WiseOceans has wonderful collaborations with both The Manta Trust and Island School Seychelles – both of which are supported by Save our Seas Foundation.
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Back in November the Island School Seychelles and The Manta Trust came together for Marvellous Manta Madness at the Seychelles Natural History Museum as part of the Island School’s monthly Saturday morning marine awareness sessions. With an excited room full of kids and teachers from two local primary schools the morning was spent focusing on mantas. The kids listened and learnt about mantas from SOSF Island School Seychelles Project Leader Abi March while watching some films of mantas doing what they do best, barrel rolling and eating plankton. Watching the mantas on a screen is always amazing but sometimes hard to comprehend their size. So to bring this to life the arm span of one of the children was measured, then a few more children lined up, arms stretched and holding hands; voila a life sized manta made out of seven year olds!!
The children then got busy with a worksheet and colouring the front and back of their own manta (not life sized of course!). As mantas have their own unique spot pattern the kids were able to really put their design skills to the test and really create the most unique mantas possible. As mantas are such fluid moving creatures a 2D manta was never going to be good enough. Never wanting to ever waste anything Abi’s genius craft skills came into effort by utilising the piece of plastic that you get inside new fins when you buy them. These bits of plastic were cut into a manta shape while the kids designed the front and back of their mantas on paper. Once these were stuck to the plastic the results were a collection of amazing 3D mantas.
No SOSF session at the Seychelles Natural History Museum is complete without marine life head bands and this Saturday was no exception – the only proviso was the headbands had to be manta headbands. A new fashion trend in the making! As the activities and crafts continued through the morning the children learnt about these incredible creatures and when quizzed about what they had learnt the information had certainly be remembered. But when you learn about such fascinating creatures it’s hard to forget! Even though this was a morning of marine learning it felt like a party and what party is complete without a “pin the tail” game? Many giggles and some fairly accurate pinning ensued! A fun filled marvellous manta madness morning was had by all.
SOSF Island School Seychelles runs these sessions at the Seychelles Natural History Museum in the capital Victoria, the first Saturday of each month, pop by, you’re always welcome. For more information check Island School Seychelles Facebook and Twitter or contact islandschool@saveourseas.com
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