Nicole Blanchflower and Jasmine Foubister (pictured) particularly enjoyed touching the scaly skin of Matey, an Australian bearded dragon. As part of the playgroup's topic work on minibeasts, the group of 20 children, aged between two-and-a-half and five, also encountered stick insects, snakes, a leopard gecko and a tarantula during a visit by Roland Digby from the Aberdeen-based Bug-U-Like.
Playgroup supervisor Hema Kamath said it gave the children a chance to see and touch animals that they might otherwise never meet. She said, 'The children absolutely loved it and they have been talking about the different creatures and including the experience in their games ever since.
'Roland Digby had the children totally enthralled for more than 40 minutes. He showed them each creature in turn and told them about camouflage and how they live in different habitats - some liking moisture, others enjoying the warmth or being nocturnal.
'A whole range of the curriculum was covered as the children learned which countries the animals came from and how they live, tried to spot all the stick insects in the tank and counted the creatures' legs and toes. Social and emotional aspects were covered by the children sharing and taking turns and being careful not to scare the animals. They were allowed to touch or hold some of the creatures and, if they'd been allowed, I'm sure a few of the children would have taken the snakes and dragon lizard home - they didn't want to be parted from them.'