Bub & Me: Butterflies Up-Close Live Butterfly Enclosure, Science Centre Singapore

It's the last day of Chinese New Year!! After 15 days of celebrations and feasting... CNY is officially over after today. Hope everyone managed to have a reeeeeaaaally good rest and fun time with your loved ones.

I certainly took full advantage of the long weekend, and added 2 extra days to it haha since Lil Pumpkin's school was closed on the following Monday and Tuesday too. The boy's clinic is fully closed for the year only during CNY so it was a real treat for all of us (♥ω♥ ) ~♪

Still {!!} slowly getting back into the grind of work and our usual family schedule now (。-ω-)zzz

On Monday {CNY Day 4}, we brought Lil Pumpkin to see Butterflies Up-Close at Science Centre Singapore. The previous week, she went on a school excursion to the Science Centre with her classmates BUT they apparently spent the whole time there in a lab learning about insects!! They didn't get to explore the different exhibitions or events at our award-winning Science Centre which was such a shame as they have so many creative and innovative experiences available for the kids to learn more about science.

Oh well. Poor Lil Pumpkin was so disappointed and I didn't understand why they had to go all the way there to learn in a lab too when her own school has good labs haha so anyway we brought her back to make up for that disappointing school excursion.

Butterflies Up-Close is a permanent exhibition at Science Centre that opened from April 2016. Spanning 600sq metres and divided into 5 different zones, it is a joint project with Sentosa's Butterfly and Insect Kingdom to guide visitors through the metamorphosis of a butterfly - from egg to adulthood.

With only around 1 in 20 eggs making it to adulthood, the butterfly is met with numerous dangers and threats during each stage of its life cycle. At the exhibition, participants gain a deeper insight on how the butterfly behaves, interacts with its surroundings, and survives each stage of its life cycle to become a beautiful winged adult.

There's a diverse range of butterflies to learn about here from the region and on entering, you see this amazing giant art-piece that's made of real butterfly wings. Approximately 4,000 wing pieces from 28 different butterfly species actually.

Don't worry, they were collected from the butterflies after they ended their life cycles naturally!

Since we arrived early in the morning and it was our first paid exhibit we went to that day {we also went to Circus! Science Under the Big Top, read more about it below}, there weren't any other visitors as the crowd start trickling in around noon.

We took our time to read the descriptions, learn some cool trivia {did you know that moths usually rest with their wings flat, while butterflies with their wings folded??}, observe real butterflies under microscopes, check out some of the live caterpillars in the tanks..

... and of course, take photos hehe.

The highlight of the Butterflies Up-Close is definitely the Live Butterfly Enclosure. Although the number of butterflies and species vary on the season, you can expect around 500 live butterflies of over 15 species imported from countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia flying freely here.

And yes, you are allowed to touch and pick up the butterflies yourself! This thrilled Lil Pumpkin {and meeeeee} tremendously! ✿♥‿♥✿

Note: The staff will teach you how to pick them up safely from their legs. Do not touch their wings!

The Live Butterfly Enclosure is Singapore's largest indoor butterfly aviary where both humidity and temperature are carefully regulated to ensure that both the plants and butterflies thrive well there.

It was a lovely, cool respite from the hot weather outside for sure.

There's a little Research Pod in the center of the enclosure where you can see parts of the butterflies under microscopes, learn about their anatomy and see how a butterfly "shimmers" as you alter the angle of light shining on it.

@lovelilpumpkin was really gentle w/ the butterflies 🦋 & I loved seeing this side of her 💖💖💖 She was aware of her surroundings, figured out which butterflies were more likely agreeable to be picked up by herself, patiently inched her fingers under them & ever so softly, lifted them up gently.. such a darling & a far cry frm the boisterous kid she is most of the time! 😘💕🌸 #sakuraharuka #motherhood #sgkids #sciencecentre #singapore #butterfliesupclose #sgfamily #sweetchildomine

A post shared by アイ・サクラ  (@aisakuraharuka) on Feb 26, 2018 at 6:00pm PST

But most of the time, we spent it chasing after live butterflies hehe...

