When I heard about the theme for Ocean Fest this year - A Colourless Ocean, I was a little puzzled about the rationale behind it. That was when my eldest came up to me and said "Mama, that is because our corals are bleaching and losing their color." Well, I guess it's true that parents can learn a lot from kids too.
Indeed, climate change, global warming and pollution are real problems that are harming our oceans and marine life. In order to educate the kids and myself more about this, we made our way to S.E.A. Aquarium over the weekend to check out the Ocean Fest activities. It was a fun-filled mum-and-kids outing and we had a blast. Here are the highlights from our visit.
1) OBNOVA by Rizman Putra
This is an art installation that depicts the hope for our oceanscape to restore its colours, become vibrant and flourish once more. Handpainted by local award-winning artist Rizman Outra, this is a perfect photo spot located at the Shipwreck Gallery. My kids love spotting the giant stingray there so see if you can spot it too!
2) Zero Plastics Pledge Wall
The kids contributed to a mosaic artwork at thr Pledge Wall as they thought deep and hard about how they could help to protect and save our oceans. It's easy to say that we will reuse and recycle, stop littering and reduce our plastic consumption. The hard part is executing it and making sure that our actions match our words. We can do this if we all work hand in hand together, starting from you and me.
Upcycling helps to prevent pollution and keep our oceans clean. We drink milk everyday and what we do with our empty milk cartons is to recycle them or use them as watering cans. This time, we turned them into something truly beautiful - LED bottle lamps! From uncoiling the lights and inserting them to sponging an artwork and transfering it onto the carton, the kids enjoyed the experience and were impressed with the end product. How pretty!
We were so lucky to see so many dolphins that day, the jellyfish was enthralling and the sharks never fail to amaze us.
Touch Pool and Manta Meet and Greet
These are another two highlights that you can look forward to when you visit. Don't miss the chance to touch a sea star or two at the Discovery Touch Pool near the exit and if you are lucky, you can catch the cute mascot Manta like we did too!
All in all, we had a great learning day at Ocean Fest in S.E.A. Aquarium and can't wait for our next visit already. We sure hope everyone is enjoying the June holidays as much as we are!
