La Mesa Ecopark

If your idea of a fun family day is having a picnic, going boating, fishing, biking, swimming, enjoying nature at it’s best or your curriculum is about nature (plants and animals), transportation (boats, bikes)…then La Mesa Ecopark is a must-see!

Situated in Quezon City, La Mesa Ecopark has been advocating environmental awareness and conservation since September 2004.

I have only been to La Mesa Ecopark 3times in 2years. I personally like the fact that alongside promoting concern for the environment, the park offers facilities for healthful recreation. Here are some of them:

Lopez Picnic Grounds – bring your own meats or catch some fish (at the Fishing Lagoon) and have a barbeque using the free grill facilities; sit and relax under the trees too!

Salt Water Swimming Pool – salt granules are used instead of chlorine making the water safer and less toxic

Superferry Boating Lagoon – work-out those arms by paddling. It’s quite challenging but really enjoyable. Each boat fits about 3 adults and 2 kids (life vests are provided for).

Petron Fitness and Mountain Bike Trail – Experience full-body workouts at the 17 exercise stations

Shell Flower Terraces – Two hectares of colorful flowers are a sight to see, especially for young children. Climb the stairs to see the La Mesa Dam.

Butterfly Trail and Hatchery – An interactive, educational tour on the life cycle of the butterfly.

Each visit not only guarantees hours of fun learning experiences but participation in saving the La Mesa Watershed. Visit La Mesa Ecopark and La Mesa Watershed for more information.

Books vs Computers

Computers are great fun: they have sound, pictures and movement at the same time but some studies show that such technologies greatly affect the attention span, comprehension and imagination of children.

At Nest, we expose the children to the technological advancements but we put even greater emphasis on their exposure to books through the library program.

More journals and articles on this later. On the Books vs. Computers issue, I think Bill Gates says it best:

“BOOKS ARE GREAT. You can put them in a crib. Kids can take them on a bus or plane. I’m a big fan of all kinds of books, and they will continue to be important…

With the book, you don’t have to have a computer switched on, or even have a computer. MY KIDS WILL HAVE COMPUTERS, OF COURSE, BUT THEY WILL HAVE BOOKS FIRST.”

BILL GATES

Chairman, Microsoft Corporation

The Bill Gates Column, New York Time Syndicate

For more information, click here and here.