Put those colouring pencils down! Today you’ll colour with nature instead!

I’ve been wanting to use more natural products in our play and activities at home and decided to start slowly by providing an animal template for the girls to use as a guide for our colour with nature project.  It’s a simple activity that can take anywhere from ten minutes to 30 (depending how much they get into it). Here’s what we did today.

First, we collected some nature offcuts.

Then, we glued our off cuts onto these templates (free downloadable templates below). It was lovely to see a collage of  natural colours and textures on the page rather than drawn on crayon or pencil.

This activity was not only great for fine motor skills but we also compared the real body covering of animals (which we’ve looked at before) to the nature we’d collected. The grass and fern leaves that Miss Possum collected mimiced kangaroo hair and the clover really did look like turtle scales.

These templates are free to download here (click on the picture to download).  There’s one condition. You must use nature to colour them in. No pencils allowed!

 Enjoy!

You may be scared of spiders or love them, although I fear most are in the first category but spiders do play an important role in the environment. I try to teach my children that every animal has a role to play and so when we stumble on any creatures, we usually take some time to look at and discuss it. This time though, we have to get a little more hands-on!

Miss Possum found a  huntsman spider in the house and it was a perfect opportunity to teach the girls that we don’t need to kill an animal to get it out of our house. Instead we can release it outside.  So we did.

What you need to catch a spider

All you need is:

• A container or a cup that’s bigger than the spider
• A piece of paper (or cardboard, if you don’t feel that’s thick enough).

I should remind you all here to check the type of spider it is before catching it. If it’s venomous it would be better left for the professionals and save this activity for a spider that you know is quite harmless.

Before you try to catch the spider to release it outside, talk about the spider. Here are some questions you can pose to your children:

• How many legs does it have?
• What does it eat?
• Where are its eyes?
• Why do you think it’s in our house?
• Why shouldn’t we kill it?
• Why are spiders important for the environment?
• Do all spiders make webs?

We looked in our wildlife guide-book  to find out if the huntsman spider was poisonous (I already knew the answer, but I think it’s good for children to find out themselves). We also learnt a lot about them. We learnt that a huntsman spider is nocturnal and doesn’t make a web but hunts it’s food at night, they are great for around our house because they eat cockroaches and we also admired the features on its body.

How to catch a spider

Next, you’ll need to catch it.

I caught it before I realized this would be a good post for you guys (the things I do for a blog post!) and so I tipped the spider out and did it again while getting hubby to take the photos.

I must admit, I did squeal a couple of times. They are just so fast and although I love spiders, I’m not fond of having them run up my arm. I tried not to get silly about it and reassured the girls I wasn’t scared. Still, i did see my children get slightly more anxious after that (darn instincts, why did I squeal!)

1. Catching a spider works best if your spider is on a flat surface. Have both your cup (or container) and piece of paper ready and close by you.
2. Grab your cup and quickly place it over the spider (try not to squish those little legs).
3. Then, slowly move the paper under the cup.
4. Put your hand up under the paper to keep the spider contained. There, wasn’t that easy?!
5. Then, release it outside!

Yesterday, Miss possum found another huntsman inside, although this one was much smaller and she wanted to catch it herself. I was surprised but she did it and she did it without squealing too!

It’s so lovely to know that my children are already thinking to take animals outside when we find one in the house (we catch moths too). This little activity really does teach your child that every animal has its place in the world and it’s important that they do their job… just outside!

Have you ever caught a spider? How do you feel about spiders in your home?

Many of us automatically view snails as an annoying little pest that eats our veggie gardens but next time you see one, don’t get out the spray (or organic defenses) just yet, snails make great pets for kids!

Why keep snails?

• They’re quiet
• They don’t take much work
• A simple setup is quite inexpensive
• Children can handle snails (see below)
• They may be slow but they can be interesting to watch
• They are a very different type of pet
• Their food can be scraps from your fridge

Where can you find snails? 

You can find snails in the garden most of the time. In our old house, we didn’t find a snail once (and we always look for creepy crawlies) but as soon as we added a veggie garden it was almost like it was an open invitation for snails to visit us.  We usually find ours tucked up under a lettuce leaf.

