Cookies and Crumbs: Okinawa Zoo and Wonder Museum

I whipped out my bible yesterday - that which is almighty in Okinawa (otherwise knows as Google Maps) and headed to the Okinawa Zoo and Wonder Museum with the kids. I had heard bad things about the zoo, and since this is a tiny island I didn't expect anything from the children's museum either, but we headed there anyway for a play date.

I have to say I was extremely impressed. The Wonder Museum had more educational and sophisticated activities and displays than the children's museum we were used to. It has three floors of fun and the children absolutely loved it. Dominic was just happy to be able to touch anything he came across. We signed up for an annual pass and I am so glad we did because we will definitely be back there soon.

Straight to the slide

You throw your ball onto the tube and watch it make its way down while you slide. haha

I wanted to play with this amazing thing. You switch on the colored tap and corresponding colored objects are projected onto the water so it looks like they are pouring out of the tap. You can then catch them in the pan that Dominic is holding.

Hard to capture on my iPhone camera but you can better see the colored shapes here.

Little man in Wonderland

This is after he fell down the rabbit hole

Outlines projected onto the screen

You can see me taking a photo with Dominic clinging to my leg. haha

My Tetris champ - she filled this up in no time.

This was amazing. Powerful magnets make this magnetic goo take on crazy shapes. I can't tell you what the goo is because it was all in Japanese, but I will find out.

Another amazing display - talk Japanese into the speaker and it pours Kanji out into the water. Dominic is the only person who could get it to work because apparently his babbling sounds quite Japanese.

Catch the letters

My little bird

Dress-up time

Natalie with her new friend Leona - too bad she is about to leave the island.

Hand prints in the pins!

Ha they look quite similar from the back.

My little Peter Pan! (Just grow up past this 18 month nightmare age please. Mommy wants to eat out in peace again someday!)

Kaleidoscope!

After the Wonder Museum we moved on to the zoo. I had heard that the animals were mistreated and not kept properly here so I was nervous to go. However this information was like a lot of information I got before I moved over here - dramatic, embellished and simply untrue. The cages are smaller than what we are used to over in the USA - but everything in Japan is smaller and there simply isn't the real estate on this island to have enormous enclosures. The animals were all in very clean quarters and they looked like they were well taken care of. Of course I wish they had bigger, more natural enclosures, but I also believe zoos are very educationally important, so I was pleasantly surprised with the zoo. We didn't even get to see the whole zoo as the kids were exhausted and it started raining. There are several rides there - a train, carousel, boat rides and little baby go-karts.

The zoo is built on the side of a hill.

Natalie loved the bee she found on a flower more than anything else.

I'm very against the use of animals for human entertainment. I have seen way too many videos about the abuse of circus animals. I will never support circus' that use animals - I do not want my children to think that is ok. Elephants are not supposed to do cartwheels. When I saw this elephant playing with a ball my heart sank. Until I stood there and watched him for a while. The connection between these keepers and the elephant was amazing. They would throw the ball to the elephant. He'd catch it with his trunk and then drop kick it. He would then put his trunk back to the keeper for a high five and smile this enormous smile. They weren't making him to tricks, they were just playing with him and he loved it. Look at that smile on his face. He missed the ball a few times and they just said what I can only imagine was "come on come on try again". Apparently one of these keepers lives in the enclosure above the elephants (yes there is a family of elephants not just one).