Leo's granny bought him a Bug Hotel book, which he was very interested in. Taking this as the play cue, I responded by asking him if he wanted to create a bug hotel. Indeed he did, so we got cracking. I've broken the process down into 5 easy steps.
This bug hotel is simple to make and requires no specialist skills or equipment.
Step 1 - We Made a Plan
We sketched out what we needed and how the bug hotel should look.
Items and equipment needed:
Wooden crate - purchased from B & Q
Wooden dividers - purchased from B & Q
Small sample paint pot
Small hacksaw
Bamboo canes
Foraged sticks
Rocks
Cut grass
We gathered all the above either from the shop or from the local park.
Step 2 - Assembly
We assembled the box and dividers and placed them together. I had asked Leo to pick out a coloured sample paint pot from the DIY shop B&Q and he chose a light green, "because the bees will love it." Together we painted the box.
Step 3 - Sawing the Canes
We needed hollow bamboo canes for solitary bees, so this was a good moment to teach Leo to saw. I adopted the 'hand over hand' technique and we sawed together. Leo enjoyed marking out the desired length with a pencil.
As we had made some incredible new loose parts, Leo took the opportunity to play with them. We listened to the sound bamboo makes when it knocks together, attempted an old-school game of pick up sticks and eventually went with making a hopscotch in the living room. This was a great opportunity to learn about squares, and the fact we needed 4 sticks to make a square.
Step 4 - Stuffing the Bug Hotel
Time to stuff the bug hotel. We had learnt from the book that we needed canes for bees, old wood for beatles, rocks for snails and hay for flying insects. So we stuffed these into each section.
Step 5 - Positioning
We positioned the bug hotel in the spot adjacent to some raspberry bushes, where we felt the bugs were most likely to be, and we were finished! A good job well done. Our first visitor, a little money spider, appeared almost straight away.
I hope you have fun making this hotel!
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