Squirrel go nuts
Autumn is the season when the days start to become shorter and the temperature cools down. Squirrels spend autumn stashing nuts away for winter, they scrape a small hole in soft earth and bury their prize, patting the soil down on top to hide it from birds but how do they find them again?! Sense of smell, memory and chance all play a part!
What you will need
A permanent marker, small stones
Activity
- Gather some stones and mark them stone using a permanent marker, perhaps write your name or draw a smiley face on it.
- Hide your stone somewhere in the woodland floor, just like a squirrel would hide acorns in the Autumn. After a period of time, see if you can find your stone again – if you were a squirrel hunting for its acorns in the Winter would you have gone hungry?
- If you are playing with other people, take it in turns to hide your stones then all start looking together. What happens if you find someone else’s stone? Will you put it back? What would a squirrel do? Is it more fun to work as a group and share?
Try
Why not collect and mark a selection of stones and hide them around the area. Start timing, how many can you find in 5 minutes?!
Did you know?
Squirrels only find 26% of the acorns they bury. The acorns that they never find often sprout and grow into new oak trees!
