Exploration

R and I took charge of the Boy Wonder today for a two-night visit, and L suggested we all meet at Nature in Art, where none of the family but me had ever been before. After lunch, M and I left his mother and grandfather chatting in the café and went next door, where I showed him how to make brass rubbing pictures from some of the etched plates set out on a low table. He loved this activity, and was very proud to be able to show L and R the Dodo picture he made "all by myself, with no help at all!" 

We then went around the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition, and managed to keep the Boy engaged for quite a while with the children's quiz sheet supplied by the museum for the purpose, which he referred to as a Challenge. He also found some very nice objects, such as beetles preserved in resin, in chests scattered around the exhibition rooms - again, clearly placed there for the purpose of capturing the attention and engaging the interest of children.

After we'd finished our tour of WPOTY and handed in the Boy's quiz sheet - "Is there a prize? Is it sweets??" - we went outside to explore the sculpture garden and nature trail, which also contains a small children's adventure playground. Without doubt this was the area of the museum that B most enjoyed, especially our exploration of the nature trail. Suddenly it began to rain quite hard, and he said, "Quickly! Let's go to the whale tail! We can shelter there." The whale tail is a painted sculpture about two metres tall by three wide, I'd guess made out of either resin or fibreglass, and slightly curved over at the top, so it did in fact make a very good rain shelter. After a while though, the grown-ups became a little restive, and one of us said to B, "Shall we go back inside now? We could - "

"No," was the immediate and decisive response. "I have had enough Nature. And Art."