Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 116
The Badgers Project
Hello Everyone
Miss Pringle, Bill and Bob’ teacher at the Rocky Bay Primary School, set the children in her class a project this week. They had to choose a wild animal and write about it.
Bill and Bob decided to write about badgers and squirrels because they had seen both of these animals in their back garden.
Bill is very proud of his project so he would like you to read it…
Badgers are very shy creatures and are mostly nocturnal; that means active at night.
They have black and white markings; their eyes are positioned in the black stripes that run up the sides of their faces. Badgers and are quite difficult to see in the dark.
Badgers live in underground burrows that they dig out; these are called setts. They have very strong, short legs that are good for digging. ln fact, the word badger might come from the French work bêcheur which means digger or it might come from the English word badge because of the white mark on its face.
The old English word for badger was brock.
Badgers pull a bedding of dried leaves down into their chambers to make them more comfortable to sleep in and there are probably a few badgers living in most dens.
The male is called a boar and the female is called a sow. (These are the same names as we give to pigs.) The babies are called cubs and there are usually one, two or three in a family although there can be up to five.
The cubs are born between December and February but you won’t see them come up above ground to play for another two months.
You are not allowed to play with little badgers, you can only watch them. But you are allowed to leave your football in the garden in case they want to play with it.
Their main food is earthworms (about 45%-50% of their diet) and they can eat up to 200 a night but they also eat insect grubs, roots, cereals, nuts, berries and fruits.
When you plant bulbs, it is a good idea to put chicken wire over the top of them if you have a badger living in your garden, otherwise the badgers are likely to eat your bulbs.
Badgers can even climb trees to get fruit.
Badgers are to be found just about everywhere in the world except Australia.
People like badgers and they are often characters in stories about animals and the most famous one was in Wind in the Willows.
William
Next week it is Bob’s turn to tell you about his project.
Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bob: What do badgers have that no other animal has?
Bill: l don’t know. What do badgers have that no other animal has?
Bob: Baby badgers!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
Picture Gallery
A badger sett has a large entrance
It has chambers inside which are bedrooms to shelter in away from the cold
Baby badger
Baby badger coming out to play
Badgers can climb trees and fences
A badger in an old birch tree
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
Bill and Bob made an owl game from last week’s blog and decided to take it to school to show their teacher Miss Pringle.
Bill, Henry and Bob
She thought it was a wonderful idea and turned it into a class quiz.
First she drew the owl up on the board.
The class was divided into two teams and they had to give answers to the following questions (if they couldn’t manage it the other team had a go).
You could play the game with your friend or brother or sister just as well. You will find that it is harder to get four crosses in a row than three!
Questions for Team One
Think of a word beginning with ‘o’…
- A promise
- A fruit
- A barrier
- An ape
- A monster
- A musical instrument
- A tree
- A vegetable
- A US state
- A herb
- A girl’s name
- A sea creature
Questions for Team Two
Think of a word beginning with ‘v’…
- A musical instrument
- A flavour
- A country
- An animal
- A geographical feature
- An article of clothing
- A colour
- A room
- A job
- A queen
- A part of a church
- A piece of gym equipment
O O
V
oxox
xoxo
oxox
xoxo
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Recipe Spot
This is an easy recipe for shortbread. Shortbread can be taken on picnics or put in your lunch box.
First pre-heat your oven to 190°C
And grease a baking tin – you can use the inside of a butter wrapping paper
Mix together in a bowl
125g/4oz butter
55g/2oz caster sugar
Then stir in
180g/6oz plain flour
- When you have made a thick paste turn it out onto a floured work surface and roll it out with a floured rolling pin to a depth of about 1cm/½ inch thick
- Cut into round or fingers or hearts and place on the greased baking sheet
- Poke with a fork or press a mould into the top to make a pattern
- Sprinkle with some caster sugar
- Cook for 15-20 minutes
You can also add a teaspoon of cinnamon, allspice and/or ginger if you like
BLOW MY FOGHORN!!!
PLUS
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lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE A BLACK AND WHlTE OUTFlT
FOR YOUR TWELVE lNCH DOLL
This is a lovely outfit for your doll to wear on a chilly day.
(The white yarn in the photograph is King Cole Cuddles Chunky)
COAT BACK (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and black dk yarn cast on 18 stitches
Knit 70 rows in garter stitch
Cast off
COAT FRONTS (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and black dk yarn cast on 10 stitches
Knit 70 rows in garter stitch
Cast off
SLEEVES (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and black dk yarn cast on 16 stitches
Knit 22 rows in garter stitch
Cast off
TO MAKE UP
Sew shoulders of fronts to back 2cm/¾ inch up from arm end.
Sew the tops of the sleeves to the body.
Sew the under arm seams and the side seams.
COLLAR (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and white textured chunky yarn cast on 16 stitches
Knit 6 rows of garter stitch
Cast off
Attach the collar to the coat
WHITE BERET HAT (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and white textured chunky yarn cast on 10 stitches
Knit 4 rows of garter stitch
Increase 1 stitch into every stitch (20 stitches)
Knit 7 rows of garter stitch
Decrease 1 stitch each end of the next 10 rows
Cast off
Run a length of white dk yarn around the outside of the rounded edge of the knitting from one end of the bottom edge to the other and pull the hat in to fit the doll’s head.
Sew to secure.
Tie the ends into a bow to mark the right side of the head.
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
Answers to the News Desk Quiz – Suggestions
Questions for Team One
Think of a word beginning with ‘o’…
- A promise – an oath
- A fruit – an orange
- A barrier – an obstacle
- An ape – an orangutan
- A monster – an ogre
- A musical instrument – an oboe
- A tree – an oak
- A vegetable – an onion
- A US state – Oregon
- A herb – oregano
- A girl’s name – Olivia
- A sea creature – octopus
Questions for Team Two
Think of a word beginning with ‘v’…
- A musical instrument – a violin
- A flavour – vanilla
- A country – Venezuela
- An animal – a vole
- A geographical feature – a valley
- An article of clothing – a vest
- A colour – violet
- A room – a vestibule
- A job – a vet
- A queen – Victoria
- A part of a church – vestry
- A piece of gym equipment – a vault
