I love this so much!!! You are the superhero of the minibeasts of the future!! And you’ve planted a seed in my garden of hope. I’m wondering what I can do to make a similar experience happen for kids here
Thank you!!! I'm so glad you enjoyed this. And thank you for such kind words—I am just trying my best. It doesn't need much equipment. Just someone to give them permission and support to look, which I'm sure you'll do brilliantly.
Love the term “minibeasts” as well as “centimede.” And of course those earwig pictures. Did you really make graphs and statistical analysis of the before and after drawings? If so, I’d love to see those too. Or maybe that’ll be in one of the nature deep dives?
Thank you! Isn't 'centimede' fantastic? I did indeed analyse the before/after drawings with proper graphs and stats tests. The study was a bit of COVID-victim, I'm afraid, since the year I ran it, it was intended as a pilot, and the following year I was going to go back, get even more data, and run a control group with two sets of drawings—the same time apart but without the workshop in between. But then COVID lockdowns hit :( But I analysed the pilot data I have, and the preliminary results are so cool! The published paper that came out of this was just from the 'before' drawings, which we used to draw conclusions about their knowledge of local wildlife—I shall do a deep dive of this paper soon—watch this space! I might well do a free post with some before/after graphs too, if you are interested?
I did this for 10 years in our local streams, it was just a small part of my job, but my favourite! The kids really connected with the bugs (which was my goal, understand what a catchment is and connect to it to want to look after it). Teachers often commented their surprise about the kids most disengaged in the classroom were engrossed in this activity. I LOVE your idea of pre and post drawings! I never did anything like that but would get kids come back to the activity a year later, even at 5 years old (usually when I ran it as a school holiday program), and enthusiastically recall what they had caught the previous year.
Thank you for reading! WOW! Ten years!? That must have added up to such a difference in these kids’ lives! It really is gratifying, isn’t it? I’m so glad you had a similar experience. I also got the surprise from teachers about how engrossed particular students became outside. Drawings work a treat to get good data, but the flip side is that they do take a good time to analyse.
I love this so much. The kids drawings and the demonstrable impact your sessions had blows me away. In 22/23 I went into 23 local schools using my paper flowers as a vehicle to talk to kids about wildflowers and pollinators, essentially to talk about plants and how everything depends on plants and pollinators. I was commissioned by the council and when I pointed out I wasn't a scientist they said they wanted someone enthusiastic! The kids loved it and we turned all the flowers they made into a paper meadow which toured the Wirral. Some of those kids couldn't even make the link between chips and a plant. I hope I changed something for them. What I didn't do was the pre- and pist- evaluation that you did, although I got a lot of verbal feedback. I'd live to do more work like this. Even though what I'm physically doing is making paper flowers, the underlying aim is always to encourage a deeper connection to nature. Keep up the good work. I think yours may be my first paid subscription! 🌿🌿
Thank you, Ling! Your 22/23 project sounds amazing! That’s exactly what kids need—not necessarily ecological expertise but pure enthusiasm and someone who shows them how to look. I can imagine how well your stunning paper flowers went down! What an amazing tool!!! 💐 It’s that kind of lack of basic associations—chips and plants—that is so dystopian and just not at all well known about. Thank you so so much for your encouragement and support—it means the world! 🙏🙏
I love what you are doing! And earwigs are my favorite! Though for six decades I was terrified of them due to my grandmother telling me that terrifying myth. It all changed when I begin to learn about them. That they have wings folded more intricately than the finest origami. That they can fly with those beautiful wings. That one can take drowned bloated earwig bodies out of the horse trough and put them somewhere to dry and they come back to life. How do they do that? One of my grown children was so disappointed because he no longer had something to scare me with when I became infatuated with earwigs. I am lightened by knowing what you do teaching children about nature and the mini beasts.
Thank you for reading! And thank you for sharing - what a fantastic story!! It shows the power of things told to us during childhood, doesn’t it? Thanks for your support 🙏
Thank you for your efforts! And - the before and after drawings were a great way of assessing the impact of the experience you provided!
