Big dreams, little footprints

Learning to value the natural world

Learning about tropical rainforests and deforestation. If one football field of forest is cut or burned down globally every second, how much does that amount to in one hour? Use your maths skills to work out what area this would cover if you drew a rectangle (or if you’re feeling clever, a circle) on a map of where you live. Then go on a family walk and either walk the length, breadth or perimeter of your shape. This website gives you more information about forest and species loss but also figures on replanted forests - tinyurl.com/yserrzhj (in the picture the inner circle represents an hour of loss, the outer circle a day’s). You may or may not want to show this to your child; it's pretty shocking. For 3-7 year olds, Earth Cubs have developed a new, free App full of educational games about rainforests (and other ecosystems). And as they earn points, they plant actual trees in the real world. Earth Cubs also have great ideas for activities kids can do at home to learn about rainforests. For older kids, team up with friends and enact an Animal Courtroom drama - one person is a jaguar, one is a puma, and the other is the judge. Food is in short supply due to habitat loss, who should get to eat? You'll need to research the impact these two species have in their ecosystems and argue each one's case for survival. You can do it with other species too.

Food waste bird cakes. In the winter months, the poor hungry birds need a bit of cheering up. Hunt for some out-of-date or gone-soft nuts and seeds at the back of the cupboard and any stiff cheese that you’ve forgotten about in the fridge. If you don't have any, you could ask your neighbours. The birds won't mind them being out-of-date. Just mix with some plant-based butter, suet or lard. We made some 'cakes' for the bird table as well as adding some to a pine cone to hang up in the tree. Watch this video here for how to do it.

Tree of Celebration (or Gratitude). Every house should have one! Research all the ways in which trees are fabulous, including 'ecosystem' services as well as the cool stuff like cacao and coconuts, climbing and hugging them, and the beautiful things you can make from their glorious bark, cones, leaves and berries. Start by reading this. You'll struggle to fit everything on - we'd be stuffed without them. We drilled holes into this log then popped some sticks in for branches. You can add real leaves (preserved in beeswax) or cut them out of card. Pop it somewhere visible so you'll see it every day. Then switch to tree-planting search engine Ecosia on all your devices. and sign up to this free tree-planting app.

Be a citizen scientist. A very important job! Year round you can get involved in the crazy-exciting job of counting penguins, to help map their populations. Children as young as 5 can do it and and you don’t need to leave your house - read more about Zooniverse here. Year-round you can get outside and help researchers monitor the impact a changing climate is having on nature. Your-round you can help Butterfly Conservation monitor butterfly and moth populations (in July/August they run a targeted Big Butterfly Count) andevery January the RSPB has its annual Big Garden Birdwatch. Your results help the charities track butterfly and bird populations - to know whether they are healthy or in decline. Don't forget to make some popcorn to keep everyone interested. For more ambitious citizen science, see this comprehensive list. As well as feeding birds throughout the winter, you can also help wildlife by basically not tidying up your garden. It's tempting I know, but when you mow, cut back and clear your garden you're removing valuable food sources and shelter for birds and other wildlife. Less work too! More info here.

Be a plant (name) hunter. Some plants and trees have really funny common names. Like Shark's Teeth [pictured at Lullingstone’s World Garden], Angel's Wings, Little Baby, Dad's Brown Trousers [my brother named that one after my late Dad - he often wore brown trousers!], Dead Stick Tree, Fire Extinguisher Tree, Hairy Butterfly Bush, Peanut Butter Tree, Purple Fairy Wings, Deadly Stinger, Dracula, Purple Camel's Foot, Mexican Pinky Fluff, Hairy Balls, Dinosaur Tree... see if you and your child can find out why they have the common names that they do. Start by looking here.

Autumn rainbow. You’ve got to collect your leaves at the right time in the Autumn, when you get the broadest range of colour. Press for two weeks and then ta-da!

Winter rainbow. It’s amazing to see how much ‘life’ there still is in the winter months and how important the seeds and berries are for birds to keep them going until the Spring. Looking for rainbow colours is another useful way to get the kids out the door.

