Art, design, technology and ponds

Activities

1. Pond pictures

These can be made individually, or as a large montage where the whole class is involved. You could hide a little frog picture in the vegetation and ask classroom visitors to try and spot it. Model dragonflies can be attached with pins to give a 3-D effect. Marbled paper can make an effective background for pictures of minibeasts drawn from observation.

2. Making food chains and webs

By finding out what animals eat, plants and animals can be arranged to make a food chain. Collect pictures of plants and animals and arrange them with arrows in between to show how they are linked. Sometimes the arrows cross over, for instance if a plant is eaten by more than one animal. Food webs can be constructed in a variety of ways: cut-out illustrations or the pupils' own drawings/paintings of species; pictures suspended by thread at different levels to form a mobile, with the thread representing links; painted as a mural; formed from models of species found. What is the longest food chain that you can make? Can humans form part of any of the suggested food chains? You can also represent life cycles in a variety of interesting ways.

3. Colours and camouflage

Children can be encouraged to see what colours there are in and around a pond.

4. Modelling minibeasts

Have fun modelling ponds and pond life using either household junk or clay. Ask children to design (on paper or as a model) an animal adapted to cope with specified environmental conditions.

5. Movement

The movements of pond animals, e.g. snails, pond skaters and frogs, can be expressed through dance, music and movement. A game of charades can be played where children are divided into groups, each group being given the name of a pond minibeast to act out. Once they have decided who is going to be the legs, antennae etc., each group performs in turn to the other groups who have to guess the animal.

6. Listening

When at the pond, try sitting round in a circle and listening with eyes closed. What can you hear? How many different things? What do you think the birds are saying to each other?

7. Make a net

A simple net can be made using an old broom handle, a loop of 4mm wire and a bag made from net curtain. Fix the bag onto the wire using a strong piece of material sewn around the top of it. The wire loop can then be fixed to the broom handle using this wire and insulating tape.

8. Looking under water

You can make an underwater viewer using a large tin can. Remove both ends with a can opener and cover any rough edges with thick tape. Cover one end with transparent polythene and fix it in position with tape or rubber bands. With the polythene end dipped in the water, you can view the underwater world.

9. Colours

Explore the variety of colours in and around a pond by collecting fragments of leaves, petals, wood etc. and fixing them (when dry!) to a sticky surface (double-sided carpet tape is ideal). Possible themes might include: colours of the rainbow; a rainbow of greens from dark to light; shades of any other colour; colours representing each season. Images can also be produced by rubbing leaves, flowers, berries, bark, soil etc. onto paper. Children might also be challenged to collect natural objects which match with a reference collection or with a paint colour chart.

Pond Pack Introduction Why study ponds? Pond-dipping Safety for teachers Safety for kids Animal variety Moving and breathing Cycles of life Webs of life Plant life Maths English Geography History Art and design Make a pond Plant identification Animal identification Activity sheets Bug dial Where to go Acknowledgements EDUCATION NATURE SEARCH . . . . . . . . .