Gardening in lockdown 

This is an oppourtunity to place some real “home-schooling” and combine that with nature-time teaching, or simply exploring nature in your backyard (or… your local park nearby). Go outside and just have a look at all the life-forms that habitually live with us.

Here are some ideas of nature-learning you can do with your kids: 

* Toad stools, spiders with spider webs and silken retreats, plants and shrubs and trees; some are setting seeds now; find caterpillars and sap-sucking bugs.

* Have a look at willow trees and try to find the largest aphid on the planet! (willow aphid)

* Dig into the soil and see what you can find in there – how many different types of earthworms? How many compost worms?

* Who makes those cute, counter-sunk holes in the bare clay? What lives in there? Can we dig one up and see who’s down there?

* What happens when we pile up fallen leaves in a great big heap and leave that for a few weeks – it’s an experiment to see what happens to those fallen leaves and find our who actually composts them

LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE