How to get the most out of the Wildsquare project with your group or club

3 June 2008

Would you like to...

  • Learn more about the area around where your group meet?
  • Find out who else lives there?
  • Carry out fun surveys and use these to plan interactive and participative meetings?

Then Wildsquare is the project for you! Get involved and take part in some great surveys in a place that is special to you and your group members.

Your Wildsquare is a one kilometre square piece of land and can be wherever you like - you can choose an area you visit regularly, like a local park or nature reserve - it's up to you.

You will need to register with us online; telling us where your Wildsquare is and how many children will be actively participating in the project. We will then send you one Wildsquare folder for the group; and a calendar and sticker pack for each participating child.

Use the folder to file all your survey and activity sheets to build up an exciting picture of the square you have chosen. The stickers are designed to go on the calendar so the children can track notable sights, such as when they saw their first swallow, or toadstool and they can also mark on when they start and finish the Wildsquare surveys.

The Wildsquare web pages tell you about exciting surveys and activities you can carry out in your square. When there aren't any surveys going on, or you just need a fun activity for your group meeting; use the activity sheets on the website. There are lots of different activities to choose from; from Butterfly bingo and baking Gingerbread birds to making a hedgehog house and an apple bird feeder. The activity sheets are updated on a regular basis, so there will always be something new to use. There are indoor activity sheets that can be used on days when you are doing craft type meetings and other sheets to get you outdoors, learning more about your Wildsquare.

Once you have completed a survey you will need to tell us what you have seen in your Wildsquare - before we can protect our wildlife we need to learn more about it. You will need to check the website to find out when the interactive survey results are published.

Once published, the survey results are displayed online, in the following way and are perfect to use and explore with a laptop and projector.

As well as teaching your group about their local area, in a fun and inclusive way, taking part also helps conservationists to learn about and protect our wildlife and environment. Both elements to this project make it a truly valuable and worthwhile exercise.

Group Leader Comments:

I have my Wildlife Explorers group doing this at the local RSPB reserve.

The website is great - very colourful and easy to access.

The survey was very enjoyable to do with the children and they enjoyed inputting the results. The animated results are amazing.

I have used some of the activities on the reserve during the WEx meetings. In particular, the Bird Survival Hunt was very good. We used it as an activity to do on the way to the hides to do a bird-watching session. It was good to keep the children in tow going along the path.

More Wildsquare ideas

Conservation Messages

  • Discuss the importance of conservation and maintaining habitats that can sustain wildlife. Identify ways in which the children can do this within their Wildsquare, homes and the wider environment.

Role Play

  • Playing the part of an inhabitant of your Wildsquare, to find out more about its life, based upon the findings of your surveys.

Geographical Knowledge

  • Using maps of Great Britain and our interactive survey results, find out where the animals and plants on the survey forms are most likely to be found. Highlight the fact that wildlife can be found in many different areas of the country, but on the other hand some species may be limited to where they live due to climate, type of food or type of habitat found in that area.
  • Discuss how changes in climate, human population movement and building developments can affect wildlife.

ID Skills

  • Identify different habitats and wildlife within your Wildsquare
  • For each survey look into the individual animals or plants listed for the survey in more detail, explore food chains related to these.

Art

  • Use the craft activity sheets from the website.
  • Make observational sketches during your surveys

Click here to download the notes