September 8th, 2017

Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children

Number 134

Helping the Environment

 

Hello Everyone

 

 

Bill and Bob are always very keen to help the environment. They take their pack lunches to school in sealable containers rather than disposable wrappings and they reuse their water bottles – making sure that they are well washed in hot water and detergent from time to time.

 

They never leave rubbish anywhere to make the place look untidy. They always take it home with them – discarded rubbish can often be a danger to animals and other wildlife.

 

Mauritania (a country in West Africa) has actually banned the use of plastic bags altogether to protect the lives of both land and sea animals. They found that more than 70% of cattle and sheep that died in their capital city Nouachott (which is situated by the coast) were killed by eating plastic bags!

 

Sea creatures like sea turtles can die from eating plastic bags because when the plastic is floating in the water it looks very much like a jelly fish so the turtles think that it is food. The plastic gets caught in their throats and stomachs or caught around their shells.

 

There are no pictures of this in the Picture Gallery this week because the images are too upsetting.

 

Other animals can eat plastic bags with the food that someone has left inside. They smell the food but they can’t open the bag to get to the food so they eat some of the plastic as well.

 

All the bags that are left in the environment in hedgerows and fields and woods and roadsides are left because people are careless. Even bags carefully disposed of in rubbish bins take about 1,000 years to decompose once put in landfill sites!

 

Before 1977, people carried their food home from the supermarket in paper bags or carriers. ln Roman times, the people took their own pottery vessels to be filled at the market or shops – that really was a good way to reuse and recycle! Nowadays when food travels such a long way, it has to be well-wrapped up to keep it fresh – but this can be overdone.

 

lf you buy one lemon or grapefruit at the supermarket, there is no need to put it in a plastic bag.

 

Some towns in America have banned the sale of water in bottles less than 1 litre to reduce waste and encourage people to use water from taps. Some places in Australia have banned the sale of water in bottles altogether in recent years.

 

So reusing is even better than recycling. 

 

Do you recycle your ink cartridges and Christmas trees? Do you take your 3D glasses back to the cinema with you when you want to see the next 3D film? Do you compost to reduce waste in your rubbish bin? Do you use card egg boxes to make modular seed trays so that when you plant your seedlings out in the garden you need not disturb their roots?

 

Do you have a water saving device in your toilet?  ls there a big bottle of water in the cistern of your toilet – or do you choose the correct flush if you have a water-saving one? (Using a brick is not such a good idea because they can dissolve eventually. lt is better to use a plastic fizzy drink or milk bottle.)

 

Do you switch lights off that you are not using at home and at school? (Not on dark staircases while people are using them though!) Do you make sure that devices are not left on when not being used and that the television is not left on standby? Do you make sure that ‘phone chargers are not left plugged in when they are not being used?

 

Do you always shut the fridge door when you are pouring yourself a glass of milk or juice? Do you close the curtains all over your house at dusk in the winter to keep heat in the room? Do you boil only as much water as you need in your kettle?

 

Are you wasteful with paper – drawing, writing, printer or toilet? You can use the back of letters and junk mail you don’t want to keep to make notes and lists.

 

Do you keep newspapers to cover your kitchen table before you do some painting and then put them in the recycling bin or compost heap afterwards? 

 

Do you always use up everything from a bottle before you buy another one? Do you eat everything on your plate at meal time?

 

Do you take the ‘shoelace express’ to school if you live near enough?

 

Looking after the environment need not make your life miserable. A lot of people doing a lot of little things can make a big difference.

 

Did you know that recycled trainers can be used to make the surface of tennis courts and plastic bottles can be turned into crates, drainpipes and even blankets, fleeces and felt for crafting!

 

Sometimes you may find that your parents need a little guidance in these matters, but don’t worry they will be pleased that you are helping to save them money! 

 

The next thing Bill and Bob plan to do is make a lovely, muddy frog pond in their back garden. Frogs are good friends to gardeners. There are already over two and a half million garden ponds in Britain but Bill and Bob think one more should really help.

 

Do you have any more ideas that l haven’t mentioned?

 

 

Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!

 

lf you like my blog, please support it by telling all your friends and followers about it.

 

Thank you!

 

And see you again next Fun Friday!

 

Love and kisses

 

Salty Sam

www.christina-sinclair.com

 

 

 

Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week

 

Bill: Where can you always find a helping hand?

 

Bob: At the end of your arm!