Make a wormery. All you need is a glass jar, some soil and a few worms. It's so cool because you get to see them work their magic keeping soils healthy. Remember that the 'dead stuff' on the ground is what worms thrive on (and they find weedkiller seriously minging). If you have a garden, don't clear it all away. Here’s how to make a wormery here (don’t worry if you don’t have sand) and some cracking worm facts here.

Praise for the weeds. Draw some chalk animals or insects next to the weeds you find on pavements, to give them their due. They feed and offer shelter to all kinds of wildlife. Feel empowered - this is a form of activism called chalktivism.

Cultivating commonalities with animals. What do you and your child have in common with your favourite animal, sea creature or bird? From a young age children need to see humans as being part of, rather than separate from the natural world. Thinking about the commonalities we share with other living creatures, rather than our differences, is an easy place to start and helps develop empathy and respect for all forms of life. And in learning to see humans as part of and not better than nature, we see the importance and moral significance of working with it, not against it. My 6-year-old chose a horse. "We're both fancy". An important shared feature. We also decided that horses and humans both get scared sometimes, need to eat and sleep, breathe the same air. Horses are usually sociable creatures, and will be protective of their foals after they have been born. They feel pain when injured, enjoy running and may sometimes feel the cold. Horses also have different personalities, and come in different colours and sizes, just like us. I highly recommend the 'Wild Kratts' series (YouTube, Netflix) so see if you can find your child's favourite creature featured in one of their programmes.

Sing to the cows. Or hens, sheep, pigs. Inspired by a friend who had a very captive bovine audience when he performed for them on his harmonica, my 5-year-old and I sang Hey Diddle Diddle to cows near us. Total hit. According to Rosamund Young (author of The Secret Life of Cows), cows love music. But they are all individuals too. "Just because we are not clever enough to notice the differences between individual spiders or butterflies, yellowhammers or cows is not a reason for presuming that there are none”. So try a few different tunes to see what works for most of your audience.

Dandelions in a vase. Punch some holes in a bit of cardboard with a bamboo stick or a pencil, and pop some dandelions into them (a couple of different flowers can brighten it up). Make sure the stalks are long enough to put in a vase so you can keep them to use their petals in salads. Yum. If you’re visiting anyone’s house, this is a great alternative to shop-bought cut flowers, which are often transported from abroad and sometimes grown in water-stressed countries. More info about the impact of cut flowers here. Explain this to your child.

Autumn leaf ‘rose’. Ditch the shop-bought cut flowers - grown specifically to add colour to our homes for just a handful of a days. Many are flown in from abroad, especially roses; some from water-stressed countries. More info here. These alternatives are dead simple to make - just fold largeish leaves in half (maple or sycamore work well) and wrap round and round. Secure with some string. You can add some feathers for ‘foliage’ to create a striking bouquet.

Nature walks. Where you achieve something, by reaching the end of a trail or the top of a hill. You could count certain paths (around RSPB nature reserves for example) or designated nature trails around a lake/loch, or getting to the top of a hill or reaching a particular landmark on foot. And the trick to your kids remembering your achievements is to get them to name the trails/hills you’ve all conquered. For example we've climbed Rapunzel Hill (tall tower on top), Toothbrush Hill (the radio/mobile masts look like electric toothbrush heads), icing hill (the peak swirls around like butter icing). And it makes it easier to talk about them afterwards if they have a name. You’ll obviously need celebratory treats at the top/end of the trail to mark the accomplishment.

Wildflower seed collecting. For next Spring’s seed bombs, October/November is your last chance to collect some wildflower seeds. As a rule of thumb, look for flowers that are annuals or biennials (the seeds are more likely to be viable as the flowers can’t reproduce without seeding themselves) and pick the whole (brown) seed head or flower. Look out for: chicory, foxgloves, campion, thrift, oxide daisies, poppies. If you can’t shake the seeds out straight away, pop their heads in paper bags and hang them upside down to dry out. The seeds will collect at the bottom of the bag. Keep the seeds in paper bags (no plastic) with a little loo roll at the bottom, in a cool place (doesn’t have to be the fridge) until the Spring. Nice lesson in some extensively delayed gratification! For a bit more guidance and how to do this responsibly, read this.

