Children love having turtles for pets. Many books have been written about children and their pet turtles. Eloise is a series of children’s books written in the 1950s by Kay Thompson. The main character is a young girl named Eloise, who lives in the room “on the tippy-top floor” of the Plaza Hotel in New York City with her nanny, her dog, and her turtle named “Skipperdee.”
Skipperdee is pictured wearing little green sneakers, walking on a tiny leash and eating raisins. While we do not 
advocate feeding raisins to turtles, we do know that finding creative ways to use Playstix can lead to building hotels for turtles! Apple Hill Academy daycare students love Playstix. A child might follow a given plan or even choose to create a make-believe turtle hotel we could all marvel over!
Many a groggy turtle might actually need a good night’s sleep after awaking from hibernating all winter in the cold muddy bottom of a pond. And, speaking of bottoms,,, you probably wonder how turtles go months and months without a breath of fresh air. Well, herpetologists figured out that some turtles actually breath through their bottoms during hibernation! It’s called cloacal respiration in which they take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. We can all marvel at yet another great wonder of the reptile world, while leaving the turtle hotel business up to the children who build them!
#daycare #childcare #preschool
