(By JPC)
Today our local bookstore threw a "Penguin Party" to celebrate the end of the summer reading club. Although Ellie wasn't actually a member of their summer reading club, we heard that there would be live penguins there so off we went! The penguin came from an aquarium nearby and was accompanied by one of his keepers. Before she took him out of his carrier, the woman told us all about penguins, including lots of things that neither of us knew (for example, did you know that most penguins don't live in the cold? do you know why penguins are white on their bellies and black every where else?). The talk was a little long for toddlers who I guess weren't the target audience anyway, but Lori and I enjoyed it! And then the penguin came out...
Today our local bookstore threw a "Penguin Party" to celebrate the end of the summer reading club. Although Ellie wasn't actually a member of their summer reading club, we heard that there would be live penguins there so off we went! The penguin came from an aquarium nearby and was accompanied by one of his keepers. Before she took him out of his carrier, the woman told us all about penguins, including lots of things that neither of us knew (for example, did you know that most penguins don't live in the cold? do you know why penguins are white on their bellies and black every where else?). The talk was a little long for toddlers who I guess weren't the target audience anyway, but Lori and I enjoyed it! And then the penguin came out...
Mama and Ellie waiting for the show to begin
This is L.P., which stands for Little Penguin. When he came out of his crate, you could feel the excitement in the room!
Ellie was enthralled from the minute his crate was opened, before she could even see him!
LP is an African penguin, is 16 years old, and sounds like a donkey when he talks. He also has a wife but no kids :-) He was adorable! He walked around the table and at one point even threw the penguin puppet on the floor. Ellie copied everything that he did - when he shook his head, she shook hers; when he picked at his feathers, she put her head down to her belly pretending to do the same.
Watching LP perform. Given her great skills at animal imitation, we asked her afterwards to show us what penguins do - she couldn't get the noise but she flapped her arms and shook her head.
Today was a scorcher so we walked around the mall afterwards and Ellie started gesturing at the rides when they were at the other end of the mall!
Tomorrow is the beach - yay!
4 comments:
It is so wonderful that she is already an animal lover. I can't wait to see her imitation of LP! Have a great day at the beach.
So why ARE they black all over except their belly?
P.S. be sure to check her backpack when leaving future Penguin Parties!
Love
Grandpa Clark
Ok, here's the kid level explanation for the pengiuns' feather colors that we got. Their color is a camoflage from predators when they are in the water. For example, if a penguin is swimming at the bottom of the ocean looking for fish and a shark swims above him and looks down, the black of the penguin's back blends into the black of the bottom of the ocean. On the other hand, if a penguin is swimming near the top of the water looking for fish, then a shark would be viewing him from below and the white of his belly would blend in with the white of the sun. Either way, the penguin's color would blend into the background from every angle, protecting him from predators! It's very cool and made more visually understandable by the puppet LP's caregiver used :-)
Jana
that little gal sure gets around!!!did you have fun at the beach??
thank her for the nice card....looking forward to seening her (you and Jana also!!) in Dec.
talk to you soon..love ya
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