“Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”

I smiled as I thought how much the little boy was likened to the character of “Donkey” in the Dreamworks animated production “Shrek”.

Children in the group, armed with their worksheets and “tools of discovery” in hand, were all eager to get to a freshwater pond in the Reserve.

When we reached the “watery” destination, the children hastily scanned the surroundings for adventure and surprises.

The water had a beckoning effect I thought, as the children raced to the side of the platform, and peered inquisitively into the water, looking for signs of life.

With the kind sponsorship from Toyota Motor Corporation, we were able to organise a Freshwater Pond Life activity for children at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

We started a first session for children last year over Clean and Green Week in November 2005. This year, over World Wetlands Day, we successfully ran another.

Specially for children between the ages of eight to twelve years old, this half day programme encompasses a series of fun-filled educational outdoor and indoor learning of the freshwater ecosystem and its inhabitants.

The children, as always, in their own little adventurous ways, came to understand why freshwater ponds were important through worksheets, nature walks and games.

There were also sessions of origami, where after learning about frogs, each made their own “jumping” frog with a colourful piece of paper. Within 20 minutes, we had colourful frogs jumping all over the room.

At the end of the programme when their parents came to pick them up, we could only hear the excited chattering of the children leaving the Visitor Centre. Some of them proudly showed their jumping paper frogs and certificate of participation, while some happily held on to their little chocolate bar which they had won in the games. The memory of this display of joy and excitement from the children was all I need…