Oh what an experience! Living in a concrete city, it's not often that we get to be so intimate with nature, especially beautiful creatures like butterflies. Sure, we try to bring Lil Pumpkin to parks and hiking trails every now and then, but it doesn't mean that we'd always be able to touch and have so many butterflies surrounding us.

And goodness, there were so tame!! A lot of them were just resting peacefully on plants, or sipping at their meals, and some even came to land on us by themselves...

The boy was especially popular with the butterflies.. just call him The Butterfly Whisperer haha. The whole time we were there, he had a butterfly on him either on his head, back, shoulders etc.

The staff said it's because he's wearing red and butterflies are attracted to red... but I'm wearing red too, how come they don't come to me as much??? #jealous

Lil Pumpkin was really gentle with the butterflies and I loved seeing this side of her.

She was aware of her surroundings and figured out for herself which butterflies were more likely agreeable to her picking them up {hint: bigger butterflies that were just resting and not feeding}, patiently inched her little fingers underneath their legs and ever so softly and slowly, lifted them up without frightening them away. Such a darling (‘∀’●)♡

I reckon we spent at least half an hour just at the Live Butterfly Enclosure.

There's no time limit and the staff won't chase you out but once more people came in, it felt kinda cramped and the butterflies were not as relaxed.

We stayed until Lil Pumpkin was well and ready to leave.. she was really pleased with the visit and I'm delighted that we brought her back to Science Centre where she not only learnt new things, but had fun doing so too ꒰✪ૢꇵ✪ૢ꒱ෆ⃛

Took a lot more pictures which I compiled in the video above. You know I really like something when I take the effort to make a video of it haha so have a look, and if it isn't playing properly, watch it on my YouTube channel here.

The Circus is in town! 🎪 @lovelilpumpkin was sooo excited to go to Science Centre w/ her classmates last wk but turns out tt they spent the whole time there in a lab learning abt insects! #poorthing 🔬She was pretty disappointed tt she didn’t get to explore the different exhibits & attractions there so we brought her back again yest.. One of the must-see exhibits now is “Science Under the Big Top” as you explore the science behind various circus acts w/ over 18 interactive exhibits, magic performances & hands-on activities like dressing up in circus costumes or trying to be a contortionist 🤹🏻‍♀️🤹🏻‍♂️ You can even try walking on a 3m high tight rope or performing acrobatic tricks mid-air but be prepared to queue for a long time as they are really popular!! The wait time when we went was 2hrs 😳😳😳 so unfortunately we didn’t give them a go.. wld probably be better during off-peak periods I reckon! 🎟💕🌸 #sakuraharuka #p3pumpkin #cny2018 #sciencecentresg #sciencecircussg

A post shared by アイ・サクラ  (@aisakuraharuka) on Feb 19, 2018 at 10:05pm PST

After that, we explored the main Science Centre attractions as well as Circus! Science Under the Big Top to discover the secrets and the science behind the wonders of the circus before heading home. See my Instagram post above to check out the highlights of that exhibit.

Oh if your kids visit & really love the experience, you might want to consider holding a birthday party there!

Yup, I saw on their website that they have Butterflies Up-Close kids birthday packages now which includes a decorated party room overlooking the Live Butterfly Enclosure, face-painting / balloon-sculpting activity, guided tour, birthday food, party packs and even a memorable live butterfly release for the birthday child to mark the occasion!! Oooooo~!

Butterflies Up-Close Live @ Science Centre Singapore 
Hall D, Science Centre, 15 Science Centre Road
Open daily 10am - 6pm {last admission at 5.15pm}
Admission: S$10 per adult or child {3-12 years old}, on top of Science Centre admission charges
* Science Centre charges - FREE for Singaporeans during school term weekdays, S$6/adult & S$4/child for Singaporeans during weekends, public holidays and school holidays. Separate fees for non-Singaporeans apply.
Website: http://www.science.edu.sg/exhibitions/Pages/ButterfliesUp-Close.aspx

Check out the rest of our Bub & Me activities or list of kid-friendly places in Singapore too ❤
 

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