Matching pairs. Pop some tree leaves or wildflowers in a flower press for at least two weeks then stick onto some card with the name of the tree or flower underneath. Given all that plants and trees do for us, the least we can do is learn their names. A memory game for all ages.

Create a memory stick. Next time you go on a walk, challenge yourselves to find 5 or so items that bring back a happy memory or spark a happy association. My 6-year-old chose a stick ‘bow’ and grass ‘arrow’ which reminded her of Princess Merida in Brave, ragwort because she recently spotted her first Cinnabar caterpillar (munching on ragwort), a cone that looked like a ‘turret’ from a My Little Pony palace, and bracken because we have been reading Julian is a Mermaid (and Julian uses bracken to give himself long mermaid-like hair). Hang it up at home to remind you of a happy day out.

Leaf adventures. Quick, before the leaves disappear, go out on a leaf collecting mission. Find as many different shapes as you can and see what you, your child and anyone else can ‘see’ in their shapes (and what that might say about you all). More fun than it sounds.

'Dead’ Tree. One third of woodland species live on or off deadwood. Its role in the forest ecosystem is immensely important so we need to protect unmanaged woodland for it to thrive. As a character in the excellent novel ‘The Overstory’ puts it, "I'm not sure whether a tree is more valuable dead or alive". Roll up some card to make a tree stump, cover in bark and then on the inside stick and hang the species that thrive on dead wood. Use only natural materials like monkey nuts, cones, nut shells, flower heads, lentils.... Illuminate with a light at the bottom, and let your child explore by peering through all the windows and delighting at how much life there is inside. More info about the different species here, here and here.

Animal footprint tunnel. This was unexpectedly exciting, for parent and child alike! Make a tunnel in your garden or nearest woodland/park, and set down some food to entice nocturnal beasties. You can buy 'carbon soot' online (or make it from mashed up charcoal or ground chalk) for the visitors to leave their paw prints behind. Then go online to identify your prints. Full instructions here.

The beauty of grasses. Turn your next walk outside into a scavenger hunt, for as many different types of grasses as you can find (with a prize?). Then display your finds on the kitchen table - quite attractive, no? Explain that bread, pasta, cakes, porridge, oatcakes, rice and barley are all made from grasses. Grasses, along with wildflowers, provide food and habitat for a range of bird and insect species. Let it grow wild in any spare garden or verge space you have.

It's not all about the bees! Bees are insects and they help pollinate flowers to ensure they produce seeds (which are often embedded in very tasty fruit and veg). If you tell your child that no pollinators = no chocolate, Halloween pumpkins, strawberries, avocados, apples, peanuts... they might just listen up. You might be surprised to know that bees are responsible for only 5-15% of crop pollination - the rest is done by butterflies, flies, hoverflies, moths, wasps, hornets and beetles, amongst others. 1,500 species in all! Have you smelled a rowan (mountain ash) flower or a hawthorn flower? They stink! And this is because they want to attract pollinating flies. What can you do to help our diminishing insect populations? Let more flowers grow in your garden to provide food for them - mow less (cordon a bit off and watch the magic happen - see picture), weed less and don't use weed killers. The kids might also enjoy joining in with a citizen science experiment called the 'Splatometer', measuring insect populations on car licence plates. (It runs between 1st June and 31st August - sign up here).

Create a Pollinators' Garden. Spring feels like a perfect time to introduce a child to gardening. The trick, I think, is to mark out a small plot in your garden for your child to be solely responsible for - namely the weeding and watering. But help them choose only pollinator-friendly flowers and explain why they are so important for food production (make sure you buy certified organic seeds or plants, that haven’t been treated with pesticides). You can label the flowers so you all remember their names (just use a sharp knife to shave the bark off the end of a stick) and you can make a bee sign or get your child to paint their name on a piece of bark to mark the plot as theirs. See here for lists of wildflowers and garden plants to choose from.

