Year 2 Trip to The Living Rainforest

There was much excitement from the Year 2 children as we boarded the minibus on our trip to The Living Rainforest.   The class have thoroughly enjoyed our topic of the rainforest and were very eager to see all the plants and animals we have learnt about in our lessons.

One thing the children were not ready for was the extreme heat and humidity – this increases as you climb through the greenery from the understory layer up to the canopy layer.  The children were puffing out their cheeks and thought it was very hot!

 We were thrilled to see Harry the armadillo out and about in his cage as he is normally hidden away. He was really endearing despite his hair and hard shell.   We spent quite some time watching him and the children drew some amazing sketches of him.

 “I loved the armadillo because I really liked the shell on his back,” said Harrison.

 We also met Edwin, the toucan who was actually a bit of a show off and spent his time flying and flapping for us!  He was beautifully colourful and the class were fascinated by his huge hollow beak. This heats up in the sun and is tucked under his wing to keep him warm at night – his own hot water bottle!

We learnt about plant adaptations; how they have a drip tip and have holes in the leaves to let water and light through for the young plants.  The class were slightly surprised when real birds were flying above our heads and walking in front of us – they was even a fierce looking big black bird with a Mohican called Luigi!

Always popular with the children – more than the staff – are visiting the snakes, frogs, bird-eating spiders and cockroaches.  Luckily all behind glass!

 We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and learnt lots of new facts;  it’s so wonderful to be immersed in the atmosphere, smells and sights of an actual rainforest.  It really does make our topic come alive.

 LHS