Wings of Paradise
Can you imagine walking through a tropical rainforest with hundreds of beautiful butterflies flitting around you? That is what it's like walking through the Butterfly Conservatory at Wings of Paradise in Cambridge, Ontario.
It's was March Break in our part of the country. My grandsons needed something to keep them busy. Though they say they dislike school, they get bored while on vacation. Kids are like sponges; they absorb knowledge. They need to be learning 365 days a year. With that in mind, I try to schedule at least one educational outing during March Break.
This year, my mother and I decided to take the boys, aged 8 and 6, to Wings of Paradise. The boys love science. We checked out the Wings of Paradise Web site. We found that Wings of Paradise had a special program for March Break. It was called Passport to Nature.
On Wednesday, March 17, we headed to Wings of Paradise. The boys were anxious to get there and thought the 40 minute drive was too long. When we arrived they were delighted.
We entered the building and paid our admission. It was $28 for the four of us. Our hands were stamped with a blue butterfly to show we'd paid. The boys were given a brochure called a "passport." As they flitted their way through the exhibits, they found Wings of Discovery stations. They found lots of activities to keep them busy. These were both fun and educational. Each station was numbered and equipped with a stamp. The boys used these to stamp their passports. The theme was flight. We learned how flight relates to butterflies, bats, bees and bugs.
The Conservatory is hosting a temporary exhibit featuring rare butterfly specimens. We saw many products made from threatened and endangered species. The exhibit taught us the importance of wildlife conservation.
The bat exhibit, on loan from the Royal Ontario Museum, was really neat. We listened to recordings of different bat sounds. The kids in the room played it over and over. We enjoyed seeing a police radar gun that is used to determine how fast bats can fly. Did you know that some species of bats can fly more than 50 miles per hour? They zoom through the night looking for food. Their night vision is sharp. They eat mice and insects. June Bugs are one of their favorite meals. We learned that bats help to keep insect populations under control. The highlight of the bat exhibit was a bat house. We plan to make one for our nocturnal friends before summer.
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