Nursery talk this morning

[Leanne King-Smith]

We went to the nursery part of Robyn's school this morning to give the kids and talk and a chance to see spiddies up close. They LOVED it! Hardly any were scared and most couldn't wait to have a close look at them. The ones that were scared did come up closer by the end, even saying they liked them. They asked loads of questions, main ones being:

'Why isn't it moving?'
'Where are his eyes?'
'Where is his mouth?'
'What do they eat?'

We took an old skin so they could see the underside in detail and took a few different coloured spids so they could see the diferent variations. We took a cricket to show what they eat. The teachers were as interested as the adults, and said they learnt alot they didn't know.

We are going back on Thursday to do the afternoon group. We have also been asked to go back there 2 weeks tomorrow, as they have inspectors there then, and it would be nice to see that they have people coming in to do things like this with the kids.

So, overall, a great morning. Kids and adults alike asking LOADS of questions, kids who couldn't go anywhere near them coming up to having a close up look and showing a great deal of interest in them.

To be able to get kids to see how wonderful they are and to introduce people to the hobby, even at that age, felt great

Oh, and Robyn took her mantid into school today, for show and tell

[Craig Moore]

Sounds like everyone enjoyed themselves! Must give you a great deal of satisfaction seeing people that aren't interested in arachnids get curious. When I was younger we lived in America and our classroom had a Chile Rose as a permanent resident so I guess I was lucky

[Craig Mackay]

Good stuff! Glad they enjoyed it. My mums a primary school teacher and I did this for her. At first it was meant to be one class I was showing them to but it ended up being the whole school, lol! They all were so interested and many of them were already into exotics. There's a reptile shop opened nearby so a lot of them have already got snakes and lizards so hopefully one or two of them will one day get into the hobby.

[James Box]

it's always great to get people interested in something they're usually afraid of, and let's face it, alot of phobias are not something you're born with, rather something you learn.
for instance, my reason for not liking slugs dates back to stepping on one in my socks...and getting slimed pretty badly by another lol
however, before that, i'd always tried to be good to the small creatures of the world, which i found fascinating!

[Nicola Dolby]

Brilliant Leanne! I bet you had a great time and maybe you've got the future of the BTS there!

[karen Hampton]

I work in a nursery and we often get zoo bug coming in to show the kids various creatures...children have no fear they get it from adults and i just wish that if they are scared of things they would stay away and not show it infront of the children. They love looking and even getting to handles creepy crawlies as they call them..

[Leanne King-Smith]

Thanks everyone

It would be great to think they may be some future BTS members amongst them Nicola