World Wildlife Day 2020
The United Nations World Wildlife Day is a global celebration of the beautiful and richly diverse forms of wild animals and plants on our planet. It is also an occasion to raise awareness of the multitude of benefits they provide to people and to drive discussions and work towards transformative change on the urgent threats facing them.
wildlifeday.org
This year’s theme is ‘Sustaining all life on earth’ and it is celebrated on March 3rd. I have compiled a list of ideas that could get kids and families out in Nature celebrating wildlife and perhaps learn something new.
As it falls on a Tuesday and we have to get our kids in bed at a reasonable time to avoid disrupting the routine too much on a school night, we will be opting for one of these activities in the afternoon or perhaps a few of them combined. I feel it is the perfect opportunity for us to actively look out for and appreciate the wildlife around us. We can then talk about the role it plays within its habitat and food chain and discuss how it affects us humans. For example pollinating insects are important to sustain our food supply, without them, we won’t be able to grow our food. But, what do these animals need to survive and what threats are they facing, which ultimately threatens our own food chain? Is there anything we can do to help and protect them and their habitats?
Here are some suggestions for easy and fun activities that do not need to cost much if anything at all and that can take as long or as little as you have time for:
- Go for a walk in Nature e.g. in one of your nearby parks or just around your neighborhood looking for wildlife.
- Have a picnic (or a cup of hot chocolate) outdoors with friends and listen to the birds around you. Do you recognize any of them?
- Look out for markings and footprints on the ground and other signs of animals i.e. leafs that have been munched; holes dug in the ground; webs spun around bushes and branches. Look for scratches on tree bark and bird nests in the canopy.
- Stand on your balcony or in your garden and spot three animals. Try to identify them. Are they wild or are they domesticated? What is the difference? Learn a fact about each animal.
- Bring a Nature Notebook and draw pictures of the animals you see on your Nature Walk.
- Organise a scavenger hunt and search for natural treasures: look for something round; look for something smooth; look for something colorful; identify three different shapes; spot a wild animal.
- Take a photo of a wild animal – identify it and research a fact about it.
- Write down the name of an animal that is native to where you live, on the pavement with a piece of chalk or in the dirt with a stick.
- Find a leaf and identify what tree it came from. Is it in any way significant compared to the other leafs and trees around it? What animals may live in or around the trees and what do you think they doing up there?
- Take a group photo in celebration of the day and upload it on social media with the official tags for World Wildlife Day: #WorldWildlifeDay #WWD2020 #SustainingAllLife #Biodiversity2020 #SustainableUse
- Read a book about Wildlife before bedtime.
If you would like to read more about ‘World Wildlife Day’ and the events happening around the world in celebration of the day you can go to this website and If you are planning your own events and activities on World Wildlife Day, you can upload them to the world map of events here.
Last but not least, stay tuned on Wild Kids Ink facebook and Instagram pages to follow the activities we are planning in celebration of World Wildlife Day 2020. I would also love to see photos of events and activities you take part in no matter how small or big they may be and wherever in the world you are.
Enjoy World Wildlife Day 2020 – be safe and happy and make it a wild one!
