Minibeasts

Once upon a time there was a princess named Bean who lived in a castle that was attacked by a minibeast. Why am I writing a fairy tale? Well, Bean came home from school yesterday with a homework assignment to make a model of a minibeast. Hmmm, ok? I have never heard of a minibeast. But it sounds like a little hairy monster that should be in a fairy tale. I was busy making dinner and never got a chance to google it and assumed dear hubby would know what a minibeast is. He got home from work and I asked him -- nope, no idea. Okay, I was not just ignorant about this - this is apparently an England thing. So we googled it. It is always a little crazy to think you have to google something to figure out what it means, but such is our life in England. I have used google more in the past three months than I have my entire life. So what is a minibeast? Quite literally, a ‘minibeast’ is simply an insect, like spiders, snails, slugs, beetles, centipedes, worms, earwigs, caterpillars……these are just a few well-known examples of the thousands and thousands of types of ‘creepy-crawlies’ that are classified as minibeasts. Officially, minibeasts are invertebrates, which are animals without a backbone. So how do we make a "model" of one of them? Well, that is daddy's area - he is the creative one in the family. I can help come up with the supplies and he can help Bean with her homework on this one. They will be making a minibeast tonight. As for the word minibeast? I think that is a great way to describe the way I feel about spiders - they are truly what I would envision as a minibeast. If I do ever write a fairy tale, you better believe the minibeast will be a feature character!