What you need to take care of snails

Enclosure

Their enclosure can be as simple or extravagant as you’d like.  It is can be a plastic takeaway container if you’re only intending to keep and observe them for a couple of days but if you’re thinking of keeping them for longer, a larger enclosure would be better for the snails. It’s important to ensure there’s a good amount of ventilation. Snails don’t mind a bit of humidity but they do still need fresh air too.

Soil/Substrate

We used regular soil out of the garden and, because we had it on hand from making a wildlife themed terrarium a while a go, I also added some sphagnum moss. Both are great substrates for snails and should be  added 7 -10 cm deep in the enclosure.  Keep the substrate clean and moist at all times. A spray bottle is perfect to moisten substrates and furnishings in the enclosure without over soaking it.

Home and other furnishings

Snails like to hide in dark places, although some like to sit near the lid and others even under the dirt. Providing plenty of places that allow the snail to be where it makes them happy can only be good for your snails.We added a terracotta pot and a stick for climbing  but you can add real plants, rocks and twigs too.

Food

Snails eat fruit and veggies (although avoid citrus foods) but theses foods soil quickly. I’d suggest adding a food bowl. It makes the clean up and addition of  fresh food much easier than if you added it straight to the bottom of the tank. Remember to wash the food before you give it to them. Many fruits and veggies come home with pesticides on their skin and  if you feed it to them, it will kill your snails.

Also, snails need calcium to keep their shells healthy, so adding a bit of cuttlefish or dried crushed egg shells to the side of the dish is important too. For a good list of food that snails love and  for more information on why snails need calcium in their diet, visit this great website all about pet snails. 

Handling

Handling snails is fine but ensure you use proper health practices and wash your and your child’s hands straight after holding a snail. Also, I’d suggest that children be fully supervised as people can get sick if they eat snails.

Maintenance and care

There are plenty of positives for keeping snails but I love that they don’t take a lot of work. The side of the snail enclosure should be wiped down once a week and the substrate changed once a month. Also, ensure you take out any rotten food and replace with fresh food every couple of days. Easy!

I find watching snails quite relaxing. They just slither around at their own pace and enjoy their surroundings.The girls really seem to enjoy watching them too.

We had these snails in a takeaway container for two weeks during the move and I could tell they were very happy when put in their new enclosure. They became active right away.

We won’t keep them forever. We’ll have to decide if we are going to let them go in our veggie garden or if I should take them to work and feed them to our blue tongued lizards. I have a feeling the girls won’t let me do the latter.

Have you ever kept snails?

Follow on activities

• Learn about snails, their breeding, predators and where they fit into the a food chain
• Find out more about animals that carry homes on their backs
• Make a shell using recycled materials and put it on your back, now you can pretend to be a snail!
• Race your snails. Mark their shell with a little bit of nail polish (if you can’t tell them apart) and race them!
• Conduct snail investigations

It doesn’t take much to encourage our children’s curiosity in nature and wildlife.  It’s a subject that most children seem to engage in quite naturally.  There are, of course, ways to enhance those curiosities and adding some mostly inexpensive tools to their backpack will help them to get closer to nature and make exciting wildlife discoveries.

Bucket. 

A small bucket is most certainly essential and can be used in several ways.  It can help a child catch an animal more safely than using their hands and it holds the animal for a period of time, allowing for a better opportunity to observe it before releasing it back into the wild. It’s perfect for catching lizards, frogs, fish and insects!

Magnifying Glass.

We will catch a lot of bugs in our buckets but although we can catch and observe them, it can be hard to see the features on such small animal’s bodies. Using a magnifying glass is a perfect way to highlight those smaller features like spines, antenna and even hooked toes. It gets you up really close!

Torch.

Many people may not think about adding a torch to a child’s backpack but you’d miss a whole lot of  wildlife spying opportunities if you only stuck to searching in daylight! A torch is the must have to go spotlighting. 

Raincoat.

