SMALL HANDS, BIG HEARTS By Kinderland Preschool, Revenue House

Last year, children from Kinderland Revenue House collaborated with Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) for the “I Love Pangolins” Carnival to promote awareness of the Pangolins, one of the last few native mammals in Singapore and to encourage our children to care for them.

This year, we partnered with WRS again on the wildlife conservation project with a focus on saving the otters. Tapping on children’s prior knowledge, they deepened their learning on the habitats, diets and characteristics of otters through a series of story telling sessions, discussions and a learning journey to the Singapore Zoo. The children learnt about the dangers of extinction and had a better understanding of the importance of preventing water pollution in rivers to provide a safe and healthy habitat for the otters.

Motivated to raise funds to save the otters, the children expressed their creativity in making crafts and decorative items with recycled materials for the Little Entrepreneur Programme, under the guidance of the teachers. We organised an “I Love Otters” Carnival at Revenue House Preschool on 20th August 2017 and parents were invited to this special occasion. The event was also part of ECDA’s “Start Small Dream Big” initiative and parents were informed that the nett proceeds from the event would go to the Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) Conservation Fund. The fund raised would be used for the purpose of conserving Singapore’s endangered native wildlife, in addition to capacity building, education and awareness programmes on key species and conservation issues in the Southeast Asian regions.

The Carnival gave our children, from the Kindergarten 1 and 2 classes, the opportunity to experience the entrepreneurial spirit as they engaged in the selling of the crafts, through communication with the adults. Our supportive parents also came and supported their littles ones’ cause by buying their masterpieces and other items on sale.