Check out these great activities, resources and guides for adults and families to raise awareness of biodiversity and appreciation of our natural heritage.
Birds
This guide from National Parks and Wildlife Service will help you identify common Irish birds.
This lovely poster from Wicklow Mountains National Park will help you identify 20 common Garden Birds.
Have a look at the wildlife that lives on our mountains in this poster from the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
IrishBirding is a nationwide web resource for birders in Ireland. It is a forum for birders to publish news and sightings of Irish birds.
BirdWatch Ireland has put together guides for birdwatching spots around Ireland. They also have great information and news on birding in Ireland.
A bird survey is a fantastic way to become aware of the many species of birds around us. You can do this at home, on your own or with your family, a group of friends or a whole class at school.
Attract more birds to your garden with a bird feeder filled with bird seed or sunflower seeds. There are many different ways of making bird feeders, this guide shows how to make a bird feeder from a plastic bottle or an orange peel.
Birds enjoy taking a bath and it is also quite enjoyable to watch them. See how you can make a simple bird bath at home using this activity from Kilkenny Education Centre.
Flora
This guide from the National Biodiversity Data Centre highlights Native Biodiversity-friendly Trees in Ireland. Planting native trees benefits biodiversity, climate action, and human health.
Ulster Wildlife has compiled a list of Trees and Shrubs you can find in Ireland, with further information on each species.
Trees and shrubs are beautiful living organisms. They provide homes and food for many creatures and most importantly for humans, without them we would have no oxygen to breathe. Check out this worksheet from the National Parks and Wildlife Service all about shrubs and trees.
The sight of trees and hedgerows in flower is a joy to see, and a wonderful nectar source for pollinators. The fruit that follow the flowers are food for birds (and people). Use this wonderful guide to identify 7 common Irish flowering trees from the National Parks and Wildlife Service
This page from Wilderness Ireland shows what wildflowers you’ll be able to see in each month.
A photographic guide to Irish Wildflowers, A-Z indexes, with Common, Latin and Irish names.
Bugs
Ulster Wildlife has put together a guide for bugs you can find in Ireland, with further information on each species.
Invertebrate Identification Guide
National Parks Learning has put together this guide to help you identify the common groups of invertebrates that you may find in Irish woodlands, rural areas or gardens.
National Parks Learning has put together this guide to help you learn to identify Ireland’s 35 butterfly species.
A butterfly feeder brings colour and joy to your garden. Use a bottle cap and simple household materials to make a colourful butterfly feeder filled with sugar water that attracts many beautiful pollinators.
Bumblebee Identification Guide
National Biodiversity Data Centre has in-depth guides on identifying common Irish Bumblebees. The files contain a series of images of Irish bumblebees, and have been developed as an identification guide.
Did you know that bees are highly mathematical? They build their honeycombs in perfect hexagons, the most space efficient shape when stacking objects. They also perform a dance called the waggle dance to inform each other of promising sources of nectar. The waggle dance is aligned to the sun and the source of food to show the direction and indicates the distance between the hive and the source. Recently it was also found that bees even understand the concept of zero – something that mankind was struggling with for a long time!
Discover pond insects and have a look in a pond to see if you can find any of the creatures from the poster.
Bugs are everywhere, in the garden, on trees, on flowers and sometimes they also come visiting us inside the house. So why not go on a bug hunt, see how many creepy crawlies you can catch and how many of those you can identify? Make sure you don’t hurt them and release them back into nature afterwards.
Insect hotels encourage biodiversity in the garden and’ll you have a good chance of beneficial insects naturally visiting your garden. Here is a simple way to make a bug hotel using a plastic bottle and natural materials
Mammals
This guide from the National Parks Learning will help you identify Ireland’s common land mammals, including the tracks and ecology.
Bats are difficult to identify because they come out after dusk and they flit around so fast. This poster from the National Parks and Wildlife service tells you about the 9 species of bats in Ireland and how to protect them.
Pine martens are a shy and elusive Irish mammal. Like many animals around the world they share a habitat with humans and may take game birds and fowl. This webpage from the Vincent Wildlife Trust and published by the National Parks and Wildlife Service gives more information on this creature.
Sea
The Explorers Wild about Wildlife on the Seashore Resources include short films, species information sheets, activity and worksheets for children, workbooks, fun facts and lots more.
Galway Atlantaquaria has a range of online resources to learn about the sea. Their website includes Activity Sheets and YouTube videos of the aquarium.
Seal Rescue Ireland have put together a brilliant virtual education series, including videos & activity workbooks filled with fun conservation actions for kids to carry out at home and in their local wild spaces, such as Biodiversity Bingo, safe wildlife watching, litter picks and more!
The Irish Whale and Dolphin group website allows the public to see and report recent Whale and Dolphin sightings. There is information on their Conservation work as well as Education resources.
Activities
Calmast SETU STEM Engagement Centre has a range of science, technology, engineering, and maths related events throughout the year. They put on Maths Week, Science Week, Robert Boyle Schools, SE Engineering Festival, and much more. Events are usually free and for adults, families,
Find out how many different plants and insects there are in your garden or in an area close by. Researchers all across the world use a method called quadrat sampling to survey the number and kind of species living in different places. You can do the same at home. This is also a good way to practice maths and learn about biodiversity ecosystems and many species of plants and animals.
With instructions from the JFK Arboretum: a great family activity. A mandala is a circular structure with a design that radiates out symmetrically from the centre. You can find mandalas in flowers, tree rings, spider webs, seashells and more – and you can use materials from nature to make a beautiful nature mandala.
In spring, flowers appear in the garden, in parks and everywhere around us. One after the other, many different flower buds open up and beautiful petals unfold. Make your own paper bud at home and watch it unfold into a beautiful flower.
Not every day is day to go outside and explore biodiversity. But you can create your own floating paintings of biodiversity right at home. All you need is water, a plate and couple of dry erase markers.
We are all easily baffled by optical illusions. They are fun to explore – and they are also fun to create. Here is an easy way to make an optical illusions at home, based on flowers, trees and a goldfish bowl – that’s biodiversity!
Once your seeds have grown into small plants in your greenhouse, it’s time to bring them outside. Snails and slugs, however, are just waiting for that – a delicious meal. You can upcycle another plastic bottle into a snail proof barrier.
Greenhouses are used to grow plants, in particular plants that need a lot of warmth and those that are not usually growing in the climate that we have here in Ireland. Here is a way to make your own greenhouse at home from a plastic bottle.
