School Time: Making Terrariums



I have been going to the kids classes a lot lately. I think I have been doing so many things the teachers are getting sick of me. Luck for me they are not, and I know this because I asked, haha.

This time around I made terrariums with the kids. We made one way back last year. I was inspired by the Garden Festival at Gardens by the Bay last August. There was a room full of all sorts of terrariums. It was amazing. They were beautiful. There were big ones, small ones, hanging ones, it was incredible at how many there were. That inspired me to do one with the kids. It was a fun little project. thanks to Pintrest, I found directions on how to make a closed an open one. We made closed ones because, kids. Anyway, that all lead up to Cosette taking our terrarium for show and tell. Then being the type of person I am, I volunteered to do some with the children. The teachers took me up on it, and here we are.

It was perfect because it coincided with Earth Day. I talked with the children about how we were going to build a indoor garden. All of us in the class live in apartments, so do not have any gardens. Terrariums are a way we can have a little piece of nature in our homes. Also, we are building an ecosystem. The terrarium has everything it needs to thrive on its own. The kids have been learning about all this in school, so they understood. Then it was time to assemble our mini ecosystems!

















Again, being the person I am, I did two with the class, that way all the children would get to participate more in the process. Each child got to assist putting the materials in the jar. And once we put all the materials in, each child got to put one decoration in the jar. I found a hornbill decoration and was super excited about it because hornbills native to Singapore! I had also found some little houses and Totoro figures, which was perfect because Totoro is the spirit of the forest. So we had our Totoro there watching over our forest.

It was a great success. All the children got to participate, and really enjoyed putting the materials in. Cosette has a special needs kid in her class. This child usually does not fully participate in the activity when I come, but this one the child fully participated. I was so happy that the child did and that Cosette has had this experience with the child as a classmate. She has learned a lot. It has been great for all the children.




Henry's class, as usual, was adorable. We talked about gardens and building one in a jar. I only did one with them, because Henry destroyed one of the two plants. All the children still got to participate. I did the same system as I did with Cosette's class for assembling the terrarium. They did really great. They were very good helpers, and listened as well as children their age can. They also had a cute little Totoro, and a house for their Totoro among the assorted decorations. One thing was exciting for them was that they had a live caterpillar in their class, and there was a caterpillar decoration. They were excited to have a caterpillar in their terrarium. I love it when they can make connections like that.

I brought a special guest with me to Henry's class. Raphael accompanied me. He behaved as well as can be expected. The teachers were very sweet about him being there. And he enjoyed playing in the cooking corner and on the indoor gym. The children enjoyed having "Henry's Baby" there with them. They were very sweet to him. They are all sweet hearts.







One funny anecdote. The terrariums required a layer of moss. I went to the nursery with the intention of only buying the necessary amount of moss to make four terrariums (which is not a lot). Well the nursery only sells trays of moss. So I had to buy a massive tray of moss. I did the terrariums on separate days, so I had a massive tray of moss in my fridge for that weekend. It gave me a laugh every time I opened my fridge and there was the moss in there. We included some in our dinner that weekend as not to waste any. Only joking. We like our greens, but are not that into eating mossy ones.

This is one of the last times I am going into the kid's classrooms. I am grateful that I have had the many opportunities to go in and do things with the kids. I do not know if I will ever get the chance to be as involved in their classroom as I have been. We have been so lucky to be in a school that encourages parental involvement in the classroom. I love all their classmates, and teachers. They call me "Auntie Christine", and I love it. The teachers have mentioned to me that they are really going to miss the kids, and me. We are going to really miss them too.

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