Build a Bug a Home

 - Shoebox or any small cardboard box

A selection of bug friendly materials, here are a few suggestions of what to use and what kind of animals you might get moving in:

............Straw and hay make great bug hibernation sites
............Twig bundles - bigger insects love these
.............Dead wood brings in beetles, woodlice, and ladybirds
.............Dry leaves mimic the forest floor and will bring in all kinds of bugs
.............Loose bark chips will attract beetles, centipedes, spiders, woodlice – all the animals that                            break down wood
.............Old garden canes or a piece of wood with some holes drilled in it make a great home for                            solitary bees
.............An old terracotta flower pot turned upside down makes a great spot for a bumble bee nest –                      try adding some nice soft moss to entice them in!

The most important thing is to use natural materials that bugs love, so get creative and don’t limit yourself to these suggestions – you could add pine cones, old slates or bricks, anything you fancy (some people even put their old woolly jumpers in their bug houses). 

As a bonus, most of us already have some great bug house material just lying around in our gardens, so you can do a bit of recycling too.

Here are some of the bug houses I found on line....... 

or how about this one????

The above idea came from 'the bug club' website - click on the bug below for the link

Wellie Wonders

Do you have wellies that don't fit still sitting in your boot rack?

We did until this summer when I saw this idea on pintrest!

We all went off to the garden centre and the girls choose plants to suit their old wellies and we got planting - so far they seem very successful and we may expand to veggies in larger ones next year!

Here's the link to little trekkers blog who came up with the idea.

Egg Box Sea Life

This little guy is really cool

We love all things related to the sea in our family - especially rock pooling so these little creatures were a great fun project to do.

Really easy to make and it encouraged some fun pretend play

With a bit of imagination you can make a whole 'rock pool full' of little critters.....

Here's the link to make these at practical parenting

Soctopus

I love these little guys and so easy to make. I substituted wool for tentacles (it was all I had in the house!)

This is a great use for those odd socks we all have sitting in the sock draw!

Here's the link

Soctopus

paint pot idea

I love this simple but very effective idea.

I found it on pintrest and thought wow.

1 - it's such an easy way to dispense the paint into bowls

2 - you get to choose the volume of paint out and about in your house (you know what I mean)

3- You can mix up a big batch of poster paint and it will stay liquid & sealed in these squeezable

4 - you get a feel good factor for being recyclable (is that a word? it's a bit of a mouthful) and frugal.

All you do is clean out your used tomato ketchup bottles and refill with the paint of your choice. Just don't let the one with the red paint in end up in the fridge - your husband won't be amused with it on his bacon sandwich....... (although the kids might!)