Many animals love the rain E.g. frogs, snails and turtles. Luckily, children love going out in the rain too, so it’s more about channeling that into a wildlife learning activity. I’d include a raincoat in their backpack to keep them nice and dry while looking for soggy animals.

Camera. 

I don’t know about you but my children love cameras. They love taking photos of everything!  Letting your child have their own camera is the perfect way for them to document their wildlife finds. It’s also a wonderful opportunity for you, as parents, to see what animals pique your child’s interest. Here’s a few tips to think about before giving your child a camera, including keeping them safe while they take photos of wildlife.

Binoculars.

Many animals can be seen, but a lot can only be seen in the distance. Having binoculars handy in the backpack  is not only a great way for your child to enjoy their animal discovery but also allows them to spy more wildlife that they wouldn’t have seen with their naked eye!

Fishing Net.

Sometimes animals are harder to catch than we’d like. A butterfly/ fishing net is great for catching animals that swim, hop or fly (grasshoppers, moths, fish, crabs, tadpoles, crayfish and more).

Nature Journal.

A nature journal helps children, connect, understand and classify animals. It also makes a nice visual diary to look back on and discuss.

On a recent wildlife holiday, we made a nature journal. Although only four and a half, Miss Possum wrote and drew a picture in it every day. You can make a nature journal as creative as you like: glue in beautiful leaves, feathers and shed skins, draw and write about nature you’ve seen, stick in the printed photos that you took with your camera etc.

A small white sheet.

A great way to catch bugs is by laying a sheet and shaking a tree. Honestly, having a white sheet in the backpack will come in handy for any child that just loves finding bugs. Don’t forget to use the bucket to scoop up the animals you found on the sheet!

With these little, inexpensive items, your child will be well equipped become a brilliant wildlife explorer!

Cloud watching can take five minutes, be done almost anywhere where the sky can be seen and you have right cloud cover and is a great way to use your imagination in nature. Cumulus clouds, with their ever changing fluffy cotton wool appearance are the best for finding shapes in clouds.

Miss Possum, Platypus, Panda and I were lying on our new veranda, glazing at the clouds slowly moving past us when Miss Possum spotted an elephant in one of them. I spotted one close by and we sat there explaining where our imaginations were forming as each cloud blew in our direction.

We had to explain which cloud it was and where the parts of the animal’s body were to fully see the each other’s animal in the sky. It was lovely. Here’s what we discovered in our clouds.

It didn’t take long for a rather heavy cloud to wash us inside though. We’ll be doing this cloud activity again, it was a relaxing activity after a busy day for all!

Extended Learning Activities

• Learn about different types of clouds
• Find about out how clouds are formed
• Find our more about an a animal you saw formed by a cloud
• Search the sky for real animals

When have you last looked to the sky?

Do you need a simple activity that will not only be fun and creative but also fill your kid’s tummies with healthy food?  Well, letting your child create their own animal, using healthy bits and pieces from within your fridge worked a treat for us!

After a week of unhealthy eating (we still have so much chocolate in the house left over from Easter), I brought out all the healthy foods for afternoon tea and let Miss Possum make her own animal using them. She didn’t use all the foods I put out but the point was that she chose which healthy ingredients she wanted to eat and use to create her animal.

What we used:

• healthy food (you can use whatever you have in the pantry and fridge). We mainly used fruit.
• skewers and toothpicks (with parental supervision)
•  cake decorating gel
• creativity

This activity was great for developing Miss Possum’s fine motor skills and also encouraged critical thinking. Working out how to make an animal out of fruit can be quite challenging!

 Educational Tips

• Print out a picture of the animal to help them create it using food. Discuss the parts of the animal and what food you could use to replicate it.
• Make an insect and use three big bits of fruit to create a head, an abdomen and a thorax (you’ll probably need fruit for legs too!)
• Talk about bones and how the skewers work in a similar way, to allow our body to be strong and stand up.

