I have a problem in my garden. My hosepipe isn’t long enough to reach my vegetable patch. My challenge for you is to design and build me a water transportation system which will transfer water 8.5m down a slope from a hosepipe to a vegetable patch. Here is the youtube video to show you the problem.
As you can see it will take a bit of designing to get the water transported along the 8.5m. Think about the types of materials you could use around your house to create the system. There is a help sheet attached to undertaken an investigation to test if materials are suitable. Please Don’t forget to share any photos you have of your aqueducts here on facebook or on Twitter #NatureDays
My challenge for you today is to design your own outdoor Obstacle course in your garden.
Think about the types of areas you have in your garden.
Do you have different levels or steps you can use as part of the obstacle course?
Do you have equipment such as trampolines, hoops, balls, planks and slides you could use?
Think about the route you need to take. Where will the start and finish line be?
Do a risk assessment. What could go wrong? How could you get hurt? How could you hurt the environment?
How might you make you obstacle course safer?
Time yourself running the course and maybe challenge your family to have a go too.
You could try doing a commentary and filming your family. Look at my obstacle course and commentary on you tube.
Once you have all had a go think about how you might improve your obstacle course to make it more challenging.
How might you do part of it blindfolded or backwards?
You might also design the ultimate obstacle course in you garden on a story board. How would you like zip-lining over your house, or skiing down the roof?
Don’t try this!! Just draw a picture or you could photo shop a picture of you doing it!
Don’t forget to share photos of your obstacle course.
Tweet any photos of your obstacle course #NatureDays or share on the Nature Days facebook page or email them to me. naturedays@reynoldston.com
This Sunday is our next GSY activity a Spring Stroll.
With the lockdown in place it is not possible for us to have our GSY activity in its usual form with us all meeting in one place.
However this should not stop us exploring the natural world or learning about what is going on outdoors.
Therefore I have adapted our Spring woodland stroll planned for this Sunday to a Virtual Spring stroll around my garden.
I will be going live on facebook this Sunday at 10am to undertake a virtual stroll around my garden to show you all the spring flowers which are growing there and the trees. I aim to go through the same learning we would have undertaken on the GSY event but we won’t be able to undertake the practical activities planned.
If you would like to attend the virtual activity you have two options:
Log into the GSY facebook page on Sunday at 10am to take part in a realtime lesson and stroll. with the opportunities to interact with me and ask question live.
If you visit the Nature Days blog you can also print-off an identification guide so you can tick off plants as you see them on the film, or look for them in your own garden or on your daily exercise outside.
Please comment on facebook or youtube any questions or comments so I can see people are watching and engaging in the event.
It would be great to know there is someone watching!!
You can also find the YouTube page linked on twitter @DawnNatureDays on Sunday and on a facebook post on GSY facebook page, Nature Days facebook page and Dawn Thomas facebook page.
Please feel free to share with non-members of GSY or any families or teachers who may find it a useful resources.
I hope to see you on Sunday. Safe. Best regards Dawn
If you are planning an Easter egg hunt in your garden on Easter Sunday, then why not use the skills and resources you have developed through Nature Days outdoor learning resources?
Create a map of your garden using the You tube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q46ImI1NvoI&t=3s You can mark the locations on the map. Generate grid references to tell people where they are hidden. See this video of how to use grid references with your map.
Also you can develop clues and facts about your garden to tell people where you’ve hidden the eggs. In the SE corner of the garden. Under the bush in blossom at Easter. Exactly 10m down the path to the west in the hedge.
Don’t forget to have fun this Easter! 1. Try egg rolling in your garden. Who can roll their egg the furthest?
2. Have an egg catching competition. Do you risk using real eggs? You can hard boil them if you don’t want to get messy.
3. Challenge your family to create an egg transporter. It can be along the ground using k’next, lego or cardboard. Or you can try through the air. Can you drop the egg out of an upstairs window and get it to land safely without smashing?
Don’t forget to Tweet any exciting Easter activities you get up to on Twitter @DawnNaturedays #NatureDays
The sun is out and the butterflies are flying around. So my challenge for you today is to go on a butterfly hunt.
You don’t have to have a butterfly net but do not pick up butterflies with your hands.
If you see butterflies in your garden then start by just watching them and follow them around the garden seeing where they land and what they do.
Use the ID guide to identify which type of butterfly they are.
Once you have found their route, then locate yourself close to most popular bush and just sit and watch. Then when you see a butterfly settle on a leaf, very slowly inch your way closer to the butterfly. If you are sweaty then run some sweat on your finger if not squirt some salty or sweet water on your finger. Hold it next to the leaf, without scaring the butterfly off, and hold you finger out and the butterfly might crawl on to your finger to drink the liquid with its unwound proboscis. If it doesn’t want to then just watch it.
If it is on a flower you may see it unravel its long proboscis, tongue, and poke it down the flower to the nectar to slurp up the nectar. Once the butterfly has flown off have a look at the flower it was feeding from.
Can you see where it was trying to feed from?
See if you can use a cotton bud to absorb the nectar and try it for yourself or if you dissect the flower, see if you can see the where the nectar is stored. Why is it in such a difficult location? Why isn’t it at the top of the flower? Think about what the flower wants to get out of the butterfly visiting.
Write a fact file about the butterfly you have observed. You can use the outline from Nature Days Blog. www.naturedays.co.uk/blog/
Don’t forget to Tweet and photos of butterflies you see or your fact files #NatureDays @DawnNatureDays or Facebook.
