by Helen Johnston
I took my five year old son and two year and four month old
girl to the Pond dipping and Bug hunt at Wicken Fen during the heat wave in
July. As a first time visitor to Wicke
n Fen I was happily surprised with the lack of parking charge and also that we did not have to pay an entrance fee on top of the activity as the activity was taking place outside the Fen area.
We arrived slightly early for the Pond dipping but were
guided to a craft and activity area which was supervised by a very helpful and
friendly volunteer. We spent the time whilst we waited colouring in crowns and
pictures of insects which kept my two children happily occupied.
When the activity began the small group of pond dippers were
given a talk on what to expect and what they may find in the pond. The talk was
short enough to hold the children’s attention and delivered in a lively and age
appropriate way. The volunteers had kept a newt to show the group which had
been caught by the previous group, which provided some interest.
Once the pond dip was underway the volunteers supported the
parents and children to pond dip correctly and if (like us) we weren’t very
successful they gave us a few bugs to look at. Throughout the activity we were
regularly visited by a volunteer who gave us interesting facts about the
creatures that we found in the pond.
The second half of the activity consisted of a bug hunt;
this was introduced by a lively volunteer who had the children in stitches of
laughter. Unfortunately by this time my son was hungry and irritable with the
heat so he did not engage well with the bug hunt but my little girl Edie loved
looking at the spiders and woodlice. Again as in the previous activity the
volunteers were on hand to tell us some interesting facts about the bugs that we
had found.
We all had a great time and I found myself learning
something too, I would thoroughly recommend this activity, which lasted an hour.
Edie really enjoyed it, however she may have been slightly young to get the
most out of it. I would perhaps recommend the ideal age group for the activity
to be 3 -8 years. I would also advise anyone wanting to book an activity to
book in advance through the website or booking line.
