Group conducts classes on native plants and animals for youngsters
Ang Yiying, Straits Times 28 Mar 09;
GETTING kids to overcome their fear of insects and reptiles is a first step to getting them to be kind to nature.
This is the belief that drives a core group of 10 volunteers in an environment education group called Cicada Tree Eco-Place. It runs classes for kids up to 10 years old, holds nature walks for schools and organisations, and manages a roving exhibition on eco-living.
Its founders - National Institute of Education lecturer Vilma D'Rozario, personal assistant Teresa Teo-Guttensohn and pharmaceutical sales executive Celine Low - met through their membership in the Nature Society of Singapore.
The trio, who declined to give their ages but said they were 'no longer youths', decided to set up the non-profit group in 2007 to marry their common interests in children and native plants and animals.
Said Ms Low: 'It's easier and better to start them appreciating nature while they are young.'
Dr D'Rozario noted that children here watch nature programmes from other countries and may know more about wildlife elsewhere than that found in Singapore.
'They know the fastest animal is the cheetah. They don't know about our native wildcat, the leopard cat,' she said.
The registered society draws its name from its local roots - the cicada tree is a native of freshwater swamps, a threatened habitat as many of them have already been cleared.
Its volunteers include full-time mothers and a chief financial officer who communicate through e-mail.
Since last year, they have run classes for children along themes such as mammals, insects, butterflies and moths, reptiles, carnivorous plants, and frogs and toads.
The classes are held at the Singapore Botanic Gardens' Jacob Ballas Children's Garden in Bukit Timah.
More than 300 kids have taken part in almost 30 small-group sessions so far at $15 a head, which defrays the administrative cost and pays the fees of a naturalist teacher.
At a recent session called Mad - Make A Difference for Reptiles - nine children aged between four and nine got a lesson on the rugged beauty of snakes, crocodiles and tortoises.
The teacher, Mr Andrew Tay, 45, showed them slides and specimens such as bottled snakes, a star tortoise shell and a small stuffed saltwater crocodile, mostly on loan from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the National University of Singapore.
The lesson ended with art and craft and a written pledge by the children to be kind to reptiles.
Ahmad Ihsan Mohd Idris, seven, twirling his paper mobile shaped like a coiled snake, said of the reptiles: 'They're so special.'
The group has more activities in mind, like nature walks in Sentosa.
It will also launch a website on April 19, ahead of Earth Day on April 22.
For more info, check out the blog www.cicadatree.blogspot.com/