Take some time out today to connect with nature with this meditation exercise.
Let Dawn take you to a moment of discovery surrounded by nature.
Help to relax and switch off from all that is going on.
Connect with the birds singing and really immerse yourself in nature for a short while.
This exercise should help with anxiety and calm you.
Please share and Tweet any comments or questions about your experience @DawnNatureDays #NatureDays
As it is nearly Easter and Holy week my challenge for you is to create an Easter garden. Watch my video on You tube to see one I made.
What you need: Somewhere the build – a flower bed or a plate. Soil Sticks Stones plants – moss is great
What to do: Remember the story of Easter and recreate the key symbols of that festival in your garden. The Cross on Golgotha. The empty tomb.
You can use you items to recreate the scene of the Easter story and use moss, stones and landscaping to make it look like a real model.
What you need: Somewhere the build – a flower bed or a plate. Soil Sticks Stones plants – moss is great
What to do: Remember the story of Easter and recreate the key symbols of that festival in your garden. The Cross on Golgotha. The empty tomb.
You can use you items to recreate the scene of the Easter story and use moss, stones and landscaping to make it look like a real model.
During Holy week or Passion week you can also remember the key events in this important Christian festival. Why not draw up a story board each day completing what happened in Holy week. Here is some information to help you.
Holy week: Palm Sunday – Sunday before Easter. Jesus enters Jerusalem. The crowds welcome him waving palm branches.
Monday – Jesus clears the temple. Jesus overturns all the tables of the money lenders in the temple.
Tuesday – Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives. Jesus and the disciples go to the Mount of Olives and Jesus warns them of the destruction of Jerusalem. Judas Iscariot negotiated to betray Jesus.
Holy Wednesday – Jesus rested.
Maundy Thursday – The last supper. Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. The disciples and Jesus celebrate Passover and have the Last supper. Jesus and the disciples go to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Here Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss and Jesus is arrested.
Good Friday – Jesus is crucified. Pontus pilot washes his hands of Jesus’ fate and the people shout to crucify him. Jesus dies on the cross at Calvary – Golgotha.
Saturday – Jesus is laid in his tomb. Jesus’ body is laid in a tomb guarded by Roman soldiers. His body was anointed with spices.
Easter Sunday -Resurrection day. Some women go to Jesus’ tomb but find the stone rolled back and an angel tells them that Jesus has risen from the dead.
Activities to be done: Once you have watched the film use the identification guide and ID dial to find out what the animals are called and what they eat. Then complete the river worksheet.
Count how many different mini beasts there are and group them. How could you sort them? Is there more of one type than another? Use the River health worksheet to calculate how healthy this river is.
Draw one of the mini beasts and identify the key features that make it adapted for the habitat it lives in. Use the river animals worksheet to help you.
Write a story of a day in the life of the mini beast. What do they eat? What do they hide from? What does it feel like?
Look on a map and find this river. Can you draw a map of this river or a river close to your house. Don’t forget to put a scale and a north arrow and labels.
Draw a picture of an imaginary mini beast perfectly adapted for the river habitat. A super river mini beast. Explain why it is super.
Don’t forget to post any of your work on Twitter #NatureDays
Did you hear the rain last night?
Have you ever wondered what is would be like to be a raindrop?
You challenge today is to write a story of a raindrop.
I’ll start you off.
It was a dark and stormy night and the raindrop was happily living with all its friends high up in the sky in a rain cloud. When all of a sudden a great big squeeze pushed the raindrops all together until they were so squashed the cloud burst and the poor raindrop fell down, down, down, plummeting towards the ground. Until it splashed onto the roof. It tried so hard to hold on tight to the top of the roof but the weight of its water was pulling it down the sloping roof and as hard as he tried he began to slide and slither down the roof tiles As he started to slide down the bumpy roof he wondered where would he ever end up? Then he bumped into lots more raindrops and he felt relief in being with his friends again. That didn’t last long as the gutter they had all fallen into started to send them down, again. The gutter was so slippery that they slid faster and faster and up the sides like a waterslide. All of a sudden it went pitch black and all the raindrops screamed as the ground beneath them vanished and they fell downward rushing and gurgling as they went deeper into the dark drainpipe. A tiny circle of light appeared and slowly started to get bigger and bigger until the raindrop crashed into the drain….
What happened to the raindrop next is up to you.
Will the raindrop ever get to relax in the ocean?
Will it ever find its friends again up in the clouds?
You could write the story as prose or draw a story map or story board.
Or you could write the script to a screen play or how about writing a poem.
Whatever you do I would love to hear the end of the story so post picture on Twitter #Naturedays or on facebook.
At the start of any season there is the opportunity to look for changes and think about what new things the season will show us. A great way to follow the season is by colour.
My challenge for you is to discover what colour is spring?
What you need: A small piece of card. Double sided sticky tape
What to do: Place the double sided tape across the small piece of card. Walk around your garden or a local habitat and collect small pieces of every different colour you can find growing. Stick the colours on the tape until you have an artist pallet of colours.
You can also use the plants to create natural paints for a seasons picture. Take some paper on a clipboard or piece of card. Find some different coloured plants and rub them on the paper to make a picture.
Looking at your artist’s pallet and picture, what colour is spring?
Take a look at the Nature Days you tube channel for an introduction to the challenge from Dawn. https://youtu.be/mPLFeFfYYpl
Don’t forget to Tweet your pictures on Twitter #NatureDays or on the Nature Days facebook page.