Showing love for our Planet. A ‘Valentine’s Day’ campaign run by the Climate Coalition, this can be done all year round I say! Make a green heart to show some love for our wonderful world and pop it in your window or on a plank of wood/stick in your front garden (we used nails/sticky rice glue for ours). Then watch this happy little video by The Climate Coalition and sign their declaration calling for urgent action on climate change. This is also a fun way to get a conversation going when people see your green heart in the window/ your front garden.

The power of the sun. Cover up patches of grass in any shape you fancy, for 10-14 days (we used a plate and some logs). See how quickly the grass starts to die - don't worry, it'll recover. The sun is our chief source of energy here on Earth - humans, animals, plants, trees... we wouldn't survive without it. Oh and there wouldn’t be any toys without the sun either; this video here explains why.

'Spot the difference' nature walk. Try to find at least 5 things outside that are new/different or that you hadn’t noticed before. An overcast day for us today: fewer bees, less bird chatter, new green sprouts in the recently-ploughed field, all the dandelions were closed, some previously unnoticed pink-tipped daisies, fox poo and a personal highlight, some orange lichen that gave rise to a conversation about air quality. Was genuinely surprised by how much my indoorsy five-year-old enjoyed and learned from this.

Be a rebel botanist. Learn what trees there are in your garden and neighbourhood and hang up signs made from bark, correctly identifying them (get permission if the tree is in someone else’s garden). Some brightly coloured, oil-based paint will endure the rain or you can varnish it. Trees do so much for us, let’s learn their names.

Animal snowprints. Another great reason to get outside. See how many paw and footprints you can find and throw in a couple of your own! See if you’re lucky enough to see rabbit, hare, badger, fox or deer prints. See here for how to identify them.

Rewild your garden. Well, just a little cordoned off section of it (can be as small as 3 x 3 feet). Stake it out and watch how nature takes over. Get your child to take stock weekly of what seeds itself there, how high grass can actually grow, what insects visit. 'Unkempt', 'overgrown', ‘neglected' gardens enable nature to thrive; they are a celebration of life. Much less work too. With your child, watch how rewilding can entirely transform a place - it’s truly awe-inspiring stuff.

Make a seaweed forest. Plants in the oceans produce around 70% of the world's oxygen compared with forests at 28%. They are the ‘lungs’ of our world. More info here. Press your seaweed as you would a flower (for 2+ weeks) but if it's a delicate feathery one, pop a sheet of paper in an oven tray and then add 3-4mm of water. Pop the seaweed in and let it spread out before gently tilting the tray so the water drains. Press the wet paper between two sheets of chunky cardboard and put a heavy weight on top. See if you can name the seaweed you find using this guide. Frame the picture to keep the out-of-sight ocean plants in mind when thinking about the importance of protecting our oceans.

Do a ‘celeb’ photo shoot. See what toy animals you have and if any among them are endangered. See WWF’s list here, where you can read all about the animals too. For the 'shoot' you just need scrunched up tinfoil for the backdrop, a red 'carpet' and a torch. Give the animal a crown to celebrate its beauty, rarity and value to our Planet. Discuss with your child about making a small donation to a conservation charity.

Celebrating Earth Day. My 5-year-old drew a poster of two shopkins (a cookie and chocolate bar), which probably have palm oil in them, because of its links with deforestation - a driver of climate change. We put it up in the window. We talked about melting ice and made some penguins, which are dead easy for small hands and quickly get eaten.

Be a biodiversity detective. Using sticks and string, mark off a 4 foot square area in your garden or local park and get your notebook out. Identify all living things that you can find - bugs, flowers, fungus, grasses. Record them. Visit several times over a few days or even weeks and see just how many beauties live there. Paint some stones to remind yourself and others what lives there. Invest in pocket guides to wildflowers and insects by Collins, DK or RSPB, so that you know what you’re looking at.

Befriend a tree. Hug it, climb it, make leaf/ bark rubbings from it, photograph it, inspect it with a magnifying glass, collect its fallen leaves, seeds and twigs for some foraged creations. Find out its name, guess its age, explore who lives in it. Sing to it, dress it up and decorate it. Lastly, thank it for what all trees do for us (oxygen/ paper/ wood/ medicine/ hydrology/ flood prevention). Don’t forget to sniff the trunk. Go on. When you get home, switch to search engine Ecosia - they donate 80% of their profits to reforestation projects.