Miss Possum made a giraffe using blueberries for feet, an orange for the main body, carrots for the neck and a strawberry and grapes for the head.  She’s never really liked oranges, so I was quite shocked at her choice but after she’d made the giraffe and started eating it, she devoured it so fast I didn’t even get to cut myself a slice! She really did fill her tummy with all her daily fruit requirements in one sitting.

I felt the twins were a little too young to make their own, so we did it together. I helped them thread the grapes and blueberries onto the skewers and we ended up creating lizards, which they loved! These caterpillar kebabs gave me the inspiration for the lizards below.

Miss Possum’s already asked me if we can make more tomorrow and I’ve said yes. How can I say no to getting more good food into their tummies and learning about animals at the same time?!
Have you made food fun for your kids lately?

The recycled toilet rolls in our craft bin had been piling up since the twins started toilet training and if I didn’t do something soon, we would be overrun, swimming in a playroom of faintly ocean fresh-scented cardboard rolls. What’s worse is that my mum started to collect hers for me too. What could I do with them all?  We needed a project, a BIG toilet roll project.

So, we got one—toilet roll animals.

Over a couple of months, every few days I’d sit down and craft an animal out of toilet rolls.

‘What animal would you like me to make today, Miss Possum?’

And each time she’d reply with a completely different animal from the last.

I’d craft it and she would paint it. Then once it was dry, we’d add a little more detail on each. We used three craft items: toilet rolls, a good craft glue (or super glue for the hard drying parts) and acrylic paint.

Our first creation was a pink pig, which I haven’t added into this top photo simply because it’s been so well-loved that it’s fallen apart now and therefore won’t be showing up in any of the later activities. Here’s a picture of it in its former glory.

Move on a month later and I’m sitting at the table wondering how on earth I’m going to craft a gorilla—a gorilla for heaven’s sake! I did it. I don’t know how I did it, but I did. 

When I look at them all lined up together below, it really does bring me joy. Joy because Miss Possum and I spent time together, joy because  they look amazing and joy because we completed our mission by using well over 25 toilet rolls in the process (although they’re already piling up again!).

  

 

Why don’t you try to make your own and recycle those toilet rolls that just keep piling up too?!

Other animals you can make using toilet/cardboard rolls:

• Beautiful butterflies
• The cutest octopus
• Penguins
• Ten toilet roll snake!
• Little owls

I forgot all about making bunny and bilby feet in the dewy grass on Easter morning but I think 4.30 am was just too early to go jumping around getting my feet cold and  wet! I still decided that it would make an interesting activity to do with the girls though. So, the next morning when they’d all woken up (including me), we went outside to see if the grass was covered in dew.

When dew is formed on the grass, it creates a layer that makes it appear lighter than it actually is. When you jump on the dewy grass, it releases the droplets and the nice dark wet grass can be seen under foot. This makes it perfect to create animal tracks in the grass. The girls absolutely loved every minute of this activity.

Animal footprints you should try:

Kangaroo – big, long jumps.

Snake – use your feet to slip through the grass and curl the animal track around to look like a snake.

Mouse – little tiptoeing steps on the grass

Frog – jump on all fours.

Of course, you can add arm movements and even the animal sounds too (just be careful not to wake up the neighbours!)

Once you’ve made your tracks in the grass, compare them. Which is your favourite? Which most looks like the animal’s footprint track? Which did you enjoy making the most? Which track is easiest to see in the grass?

You may get some cute grassy feet at the end of this activity too!

Follow on activities

• Do your children love to move like animals? Animal Movement Dice
• Learn  how dew is formed
• Search for spider webs covered in dew
• Find out what animals drink the morning dew

Although we started our Easter crafts with a life-sized bird nest for the girls, we haven’t done anything else to celebrate this festive season. In fact I’ve been so busy with birthday parties, dance rehearsals and planning to move house that I didn’t realize until yesterday that it was Easter this weekend. Opps!

Luckily, I had a lovely little egg hunting activity all prepared for when Miss Possum came home from school today. I couldn’t think of a more relevant egg hunting activity then to make the aim to guess which eggs (with animals drawn on them) were egg layers and which were not eggs layers.

