Published 10/06/16, by Louise Swift
Introduction
Huddersfield's first ECOconference opened with a talk by Helen and Sophie from 'Fair and Funky'. They had with them many items that had been made from things that would otherwise have been thrown away and talked about their aim to change the world, one little step at a time. We went to our worksh...
Read MorePublished 10/06/16, by Louise Swift
Useful junk
Did you know that roughly 6 trees are cut down to provide just one family with paper products for just one year?! Imagine how many trees for your whole street... for your whole lifetime...?!
In one workshop we 'upcycled' junk, including cardboard tubes, scraps of coloured paper and fabric and...
Read MorePublished 10/06/16, by Louise Swift
Our recycled Earth
A lady from 'Grow to School' got us all thinking about how almost everything on Earth is made of recycled material in some way! We explored the grounds around the hall looking for living, dead and dormant organic material, then used some of what we had found to create a piece of art to tell the s...
Read MorePublished 10/06/16, by Louise Swift
How to make a "rubbish" wallet (that's actually quite cool!)
1/ Start by washing out and squashing flat a 1l juice carton. Cut off the top and bottom and fold the sides in, as in the photo.
Read MorePublished 10/06/16, by Louise Swift
...wallets continued...
2/ Next squash your new, narrow carton flat, and fold the bottom third up so that the folded part is the same height as the top part.
Read MorePublished 10/06/16, by Louise Swift
... more cutting...
3/ With your wallet in an L shape, cut down the creases at the back (as in the photo) but only as far as the top of the folded over bit.
Fold your newly cut single layer down (as in the photo), then cut straight across the remaining sticky-up parts. Can you see it looking more like a wa...
Read MorePublished 10/06/16, by Louise Swift
...nearly done...
4/ Use a piece of sticky tape to hold the front and back pouches together, then fold over and shape the front flap.
Read MorePublished 10/06/16, by Louise Swift
... and finally!
5/ Finally add a fastener (for example sticky velcro pieces, an elastic band or 2 split pins and a loom band) and your "rubbish" wallet is good to go!
Read MorePublished 10/06/16, by Louise Swift
FairTrade
In another workshop, we learnt all about the roles of people who work at each step in the process of manufacturing a bar of choclolate, and that FairTrade means that fair pay goes right back to the farmer at the beginning of the story.
Read MorePublished 10/06/16, by Louise Swift
mini-mathematicians
We were fascinated to learn about the amazing maths skills of bees. Not only are their wax honeycombs always made from perfect hexagons, but the bees even use their front legs to measure the height of each domed hexagon, to see if the bee embryo inside it will become male or female, and then chan...
Read MorePublished 10/06/16, by Louise Swift
Bumblebees
We learned that the huge bumblebees we often see are queens. We already knew that there are many different types of bumblebees, but it was amazing to hold one (dead!) to feel how fluffy they are. As they have an 'exoskeleton' (no bones inside their body) their body doesn't decompose when they die...
Read MorePublished 10/06/16, by Louise Swift
What good are bees?!
We learnt all about how vital bees are to the existence of many other living things, in that if they were not there to pollinate flowers or make products such as honey and wax, our world would be very different. Even small changes to our climate or biodiversity can have a massive impact on bees...
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