Thank you! Yes, drawings work a treat for getting data out of kids!
I love this so much!!! You are the superhero of the minibeasts of the future!! And you’ve planted a seed in my garden of hope. I’m wondering what I can do to make a similar experience happen for kids here
Thank you!!! I'm so glad you enjoyed this. And thank you for such kind words—I am just trying my best. It doesn't need much equipment. Just someone to give them permission and support to look, which I'm sure you'll do brilliantly.
Love the term “minibeasts” as well as “centimede.” And of course those earwig pictures. Did you really make graphs and statistical analysis of the before and after drawings? If so, I’d love to see those too. Or maybe that’ll be in one of the nature deep dives?
Thank you! Isn't 'centimede' fantastic? I did indeed analyse the before/after drawings with proper graphs and stats tests. The study was a bit of COVID-victim, I'm afraid, since the year I ran it, it was intended as a pilot, and the following year I was going to go back, get even more data, and run a control group with two sets of drawings—the same time apart but without the workshop in between. But then COVID lockdowns hit :( But I analysed the pilot data I have, and the preliminary results are so cool! The published paper that came out of this was just from the 'before' drawings, which we used to draw conclusions about their knowledge of local wildlife—I shall do a deep dive of this paper soon—watch this space! I might well do a free post with some before/after graphs too, if you are interested?
Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out — curious to see the before/after graphs!
I did this for 10 years in our local streams, it was just a small part of my job, but my favourite! The kids really connected with the bugs (which was my goal, understand what a catchment is and connect to it to want to look after it). Teachers often commented their surprise about the kids most disengaged in the classroom were engrossed in this activity. I LOVE your idea of pre and post drawings! I never did anything like that but would get kids come back to the activity a year later, even at 5 years old (usually when I ran it as a school holiday program), and enthusiastically recall what they had caught the previous year.
Thank you for reading! WOW! Ten years!? That must have added up to such a difference in these kids’ lives! It really is gratifying, isn’t it? I’m so glad you had a similar experience. I also got the surprise from teachers about how engrossed particular students became outside. Drawings work a treat to get good data, but the flip side is that they do take a good time to analyse.
I love this so much. The kids drawings and the demonstrable impact your sessions had blows me away. In 22/23 I went into 23 local schools using my paper flowers as a vehicle to talk to kids about wildflowers and pollinators, essentially to talk about plants and how everything depends on plants and pollinators. I was commissioned by the council and when I pointed out I wasn't a scientist they said they wanted someone enthusiastic! The kids loved it and we turned all the flowers they made into a paper meadow which toured the Wirral. Some of those kids couldn't even make the link between chips and a plant. I hope I changed something for them. What I didn't do was the pre- and pist- evaluation that you did, although I got a lot of verbal feedback. I'd live to do more work like this. Even though what I'm physically doing is making paper flowers, the underlying aim is always to encourage a deeper connection to nature. Keep up the good work. I think yours may be my first paid subscription! 🌿🌿
Thank you, Ling! Your 22/23 project sounds amazing! That’s exactly what kids need—not necessarily ecological expertise but pure enthusiasm and someone who shows them how to look. I can imagine how well your stunning paper flowers went down! What an amazing tool!!! 💐 It’s that kind of lack of basic associations—chips and plants—that is so dystopian and just not at all well known about. Thank you so so much for your encouragement and support—it means the world! 🙏🙏
I love what you are doing! And earwigs are my favorite! Though for six decades I was terrified of them due to my grandmother telling me that terrifying myth. It all changed when I begin to learn about them. That they have wings folded more intricately than the finest origami. That they can fly with those beautiful wings. That one can take drowned bloated earwig bodies out of the horse trough and put them somewhere to dry and they come back to life. How do they do that? One of my grown children was so disappointed because he no longer had something to scare me with when I became infatuated with earwigs. I am lightened by knowing what you do teaching children about nature and the mini beasts.
Thank you for reading! And thank you for sharing - what a fantastic story!! It shows the power of things told to us during childhood, doesn’t it? Thanks for your support 🙏
This is lovely.
Thank you! 🙏