Learning & Growing Through Play: Eventually, if you do your job right, your dependents spread their wings and fly. This applies to parenting as much as it applies to nature; one of my favourite posts ever has to be Roots and Wings which pretty much sums up my approach to being a mother.
But this week my son was the ‘parent’ who got to watch his offspring fly the nest as our butterflies transformed via the miracle of metamorphosis. They started as caterpillars, grew big, became chrysalides, then emerged as butterflies after a 4 week project. They have now flown off to conquer the world! Here is our video of the project:
We were sent the Live Butterfly Garden to review thanks to the Natural History Museum Shop. It costs £20 and within that price you get 5 caterpillars and food to get you started but you have to mail off for these – they don’t come in the box!
It was a wonderful project to do together and helped show the cycle of life. My son wants to do it again immediately but we are holding off as you really need to be sure to have a clear schedule for this project. It takes approximately 4 weeks from start to finish and some of your chrysalides may transform before others – once they do, you become responsible for feeding them so you really need to be around and not away for a weekend break when they ‘hatch’!
Bugs and creatures are a bit of a theme lately as we also got some Buzzerks Bug Goggles from the Natural History Museum Shop to review too! With the ant goggles you can look like a bug, see like a bug! They have special hinged prismatic lenses that flip forward for true compound-eye vision just like real bugs! Here is my son modelling!
These goggles would make a nice gift for a child’s birthday party. At £8 they won’t break the bank but the packaging is also a nice size to take wrapped up for a gift! They are suitable for ages 4+ but at 7 years old my boy enjoyed them!
Learning through play and experience is the best way to learn, so as far as educational toys go, I was pleased with these products. Let me know if you try either of them yourself with the kids in the !
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