Daniel Benitez Blog Post 5

The age of flight is upon us.

This weeks theme was flight. Feathers to Stars is the flight exhibit we have at the museum and it was the starting point for this week. The theme of flight started way back when dinosaurs ruled the world and the kids were tasked with putting together a puzzle of an Archaeopteryx.

                            

We also allowed them to be a little bit more creative and design their own dinosaurs made out of clay and to go along with the theme of flight we gave them feathers to make their dinosaurs fly. It's amazing to see the wonder that is a kid's mind. They are so creative and its so effortless.

I created this one

On Tuesday, we went to the aquarium as per week. However, this week I discovered a cool fact about sand. Did you know sand is made by the feces of parrotfish? Yes! They consume dead coral and their bodies break it down to create sand.

These are examples of their poop lol, 

Apparently with young kids from grades 2nd to 5th drones are all the rage. These campers went on to say how they own like 7 drones and in my awe I googled the price of a drone was like lol ok. The Frost Museum has quite the number of drones actually and a drone specialist came to give the campers a demonstration and perform activities. The kids had so much chasing a flying a object it was really funny to watch. 

The kids were also given the opportunity to build their own flying contraptions after learning about the Wright Brothers. Pictured below are those contraptions. 

                    

 

On Friday was my community outreach event. I was tasked with reading Drum Dream Girl. The library already had a morning reading scheduled so I went right after they finished their stories. I met up with 2010 alum Jenny Gil and she helped me with the event.

Here we are in front of the table that we so elegantly arranged.

I actually had so much fun doing the reading. The kids were so excited to build drums and when i asked then "Do you guys think its fair that only boys can play drums on this island?" some of them actually responded. I wasn't expecting a response because they were so young, they were toddlers and we had an audience of like 60 toddlers not including their parents. It was a big activity but I had a great time doing it. My favorite part was the showing them the sound hose and seeing the excitement in their facial expressions. 

                

               

My internship will end next week and then college. I'm so grateful to YAP its made me a more outgoing person. It definitely taught me the importance of networking and its given me the opportunity to meet so many incredible individuals. So this isn't a goodbye but a see you later. 

See you later, 

Daniel Benitez