Curious Creatures

It was a very special day at preschool today. Curious Creatures came to preschool along with a whole lot of animals. Siblings were allowed to join in the fun so I brought Clara along to see the animals.

This is Clara's favorite corner in preschool. Usually, it is a pretend play area where there are kitchen stuff, baby dolls, baby high chairs, etc. Clara will usually play with the babies but this week, the area has been transformed into a flower shop and the babies have been kept away. She kept looking high and low for the babies.

The children have been guessing what animals the man from Curious Creatures would be bringing. Some of their guesses were pretty funny. Sonya thought there would be a baby elephant. Other answers included dragon and bear.

All the children sat on their mats and waited for the animals.

First up was the parrot.

For every animal that he brought along, the man from Curious Creatures went around letting every child have a turn to touch the animals. The children decided for themselves if they just want to look or to touch the animals. Some were pretty enthusiastic while others were hesitant about touching them.

The bird's wing has been clipped so it couldn't really fly much so it was "parked" at the front of the classroom and pretty close to me. For someone who is so afraid of birds, I am pretty impressed with myself for not freaking out every time it moved! I don't know how I did it.

Next came the flying squirrel...

A volunteer was needed to try to get the flying squirrel to fly. Carla volunteered and it "flew" from Carla's hand back to the guy.

And next was a baby rabbit. The guy accidentally knocked down to cage with the rabbit inside but it was not bothered by the fall at all.

Next up was a skunk :)




Then there was the chinchilla.

That brought back memories of the one I had... for 2 weeks before it died of pneumonia :( His name was Pikachu...

Just when it seemed like every animal that the guy brought out was cuter than the previous one, he brought out a scorpion and then it went scarier from then on :)

After the scorpion was the tarantula...





Next came the iguana...















After which is a snake named Buttercup :) Such a gentle name for a scary huge snake.

Last but not least came baby alligator! Sonya wasn't very keen with the snake and the alligator as she was with the other animals.

To my surprise, Clara was not very interested in the animals. She was busy playing with all the toys and creating a big mess in the "flower shop". She pulled out a whole pile of puzzles onto the floor. After the animals left and all the other children have gone out to the garden park to play, she volunteered to put away all the mats.

Maybe it was her attempt to make up for the mess she made earlier with the puzzles?