"LIFE IN A SHELL"

Life in a Shell

Turtles, Tortoises and Terrapins, who knew there could be so many species of them? Have you ever thought what they eat? Oh, I didn’t know turtles could be sooo excitingly fun to get to know with.

First that caught my attention was this cutie baby tortoise. I couldn’t help cuddling it. It’s like a living toy!

Going from small to medium, this good-looking creature is Stella. She is Ark Avilon’s resident pet. Stella is an Indian star tortoise. Literally, she leisurely roams around the admin office like a regular pet.  Kuya Noel here was introducing her to Chantal.

And what’s next to medium? Yes! It is large. Meet the gigantic African Spurred Tortoise.

Chantal, with the help of Kuya Kent & Kuya Noel was feeding the giant tortoise in this photo with green leafies & juicy melons.

 Of course, the food preparations for these shelled beauties were demonstrated. Kuya Kent was chopping the fish, greens and melons. Were you surprised to see fish in the turtles’ diet? I was!

Chantal helped prepare the food too!

Oh these guys are hungry!

Take a good look at this adorable, tiny and innocent-looking one…

Some at play on land…

And the others at play in water…

Now, look at this big guy!

Meet the Alligator Snapping Turtle a.k.a. the monster turtle! Why the name? Because its shell is like the alligator's…

… and snaps like an alligator. It wouldn’t let go of the fish once it got hold of it.  Oh, you should see how it seized that big bangus. That was startling!

 

According to kuya Noel, the tongue of the Alligator Snapping Turtle has a worm-like tip. It uses it to lure the prey. And since fish loves worm, they would voluntarily take the risk to get to the “worm”.  Lucky guy.

Whew! Awesome turtles.

Ok, let’s lighten up a little and go to something artsy. The recycled art project featured herein is the Mandala Design using old CDs.

Chantal started painting wearing a quite serious face. She must be tired after that turtle mission. And even though she loves painting, she couldn’t think of what to paint.

And… I think she was having fun painting with mommy… Look at her rainbow design. Lovely color combination, huh?

We were making a beautiful mess and I loved the way this artsy chaos look.

  

And finally, Chantal merrily completed 4 colorful designs from the humble old CDs. And she got to take them all home.

 Hope to see you in our next session. See yah!

See more of Ella Hipolito's artworks here 

"Everyday is Earth Day" Nature Appreciation Program @ Ark Avilon - "JUNIOR ZOO CHEF"

Good day, kids!

Prior to the 1^st set of the program on April 30, 2011, Everyday is Earth day Nature Appreciation Program was featured in ABS-CBN’s Umagang kay Ganda on April 28, 2011.

As seen on this photo, the kids had an enjoyable time. They jumped right on the art tables the moment the saw me holding paint brushes. Don’t they like to paint?

It was that moment also when I knew for a fact that kids adore animals! They were all cheering when Arthur, the Old English Sheep Dog & Jenny, the Orangutan came in.

“JUNIOR ZOO CHEF” was the first program line-up. Apple, banana, Grape, Pineapple, Squash, Broccoli and many more! See how gorgeous these fruits & veggies are? Guess who they are for? Yep! For the animals! Yumm!

Part of the menu are chicken, beef, fish and nuts which Pauline prepared first, with the guidance of kuya Noel. Next were meat, fruit then vegetable salad.

Here’s what Pauline came up with. These are good enough for us! But, oh boy, if we weren’t only thinking of the animals waiting for their sumptuous food, we must’ve devoured it outright!

Feeding time! Kuya Noel instructed Pauline to mix the salad very well because animals tend to be picky eater also at times. True enough, Big Bird here loves sitaw a lot! Haha!

Here, Pauline found out that Big Bird loves banana as well. And we thought only monkeys love bananas!

“How can Big Bird eat these nuts?” It was so surprising that the tiniest nuts & sunflower seeds are no trouble to Big Bird. He’s even leaving the skins & shells off. You should have seen him juiced out each piece of grape. Hurrah, Big Bird!

Now, it’s our other winged friends’ time to chow. The eagles were given fish. It was the coolest thing to watch - the eagles clasp their food with their spikey talons.

Oh, this for me is the most awaited part. Feeding Randy, the giant tiger. Being inside Randy’s den was the most bloodcurdling experience so far. It was a combination of fear & excitement. Weird feeling. Pauline was strategically placing the 3 whole beef-stuffed chickens.

After which, we got ourselves out.

When everything was all secured, Randy was finally allowed to have his food. Was it good, Randy?

Orange & Kiat kiat, the super cute mother & child sun bears! Oh, that all-day playing must have starved you both, huh?

Pieces of bread rolled into honey-milk-eggs batter, what else could be more delighting than these? Not to forget the big bowl of fresh fruits. You both are lucky adorable bears.

Last to feed on the list were the rabbits & guinea pigs. Now I’m pretty sure they are vegetarians. Look how fast they munched on those leafies.

Whew! That time with the animals was exhilarating, for sure.

Ark Avilon’s Everyday is Earth Day Nature Appreciation Program aims to inspire the kids to be more appreciative of mother earth and everything in it, hence, the recycled art tutorial. Our featured recycled art is the TREAT BOX.

I asked Pauline to get colored pages from the old magazine I gave her. These will be the base wrapper for the empty cereal carton.

I just gave her variations of papers in different colors. Pauline thought of making cut-outs to go with her design.

In here, Pauline was adding more colors on the box by painting it. I was wondering what she was painting. I didn’t bother looking at it because I wanted to let her innate creativity come out. She loves to paint, she said.

 And the finished Treat Box! Isn’t this cute? Pauline was thinking of using this treat box for her dogs’ pasalubong…

Since her dogs are back in the province, she opted to leave her finished artwork with me. And look what I used it for. My small tube paints don’t have its original case anymore, perfect fit!

  

 All for now. See you around!

 See more of Ella Hipolito's artwork