Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Hijacked post! (or a visit to the Science Centre)

Packrat has the kids every Saturday morning while I'm at work.
All 3 of them. And here he is, writing about what he does while I'm at work. You will see how the Mommy rules don't count when Mommy isn't around i.e. Incriminating evidence of Muffin scarfing down a hash brown. But who am I to say anything when I'm not there?

For Father's Day, the Daddy Matters group invited mum bloggers to allow their husbands to "take over" our blogs and say anything they want for one post. Here's Packrat hijacking my blog.
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I've never really forgotten the Singapore Science Centre. I was brought there as a kid in Primary school and I remember being fascinated by the various exhibits that we got to interact with. I remember a pin impression exhibit that I was particularly obsessed by because of the weird feeling you got when you put your hand under it and I remember that being the one thing that I kept going back to.

Good times.

So I was thrilled when JED were finally old enough to be brought to the science centre and curious enough to geek out about the exhibits like I used to.

Boy, have things changed.

The Science Centre has upgraded itself completely and I'm glad to say that it's still a lot of fun.


Of course, there's a McDonald's there now where there is the obligatory hotcakes meal to begin the day with. And we had the great company of JED's Uncle Mark and Auntie Sylvia in tow, who they promptly took advantage of.


The focus of the day was the new Megabugs exhibition (On till the 18th of August, 2013). As has been the case with JED, Giant Bugs? Yes, Please!


The kids all got age appropriate activities books and they dived in immediately.



There was an interesting exhibit just outside of the annex hall where there were insect inspired fashion designs. Very cool.

We were taken through a "time tunnel" which brought us to prehistoric sized insects which both fascinated JE while making Muffin a little uncomfortable.


Well, they didn't lie about the mega bit of the megabugs. The exhibits were big!



While the exhibits did capture the kids' imaginations, the highlight for me was the guide that took us through it all. A retiree volunteer at the Science Centre, he was an engineer by trade but also a lifelong learner that supplemented what he had studied about the exhibits with nuggets of information that he had learned from other visitors to the exhibits. I was inspired by the man who had such a great passion for learning and teaching and I could see that beyond all the cool "stuff" that the Science Centre had for kids to play with, it was a place for learning...and I could see no better guide than the gentleman who took us through.


He engaged the older kids and was very informative about the various bugs that we saw there. If you have an opportunity to catch him there, ask him about the Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches or Stick Insects. He's quite the treasure trove of information.

All in all, the kids had a grand time going to the Science Centre. And as a father, I'm glad that I got to share this with them. I'm also glad to say that there's still a sense of wonder that bubbles to the surface when I enter the hallowed halls.




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