Spiky, but sweet
Echid-you not! How cute are these little guys?
Sometimes the kids are feeling crafty, and sometimes the art cupboard is looking pretty bare. At such times it’s comforting to remember that creativity doesn’t really need tubes of brightly-coloured paint, sparkles and rainbows - it just needs a good simple idea. Luckily, ideas can come from anywhere.
I heard last night on the news that Australia is once again leading the world… but this time it is not in anything that we should celebrate. Rather, our federal Environment Minister yesterday confirmed we are world leaders in the extinction of mammals. How awful!
Australia now has around 2000 flora and fauna species on the threatened list, which means they’re at risk of extinction. There are now more foreign plant species than natives growing in the wild and in the past five years, 17 mammal species were either added to the endangered list or upgraded to the critically endangered list, as well as 17 birds and 19 frogs.
These problems are big and overwhelming, requiring big and complex solutions. But even in our own homes we can spark conversations with our kids about issues such as these, to increase awareness of our environment and develop an interest in nature. We can find ways to celebrate nature creatively, even when, as I said earlier, we have only basic art materials on hand. So today we made echidnas.
Echidnas are uniquely special little creatures. Lets give them some love!
Echidnas are monotremes which means they’re egg-laying mammals. In fact along with the platypus, echidnas are the only living mammals that do this.
Despite their prickly appearance, echidnas are very timid animals. They attempt to bury themselves or curl into a ball if endangered. Their predators include feral cats, foxes, foxes, dogs and goannas, and their habitat is being affected by human disturbance and pollution.
Here’s a fun & super simple echidna to make from a recycled box:
adult should use sturdy scissors to cut a piece of cardboard into the basic shape shown at right. A flap from a box is perfect for this, cut it to a size that suits. Save time (and your hand muscles) by incorporating an existing straight edge into your shape.
invite your child to add an eye and nose with texta
gather some bits and pieces from the garden - sticks, grass, leaves whatever you can find. Use a gluestick to attach them to the body of your echidna
make one, or a whole echidna family
have fun xx
