Now we are moving towards summer, the days are a lot longer. If you are wanting to experience nature in a completely new way, why not try a night walk. Even the most familiar walk can appear an adventure and you really don’t need to go far.
Out and About – Be a Night Walk Explorer
Taking a walk at night will awaken the senses in a completely different way. Not only will you need to rely more on your hearing and sense of touch but things will even smell differently. So even a familiar walk will feel like a totally new region to discover.
Top tips – take an adult with you but leave your torch at home. Your night vision gets ruined with the use of any torch light. Wait for a few minutes for your eyes to adjust to the new low light levels and then moving more slowly than normal to allow your feet to feel for any trip hazards. Keep your ears open to all the nocturnal animals and birds that will be busy at night.
In the garden – Make a Wormery
Did you know? Worms are 1000 times stronger than a human (relatively speaking), they can reproduce all on their own without a mate and even if you accidentally cut them in half they can go on living! You don’t get two worms but the part with the saddle (the fatter pink part) is the only half to survive.
The Earth Worm’s most important job is their ability to make compost. They eat their body weight in dead organic matter everyday and then poop out beautiful soil! You might see these worm poos or casts in your garden.
You need – a clean jar, soil, sawdust, leaves, veggie peelings or over ripe fruit, worms from your garden.
How to do it – The important thing is to create clear layers of each of the above so you can observe the worm’s work. Keep these layers moist. Worms breath through their skin and need to be kept damp.
Once you filled the jar with layers, you need to make a tube of black paper to slide over the jar. This is to trick the worms into thinking they are deep underground. Don’t attach the tube to the jar as you will need to move it up and down to look inside.
You will also need a lid to stop the worms escaping. Cover the top of the jar with a piece of foil and pierce some holes in it, secure with an elastic band.
Finally you will need some worms! Sending vibrations into the ground to try and raise the worms imitates rainfall and brings the worms to the surface. This could be done by dancing or drumming on the ground. Alternatively, water the grass with a watering can.
Carefully place the worms into the Wormary so they can get to work. Keep checking the jar each day to see what they are up to and don’t forgot to release them after a week or so.
Staying at Home – Make an Origami bird
Click on the link to show you how to make a simple origami bird for children.