We’ve gotten tons of great guesses on Part 1 of this Pixel Puzzler, and now it’s time for the answer. Are you ready for the great reveal? Find out if you got it right!
The answer to this Pixel Puzzler is (drum roll please) a hyena! How did you do? Tell us in the comments!
Did you know that black-capped chickadees are masters of hide-and-seek? That’s right, these little flying friends like to find special places to stash their food for later! They have a good memory too – they can remember THOUSANDS of their old hiding spots!
Now if only I could remember where I put my hairbrush…
Where do bees go on vacation? The bee-ch! It’s pollinator season, and our hardworking friends have been keeping busy. After a big day of pollinating far and wide, they’ll need a place to relax… so why not treat them to something special? For today’s Eco-Activity, we’re making a bee hotel!
For today’s Eco-Activity, we’re creating a mini nature reserve for all those helpful creepy crawlers living in your yard, on your balcony, or outside your building.
Check on the dish daily to make sure the water stays full and clean.
• Make sure your container is clean and dry.
• If it has a lid or spout, ask an adult to help cut off the top part.
• Decorate the outside of your container. You could paint it, cover it in construction paper and stickers… anything you’d like!
• Cut your paper into strips that are as wide as your container is deep, and long enough to wrap around your pencil at least 5 times.
• Wrap one paper around your pencil to make a tube. You can use some tape to help it keep its shape. When you take it off the pencil, it should look like a big, thick straw.
• Continue to make tubes until you can fill most of your container with them.
• Place the tubes inside your hotel. If you don’t have enough tubes to fill it, you can place twigs in any empty spaces.
• Cut two pieces of string. They should each be long enough to wrap around your hotel twice, with enough left over for you to tie around a branch.
• Wrap and tie one of your strings around the top of your hotel. Do the same with the second one at the bottom. You can add a little glue if you want to make them extra secure.
• Find a nice sunny place for your hotel. Hang it up horizontally so the opening is facing you.
Let’s put your identification skills to the test! Can you figure out what is hidden in this picture? Make your guess in the comments.
Deep in the Namib desert, Earth Ranger Emma gets challenged to do what every Earth Ranger does best and save an animal in trouble. Together with her new friend Nyah she heads out to Sesriem Canyon for a daring rescue!
Emma and Nyah talk about lots of cool animals on their journey to the canyon! Check them out in Emma’s book. Can you guess which animal is which?
Baboons live in large groups called “troops”, and they’re very protective of their own. They look out for each other, and they make sure everyone else knows it!
Stay tuned for more episodes to find out what happens next!
What’s the spikiest animal you know? You could say hedgehog, pufferfish, echidna, even a sea urchin, but nothing compares to the North American porcupine! With over 30,000 quills, these porcupines are the spike champions of the world!
These quills give the porcupine superb protection against predators. They come off easily and have barbs that hook on skin and fur. Once a barb is hooked, it gets pushed deeper and deeper as the predator moves. Talk about ouch!
Some people think bugs are icky, but at Earth Rangers, we think they’re awesome! Often we only think about them when they show up unexpectedly in our homes and give us a fright, but the reality is, we’re trampling all over their homes every day.
For today’s Eco-Activity, we’re creating a mini nature reserve for all those helpful creepy crawlers living in your yard, on your balcony, or outside your building.
Grab some native plants and plant them in a sunny spot in the garden or in a planter. If you already have plants in your yard, you can just use that area for your nature reserve. Easy Peasy!
Add a shallow dish of water with small stones in it so tiny creatures can drink or bathe. Try and place the water in a shaded area beneath the plants so the water stays cool from the shade.
Check on the dish daily to make sure the water stays full and clean.
Monitor the area so you can see what types of insects are using it. If you have a magnifying glass, definitely use it!
It was the cleverest use of a plastic crate and bungee cords I’d ever seen. We were hitting the road for a summer adventure with our three young kids and none of them were great in the car. In the past, I had experimented with little treats on their seats, a Barney sing along and road trip bingo. None of these ideas landed. In fact, bingo made one of the kids’ car sick. Enter the crate and bungee cords. We strapped an old TV monitor and DVD player to the crate and wedged it in between the arm rests of the mini-van. This was the pre-tablet, monitors in the back of head rests era. We had magically created in-vehicle entertainment for the journey and I want to tell you, it was bliss.
Long before COVID-19, we were hearing regular messaging that parents were using screen time for babysitting and stress management. These headlines often made us feel guilty since of course, most of us were doing exactly that! We were told again and again; screen time was a privilege and it was meant to be managed. In reality, many of us were using it to get a break while juggling a million other things. And we all know the truth – it works wonders.
Fast forward to 2020, screen time shifted dramatically from a privilege to a necessity. Some form of computer screen became interwoven into many children’s daily routines, not only for learning, but as the primary way to socialize and stay connected. Now that many things are returning to in-person, we are once again trying to figure out what is a healthy dose of time to be in front of a screen.
Here are the latest recommendations from North American Pediatric Societies:
Children ages 6 and older: Establish personal screen time limits that ensure media doesn’t interfere with sleep, exercise or other healthy behaviours.
The magic phrase in the last category is “establish personal screen time limits”. That’s a huge shift from the old rules that recommended a set number of hours ranging from 1-2 hours a day which included TV, online games, apps and reading. Now that children can use a screen to do pretty well anything including exercise, education and entertainment, the rules have gone out the window.
The three new recommendations for parents from the experts includes; delaying the introduction of screens as long as possible, model good screen use and be consistent with the rules.
So how many hours is too much? I’ve heard parents say a set number would give them more direction but at the end of the day, it never hurts to go with your gut. You can usually hear the voice in your head that says, “I’ve really got to put more limits in place. I’m tired and it’s hard to enforce the rules but I should probably try again. And I really should put my phone down more!” As for limits, what do they look like? It’s about balance. Are they getting fresh air, playing, interacting with others, moving their bodies, hanging out with their important people and on occasion, feeling bored? Weaving screen time into that mix is part of today’s world.
There’s also the incredibly wise saying “pick and choose your battles”. We enjoyed five hours of quiet on a car ride and spent the next week suction cupped as a family on our summer adventure. The plastic crate, bungee cord set up gave me the bandwidth to be more present. We ended up playing bingo after all – without the motion sickness.
© 2025 | Earth Rangers is a registered charity: 8922 00528 RR0001 | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Contact Us
