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You challenge for today is to make a map.
Look at my you tube channel for instructions. 

Use Google earth to print out an arial photo of your house and garden. Make sure the north arrow is at the top and you are directly above the garden and house.
Then measure something in your garden you can see on the photo.
Measure how big it is on the map and then how big it in on the ground in real life.
1cm : 4m
I chose my driveway which is 1cm on the map and 4cm on the ground.
But these two figures use different units so we have to convert them to the same unit.
4m = 400cm
So on my map 1cm is the same a 400cm on the ground.
That gives my map a scale of 1:400. My map is 400 times smaller than my grounds and the grounds are 400 times bigger than my map.

Now you have a scaled map you can look at other parts of your garden you can measure. The fence, the sides of the house and check them against your map to see if the scale is right.
Once it is checked then you can write the scale on the map and you can use it for making a treasure hunt.

Don’t forget to Tweet your maps or photos on Twitter #NatureDays or comment on the Nature Days facebook page.

Now that spring has arrived it gives us an opportunity to watch the plants wake up from their dormancy in winter.

Todays challenge is to go on a plant hunt.

Take the time to walk around your garden and see what plants are just starting to sprout or open their leaves.

You can undertake some citizen science looking for bud burst in trees. This tells scientists when the plants think the start of spring is and see how it changes over the years. This is called Phenology and people have been undertaking surveys like this for hundreds of years, so you can help and become a citizen scientist!

It’s a cloudy day, but what do the clouds tell us?

Your challenge for today it to try and forecast the weather for the day using the clouds you see above your house.

Download the cloud ID dial below, go outside and look up.

First try to work out the location of the clouds. Are they high level mid level or low level clouds?
High level – Cirro.
Mid level – Alto
Low level – Strato
Then look at the form of the clouds.
Wispy – Cirrus.
Fluffy – Cumulus
In lines or flat – Stratus
Rainclouds – Nimbo
Towering thunderclouds – Cumulonimbus
Look at the pictures to help you decide which you can see.
Then use the dial to read the forecast for the day.

Next find a nice sheltered spot in your garden and something to lie on.
Lie down and look at the clouds.

Are they all moving the same direction?
Are they all moving the same speed?
Can you spot anything in the shape of the clouds?
See if you can tell a story using the shape of the clouds as inspiration.

Don’t forget to Tweet #NatureDays or comment on Facebook pictures of any interesting cloud formation you see.

Also check out Nature Days Youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCxzYTdAUS8&t=15s

It is a windy day and I was looking for a place in the garden to sit and have a cup of tea. But which is the best spot?

My challenge for you today is to do an investigation into the wind in your garden and around you house.

You will need:
Card
Scissors
Pencil with a rubber on the end
A long pin
Sellotape
Cocktail stick
Or
A plastic bag
some string

What you do:
Use the template for the windmill below and make a pinwheel.
Attached a piece of sellotape or a cocktail stick to the pencil your pinwheel is attached to, so that the pinwheel hits it when it rotates.
Then investigate the wind.

Is it faster higher up or closer to the ground?
Does it matter how high you hold the windmill?
Does it matter which way you face the windmill?

Once you have worked out the best way to use the equipment now undertake your investigation.

Go to different locations in your garden, in front of your house behind and to the sides if you can get there.

On the results sheet below write the location and count the number of times the windmill rotates in 1 minutes. You should be able to count the clicks as the windmill sails pass the pencil.

You can draw a graph of your results on J2launch or squared paper or draw a map of your garden and make a colour scale. Red for fastest, green for slowest and orange for in the middle. Colours the areas of your garden the colour depending on whether the wind was fast or slow.

If you can’t make a pin wheel then attach a a piece of string, about 2m long, to the two handles of a plastic bag.
See what happened to the bag when you hold it high and low. Then when you turn around. Now use this to measure wind speed in different parts of your garden.

Don’t forget to tweet photos of your pin wheel, wind socks or graphs and maps on Twitter #NatureDays and facebook Nature Days page.
Good luck.

It’s a beautiful sunny day and so my challenge for you is to make a Sun Dial.

What you need:
A long straight stick you can stand up in the ground.
Smaller straight sticks
Lego or stones

How to do it:
Take your long straight pole and place it in the garden where it makes a shadow and you can get all around it.
Place a line of sticks along the shadow of the larger stick.
Use lego or write on a stone the time you placed the sticks and put it next to the line. I like to do it on the hour.
Leave the stick and come back after an hour and do another line and label it.
Also place a stone or piece of lego where the end of the shadow is furthest away from the long stick.

Keep doing this until you have all the hours of the day you can do.
If you miss an hour don’t worry, look at the other lines and see if you can estimate where the line would have been in the missing hour.
Can you notice any pattern in your sun dial?
Do shadows get bigger or smaller through the day?
If you can leave the sundial up over night you can check what happens tomorrow with the shadow. Is it the same every day? Don’t forget to turn you clock forward on the 29th March! How are you going to do that?