 

 

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

 

The shoelace express

 

Reusing objects takes a little imagination

 

A bird makes use of a boot attached to a tree

 

Collected rainwater off a roof can be used to water the garden

 

A school built out of recycled materials

 

Building a school from recycled tyres

 

A frog pond

 

A collection of wildflowers by a wall or fence can provide nectar for bees

 

It is important for public health that you dispose of your waste and litter carefully

 

Using renewable resources for building is a good idea

 

Planting hedgerows creates food and shelter for many different types of wildlife

 

If you have any size of pond in your garden, you should always have at least one slope at the side to enable wildlife to climb out of the water – blocks of wood help feet get a grip when the slope becomes wet and slippery

 

A bale of straw helps to clear pond water and gives a moorhen a place to perch

 

When pollution washes into rivers, fish suffer terribly

 

In murky waters turtles can mistake floating plastic bags for jellyfish

 

Planting trees and plants can provide food and shelter for birds, insects and animals

 

Their canopies and roots can also absorb rainfall which helps to prevent flooding

 

Composted autumn leaves make good soil enricher

 

Field maples are neat, little trees for planting in hedgerows

 

Any tree can provide shelter for nesting birds

 

Clover left in a lawn can provide food for the bees which pollinate our crops

 

Bees love foxgloves –

foxgloves love to grow in dappled shade and will seed themselves and spread

 

If you have the room, buddleia is one of the best plants to grow to feed butterflies

 

Collect seed yourself to save money – keep it in paper bags or envelopes not plastic bags

 

Collecting tree seeds can be easy (Birch)

 

 

     THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK

 

A few months ago Bill and Bob tried an experiment.

 

 

They half filled a jar with water and collected all the tiny pieces of soap left when a bar of soap wore down in the bathroom and kitchen.

As the weeks went by the jar was filled up with various coloured fragments of soap.

After a while the soap began to dissolve into the water and made a lovely, slimy goo; actually a streaky, coloured, slimy goo.

They thought they could turn it into shower gel but their dad said it could also be watered down to spray on greenfly in the garden. This soapy mixture would be more environmentally friendly than poisonous sprays – and cheaper!

 

 

 

 

Now they want to get on with making their frog pond

 

 

 

 

 

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Crafty Tip

 

 

When your twelve inch doll goes shopping, l expect that she is environmentally friendly and takes with her, her own strong, re-usable shopping bags.

Here is a lovely outfit for her to go shopping in.

 

 

DRESS FRONT AND BACK (KNlT TWO)

 

Using 3¼mm knitting needles and red 4ply yarn cast on 20 stitches

Purl 1 row

Knit 1 row

Knit 1 row

Purl 1 row

 

Change to green 4ply yarn

Knit 1 row

Purl 1 row

Knit 1 row

Purl 1 row

 

Change to red 4ply yarn

Knit 20 rows of stocking stitch

 

Change to green 4ply yarn

Knit 4 rows of stocking stitch

 

Change to white 4ply yarn

Knit 4 rows of stocking stitch

 

Purl 1 row

Knit 1 row

 

Continue working in garter stitch

Cast off 3 stitches at the beginning of the next two rows (14sts)

Cast off

 

Crochet 13 chains into the end of the yarn and use this to make shoulder straps when you sew the dress together

Sew up the side seams right sides together and put onto the doll inside out to position the shoulder straps and sew into place

 

 

GREEN BOLERO BACK (KNlT ONE)

 

Using 3¼mm knitting needles and green 4ply yarn cast on 20 stitches

 

Purl 1 row

Knit 1 row

Knit 18 rows of stocking stitch

Cast off

 

GREEN BOLERO FRONTS (KNlT TWO)

 

Using 3¼mm knitting needles and green 4ply yarn cast on 10 stitches

 

Knit 30 rows of garter stitch

Cast off

 

GREEN BOLERO SLEEVES (KNlT TWO)

 

Using 3¼mm knitting needles and green 4ply yarn cast on 14 stitches

 

Purl 1 row

Knit 1 row

Knit 10 rows of stocking stitch

Cast off

 

Sew the shoulders seams, the tops of the sleeves to the body then the underarm and side seams

Sew the top corner of the collar to the shoulder seam

 

 

SHOULDER BAG (KNlT ONE)

 

Using 4mm knitting needles and green dk yarn cast on 10 stitches

Knit 32 rows of garter stitch

Cast off leaving a long end of yarn to make strap

 

Crochet 20 chains into this yarn and secure the other end to the other side of the bag then sew up the sides of the bag using over-sew stitching

 

 

SHOPPlNG BAG (KNlT ONE)

 

Using 4mm knitting needles and green dk yarn cast on 12 stitches

Knit 56 rows of garter stitch

 

Take the yarn left over at the end of the knitting a little way in along the top edge

Crochet 10 chains into the yarn and secure it into place in the centre of the bag to make a handle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLOW MY FOGHORN!!! 

 

PLUS

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lt’s the Weekend!

 

 

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FOREST         RIVER             HILL               TOWN                        MOUNTAIN

ROAD             VILLAGE        FIELD             HEDGEROW              VALLEY

 

 

Answers next week…

 

 

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