Dinosaurs and Elephant Poo

Life has felt rather ploddy and un-blog-worthy for the past couple of weeks but I was looking back through the photos on my phone today and realised we have been on some cracking trips recently.

Depending on how far you are able and willing to travel, there is an incredible range of one-off educational sessions, visits and trips on offer to home educators, usually with group discounts to fit in with the average HE family's tight budget. Two in particular stand out for us. 

First, we went on an adventure on the train with some other families to learn about dinosaurs at Bristol Museum. In the space of an hour in their education room, we learned about teeth shape and what they say about an animal's diet; the topography of the Bristol area in the Jurassic period; the tools used by palaeontologists; and what ammonites looked like before they were fossilised (basically squid with snail shells). Then we were let loose in the pliosaur exhibition with an eight-foot model called Doris and several toy medical kits with which to bandage a gashed flipper, find a heartbeat and give dental care that was enthusiastic if not efficient. Definitely somewhere to visit again, preferably on a weekday when we have the place more or less to ourselves. 

A week or so later, we were pootling up the M5 with friends to Noah's Ark Zoo Farm. I'd seen the signs before but never been and it was brilliant! The first zoo I've been to where none of the enclosures felt too small, and with plenty of space between animals so the kids could play and think about each thing they had seen before moving on to the next. 

It took us the first hour and a half to get past the play area by the entrance - a massive complex of wooden pirate ship, high rope walks, climbing walls and tube slide. Not only did this shake out the wriggles after an hour in the car, there was also some lovely interaction between the kids. Daniel struggled at first on the climbing wall but after encouragement from his friend persevered and finally mastered it. Adam got stuck on a ladder and was a bit wobbly when rescued but happily accepted a hug from the other mum and told her all about it - always nice when they have other people they consider to be 'safe''. The other toddler wanted to come down the big tube slide but was a little unsure and Daniel spent a good 20 minutes or more gently coaxing him and going round the place with him, never crowding but always close enough to be a reassuring presence. I absolutely love this photo of the two of them up on the high rope walk (credit to the other mum for the picture!) Oh, and the coffee from the cafe next door was great too :-) 

The educational session saw us handling/admiring fur from a lion's mane, part of a rhino horn, an elephant's thigh bone and a massive snake skin before the live animals were brought round - Colin the cockroach, Sidney the African land snail, a bearded dragon, a corn snake, and two guinea pigs (by far the most popular!)

And there was an elephant poo slide - genius!