Don’t forget to tweet your pictures on Twitter #NatureDays and on facebook.

It’s a beautiful day and the pollinators are buzzing about looking for flowers.
But do mini beasts have a favourite colour?

Your challenge for today is to do an experiment to see which colour flying mini beasts like best.

You will need:
Different coloured paper – or different coloured toys
A cup for each colour
Lego bricks

What to do:
Lay the coloured paper or toys out in a row in the sun in your garden. Put a stone on the paper so it doesn’t blow away.
Place a cup next to each colour.
Sit and watch the colours.
Every time a mini beast lands on a colour put a lego brick in that colours cup.
Watch the paper for as long as you like.
Once you have lots of lego in the cups empty each cup in turn and build them into a tower. Place the tower for each colour above the colour.
Have a look at what you have built. Can you see any pattern? Which colours do your mini beats prefer?

Tweet on Twitter #NatureDays or post on Facebook and compare with other children’s gardens.

Look what I found on my washing in the garden yesterday!
It is a crab spider. Usually found in the middle of white flowers like hogweed where they are camouflaged against the petals. They lie in wait for pollinators to visit the flower, then pounce and grab them with their crab like legs. They also change the colour of their body to match their background. I should have left it there and today I might have had a red spider!

Your challenge for today is to create your own superhero mini beast.
You can use ideas from mini beasts you have in your garden or ones you have researched. Try and combine features from different mini beast to make the perfect super mini beast.
Start by looking around for inspiration outside. What would be a really useful superpower for a mini beast?

Draw a picture of your new super mini beast and upload it to the Twitter feed #NatureDays or Nature Days facebook page.

You could also try this superhero challenge as well for the NHS.

Did you ever wonder why mini beasts choose to live in different habitats?

The challenge for today is to investigate which habitats mini beasts prefer.
You will need to build a choice chamber and set up four different conditions.
Dry and light.
Dry and Dark – Cover with dark paper
Damp and light – Damp kitchen towel
Damp and dark -Damp kitchen towel and Cover with dark paper.

Also find some mini beasts, 12 is a good number. Woodlice work well but you could try with any min beasts you can find.

Where do you predict your mini beasts will choose to live?

Set up your choice chamber then place the mini beasts equally around the chambers. Close the lid and wait. Come back every 5 minutes to see where the mini beasts have chosen to live. Repeat every 5 minutes for as long as you can.
You can fill in the worksheet with your results.
Don’t forget to put your mini beasts back where you found them.

Follow up work:
You can look at your results and decide what conditions your mini beasts prefer.
Are they the conditions where you found the mini beast? If not why do you think that is? Share your results on Twitter #NatureDays to see what other people found.

Welcome to Nature Days outdoor learning resources.
I have filmed a brief introduction to the activity, you can show the children it is on facebook and Twitter @DawnNatureDays #NatureDays or just use the post.

Bore Da.
Today we are going on a mini beast hunt.
If you can go outside, either to a wood, common or just your garden, see if you can find any mini beasts.
If you are stuck inside, then you will be amazed how many mini beasts live with you in your house. Look in dark corners and under dusty furniture.
I have published a worksheet online you can use to identify the mini beasts you find and also write where you found them.

When you have found and identified the mini beast and filled in the worksheet what do you think we should do with our mini beasts?
That’s right put them back where you found them. If you can’t remember just look at your results!

Follow up activities:
With your results table you can draw a graph to see if there is any pattern in where you found the mini beasts.
Add up how many mini beasts you found in each habitat.
You can use J2launch or use squared paper for your graph.
Don’t forget the variable which you choose goes on the bottom the X axis – where we found the mini beasts.
And the variable you measured, the number of mini beasts, goes on the vertical, Y axis.
There is an example to help you online. When you have finished put a copy of your results on twitter #NatureDays so I can see them.
If you don’t know the name of a mini beast and it is not on the list, then just post a photo and I will try and identify it. Or you can make up your own name for it. Maybe it is a new species!!

Hello families.
I hope everyone is well and safe.

To help families through this time of no statutory education Nature Days is hear to help you get out and do some outdoor learning in our amazing Gower.

Nature Days will be posting activities to do every weekday so that you can get outside, get learning and have fun.

I will be posting the activities on Facebook as well as twitter #NatureDays and on my website Nature Days.co.uk  Blog. Please follow along and do whatever you like to keep your family entertained and learning outdoors.

Don’t forget that at the moment the outdoors is STILL OPEN!! and free.

The activities may be specific to a location on Gower or one you can do in a range of locations or just your own garden.  I will also be posting ideas for anyone who can’t get outside of some STEM and Forest school activities you can do inside.

I hope you will join me and have fun exploring outdoor learning with your family.

Dawn