This week’s theme:

The Mysteries of Animal Habitats

Fact of the day:

The riverbank is home to birds, mammals and insects including Kingfishers, Frogs, Newts, Voles, Shrews, Dragonfly, Otters, Herons, Toads and Beavers.

Resources list:

Tin foil, sheet /large towel, mittens; green (or coloured-in green) paper, plates or bun cases, or paper; you tube; boxes, tubes, construction materials.

Activity 1:

Otters live in homes on the riverbank called ‘holts’. Otters eat a lot and spend up to five hours a day finding food (that’s almost the whole of a Purple Patch day!) Otters love eating fish and they also love playing, so why not try a fishing game… Make some 3D scrunched up tin toil fish and then get a sheet or large towel for somebody to ‘bounce’ the fish on for you. Wearing mittens (to pretend that you have otter paws), try and catch as many fish as you can in 30 seconds when they come close to you on the sheet!

Activity 2:

Frogs need a habitat with lots of insects buzzing about, and areas for them to get out of the water easily, such as onto lily pads. Try playing a game using your own jumping frog (see here for how to make your own paper frog). Jump your frog from a starting line into the air to catch some ‘flies’, then using plates, bun cases, or green paper cut outs as lily pads count up how many lily pad targets your jumping frog lands onto after 10 goes (see here.)

Activity 3:

Can you ribbit just like this frog? Hop around your room (or bend your knees and arms) making your own croaks and ribbits in time with the Frog Chorus.

Activity 4:

Beavers make their own homes called ‘lodges’, many can be found in Scotland. Beavers are excellent construction workers and gnaw, carry, and assemble their wooden homes from scratch; see them in this film. A lodge can be 3 meters high – using recycled items such as toilet roll tubes or cardboard boxes or anything else you have in your house, see how tall you can construct your own building. You can share photos of your lodges on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter or send it to melanie@purplepatcharts.org and we’ll put it online for you!

Add-on Activity:

If you have a garden, make a frog hidey-hole!