Wildflower wall poster. Let’s learn the names of the wildflowers that provide so much for us: pump out oxygen, feed the pollinators (who ensure many of our crops bear fruit) and make our roadsides, parks and countryside a joy to behold. Others things too. You can press the flowers (for at least 2 weeks in a flower press) or do a photo project.

Nature Treasure Hunt. Make a list of all the creepy crawlies, birds and animals you might see on a walk near where you live. Designate points for each creature, which could be decided according to how likely it is to see them or how much your child likes them. Everything gets a point because everything has a value - even if you see them all the time and/or you don't like them! First person to see them gets the points. We didn't see a grass snake but were pleased to find one of its old skins! Invest in pocket guides to trees, wildflowers, insects etc by Collins, DK or RSPB, so that you can learn the names of some of your favourite wildlife, flowers or trees. A sweet prize for the winner adds a bit of extra excitement.

Make a bee home. We used bamboo canes and some straw, but any hollow plant stems (2-8mm) will do. Slot them into a cylinder-shaped container (we used an old enamel mug that was no longer usable). This is for solitary bees (leafcutters, masons, wool carders etc). Talk to your child about the importance of pollinators in our gardens and in our food system. Hang it up in a shrub or tree where it can get some sun but will be sheltered from the wind. If a bee moves in and lays eggs, it will 'seal' off its stem. Keep watching!

Hug a tree game. I love bark [pictured]. Can’t get enough of the stuff. And this game from the Earthchild Project is rather exciting because it involves getting up close and personal with a tree’s bark, its leaves, branches and seeds. Head out to the woods and find a tree with low hanging branches your child can reach. Blindfold them and lead them to the tree, give them a few minutes to get to know it, then lead them a short distance away before you take the blindfold off. See if they can identify which tree they were hugging - not by species but the actual tree. Not as easy as you think!

Make a soil potion. Soil is amazing. Without it we couldn’t eat. But what exactly IS it and how is it made? See here for what you will need to make your own soil - you’ll have to improvise with some of the ingredients e.g. poo (coffee beans, dates) and dead animals (dead insects, or cut shapes out of paper) as well as the clever beasties who make the soil i.e. worms (pink bits of paper) and the zillions of microbes that we can’t see (white beans with smiley faces). Make sure all of the ingredients are biodegradable. Worldwide our soils are under-nourished and over-worked. They have become so degraded that the UN has said we should be worried about being able to feed ourselves in the future. Try and support organic farmers, who look after their soil. Great video about soil’s vital importance for human health here.

The value of seaweed. We think of trees as our main source of oxygen and the key players in sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere. But it’s the seaweed and other plants in our seas that are the real champions. Make an underwater scene from leaves that closely resemble seaweed. Explore the amazing array of shapes and colours (even pink!) that seaweed comes in. Put the picture up so you'll be reminded of why oceans are considered the lungs of our world. And that they need our protection. More info here.

Learning about rocks (in a not-boring way). Collect as many small rocks as you can find of different textures and colours (and from different places - rivers and beaches especially as you get a great deal of variety). Then you're going to see which rocks are the toughies of the rock world. Freeze and thaw rocks in the freezer (or garden), hammer them outside (wear goggles), fizz them in vinegar (to mimic a sped-up version of the effects of acid rain and melt them (ok so you're going to substitute with jelly sweets). You can read about the 3 different types of rock and how the rock cycle works (it's actually called that!) here, as well as how to do the above-mentioned experiments (the jelly sweets one is here).

Fundraising walks. You can do this anytime of course but the World Wildlife Fund organise an annual Big Winter Wander in February (5 or 10 miles depending on length of legs). It’s fun if you do it with other families, as we did, and it’s motivating knowing how many hundreds if not thousands of other people are walking to fundraise at the same time. Top tips: Try to avoid ending up thigh-deep in liquid cow manure and realising 1 mile into your walk that you’ve left your car keys in the ignition.