Oh' Farms and Butterfly Lodge: Visit to Butterfly Lodge

Showing posts with label Visit to Butterfly Lodge. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Butterfly Lodge - a Visit with a Twist

"ACTION"

That was the common word heard on 1st November 2011. Students from Ai Tong Primary School brought their filming gears to the Butterfly Lodge for an extraordinary outing.

Besides learning the life cycle of butterfly, the students were supposed to shoot a short video of the trip - students came prepared with scripts and camera for the filming.

Students roaming in and out of the Butterfly Lodge, finding an ideal spot to interview the tour guide, Marcus.

Capturing of the 4 stages of the butterfly, the egg, the caterpillar, the pupa and also the butterfly is one of the highlights of this learning journey.

Engrossed in taking a close-up shot of some butterfly eggs...

Close observation....

Aim and shoot...

"Hmmm, where and what else to shoot?"

This must be the favourite spot for the video...

Under the guidance of the master, students crowded around him to learn photographing a butterfly.

Putting what is learned into action...

Some students began to wander around outside the Butterfly Lodge.

Interviewing the tour guide, Marcus...

Finally the work was done! All ready to pack and go.

Time for shopping after a busy morning!

This is the first time The Butterfly Lodge received a group of visitors with an additional purpose. In fact, the Lodge is a good training ground for amateur macro-photographers especially if butterflies are the main subjects.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Learning Kidz @ The Butterfly Lodge

A group of toddlers from the Learning Kidz visited the Butterfly Lodge on 24th August 2011.

Tony, our in-house guide, enthusiastically explained and show the different stages of the life cycle of a butterfly to our little angels.

"A picture speaks a thousand words" - an up-close encounter of some different life butterfly larvae make kids and adults wonder how a caterpillar can turn into a pretty butterfly - for some kids, the experience of seeing such amazing transformation was beyond words can describe. Not only kids were highly enthused by these life creatures, adults alike were equally excited. Gosh! finger(s) biting experience ! Young and old - same expressions. Tony used pictures to show and explain the difference between a cocoon and a pupa. So, what is the difference between a chrysalis and a cocoon ? A cocoon is an outer covering made by the caterpillar using silk produced from glands in the caterpillar’s mouth. Sometimes the caterpillar will fasten leaves together with silk to form the cocoon, while other species (such as the silk moth) form the entire cocoon from silk. A chrysalis or pupa is the hardening of skin after the caterpillar has moulted the skin during the last instar.

Therefore, the pupa stage of a butterfly is a chrysalis and not a cocoon.
Too much "teaching" and talking, many kids would get bored and become restless. So the best way to learn is through experiential learning - getting a close contact with our local butterflies and observing their behaviour.Searching for the stick insects on the guava tree - the newest dweller in our Butterfly Lodge.With open hands inviting the butterflies to land, some kids had got used to interact with these harmless beauties. But, in the end, all the toddlers gave up, feeling rather disappointed as none of the butterflies was willing to land on their palms.

See how these kids explored and enjoyed themselves.

For kids who paid attention and remembered what was taught by out instructor and guide, they were rewarded with prizes during the quiz session

Hopefully, through this close contact with our local butterflies, these kids would learn to be more aware of what butterflies that thy can possibly see in our gardens or parks or even at the playgrounds near their homes.