interns but they were so patient with the kids and were really helpful. :) 2 thumbs up!

And just as we were about to go, we were told to head for a raffle so I got Dumpling to go for it. Guess what we'd won?

SWEET!!! Something fun for the kiddo and Mama Sue!!! 

Yep - my 3Xth birthday weekend was a blast and I could not be happier!