As a former Science teacher, I’m always on the lookout for ways to teach my son the defining characteristics of animals.

Japanese products come to the rescue once again. These bath capsules from Daiso invoke excitement as well as induce educational value. You just need to place one capsule in the bath water. After some time, the dissolvable plastic will disappear, revealing the animal encased within it.

Thanks to this, I revise the characteristics of various animals in a fuss-free and fun way. In fact, the son just answered that crocodiles are reptiles and reptiles have dry scales.

Another way is consuming Zooland printed biscuits from Meiji. Each biscuit comes in the form of an animal, and as we tuck into the biscuits, I can ask him to categorise it into MR FIBA. The quiz at the back doesn’t hurt either! Fun and filling!

Hopefully, the son will be able to rattle off the defining characteristics of mammals, reptiles, fish, insects, birds and amphibians in no time at all!