Octopus Colouring Sheet and other nature crafts

Running out of kids' activities for the holidays?

Thanks to illustrator Fraser Williamson, each of the "Whose?" books has a matching activity which helps extend the children's thinking about the book concepts.

Whose Beak is This? has a kākā mask to colour and make; Whose Feet are These? has a gecko to colour and add some 'sticky' feet; now there is a colouring sheet for Whose Home is This? based on the colourful illustration of wheke, the octopus.

DOWNLOAD A4 Colouring Sheet

At the Beach in New Zealand - explore and discover what lives there

"At the Beach" includes a lift-out identification card

"At the Beach: explore and discover the New Zealand seashore" was published in 2012 and is now a New Zealand Bestseller. The book comes with a lift-out (double-sided) identification card in the inside back cover. This is very popular, as it can be taken to the beach separately from the book. Unfortunately it can also get easily lost! I've noticed school and library copies often have it removed too. so Ned and I thought it should be available as PDF for schools and libraries to print out. 

Penguin Walks - kororā count

On a couple of spring days every year, volunteers from Kāpiti Biodiversity Project get up very early. It's still dark outside as they make their way to a meeting point at Paekakariki Beach. It's chilly and they are rugged up in coats and hats. As the sky begins to brighten, they make their way slowly along the beach scanning the sand for footprints.

A trail of footprints being examined by volunteers

The tide is out, the sand has been washed clean of yesterday's footprints, so any new prints on the beach have been made since the last high tide. The volunteers are looking for prints like these:

New Zealand Nature Heroes

My latest book New Zealand Nature Heroes is 80 pages of "inspiration and activities for young conservationists". Stories of scientists and volunteers ....