What you’ll need for the hunt:

• 8 eggs
• Sewing pin
• Permanent markers
• Basket
• two containers

Preparing for the Hunt

1.     You’ll need to blow the egg yolks out of the eight eggs.  You can do this by using the sewing pin to make a hole in both the top and bottom of each egg. Then,  gently blow on one hole, making the yolk come out of the other hole. If you’re finding it difficult, make the hole slight bigger down the bottom. I also rinsed the inside of the eggs with water and then dried them.

2.     On four of the eggs, draw animals that lay eggs and on the remaining four, draw animals that do not lay eggs. Some examples:

If you’re not a confident drawer you can easily print out pictures of the animals and stick them on with glue or sticky tape

3.     Set up two containers somewhere with one labelled lay eggs and the other do not lay eggs.

4.      While your child is occupied inside the house, hide the eggs around the backyard.

The Egg Hunt

When you give your child the hunting basket, it might be a good idea to explain that they need to be very gentle with the eggs or they’ll crack.  Now, ask them to find the eggs. When they find an egg, ask them what animal is on the egg and how do they know it’s that animal. Miss Possum loved this activity!

Once they’ve collected the eggs, ask them to sort the eggs into the containers. Give them plenty of help, especially if you add tricky ones like I did.

Once they’ve sorted the eggs,  the crafty fun doesn’t need to stop there. Miss Possum decided she wanted to paint the eggs and so we actually did another Easter activity that afternoon too. Tomorrow we’ll crush them and use them for more craft fun. I love recycling!

I really love this activity, it’s an Easter egg hunt with an education animal twist. I hope you like it too and happy Easter everyone!

*You may notice that there’s a lizard in the do not lay eggs container. This lizard was labelled Blue tongued lizard, which gives birth to live young. I told you I made it tricky for Miss Possum!

Does your child love to draw animals? Have you encouraged your child to draw from an animal image?  Wildlife art isn’t just great fun but by taking the time to analyse a wildlife image first, you can learn a lot about the animals in it before you even put pencil to paper!

Miss Possum loves to draw her usual subjects of animals, plants and people from her imagination but I wanted to show her that there are other ways to draw.  I thought it might be nice for us to look at an image of an animal and try to draw it on paper instead.

I grabbed one of my animal photography books and let her skim through it until she found something she wanted to draw. Before starting to draw, we looked at the features of the elephant she’d picked. We talked about the caked mud on the elephants feet, the tusks that seemed well used and how strong and heavy the elephant looked.  We talked about what we thought the animal was thinking and what the image told us about the elephant.

I think it’s an important step to talk about the subject of your image before you start drawing, it almost creates a mood that might even extend into your artwork. Here’s some more general questions you can ask your child before drawing from a wildlife image:

• What animal is it?
• What’s the animal doing? Why do you think that?
• What body covering does the animal have?
• What type of animal is it? E.g. bird? Mammal? Reptile?
• Where could the animal be going?
• Is the animal happy or sad? Why do you think that?
• What’s in the background of the image or behind the animal?
• Is there anything in front of the animal?
• Why do you want to draw THIS animal?

After a bit of discussion, we decided to only draw the animal this time and not the background. It was her first time trying to replicate something on paper and we wanted to start small.

We took our time drawing.

I noticed Miss Possum was interested in the way I was adding some shading to my drawing of the elephant. I explained that light from the sun hits the animal and where the sun can’t get to creates shadows on the animal.  I showed her the shadows on the elephant and the same shadows I tried to make on my drawing. She started to shade parts of her elephant.

It was so enjoyable to draw again and I could see that Miss Possum was quietly enjoying herself too.

Miss Possum’s drawing is on the right and mine is on the left. Not bad for an almost five year old is she?!

After we’d done our lovely art lesson, I was lucky to find a beautiful place that fosters little wildlife artists to be. I hope to tell you more about Oz Wildlife Studio soon! Take a look around. If you have little artists that would love to learn how to draw wildlife and you live in Brisbane, Australia, this is the place to go!

When did you last get out the pencils and draw from a beautiful wildlife image?