Monkey Nuts make a great snack for visiting squirrels. This is a great activity to connect your children with nature and looks very impressive for little effort.
This activity comes from Miro Tartan’s Book ‘Tiny Explorers: Into the Wild’
You Will Need:
Wooden BBQ Skewers
Monkey Nuts (Peanuts in shells)
Elastic Bands
A small tray
Damp sand or flour
Helps Children with:
- Patience
- Hand Eye Coordination
- Dexterity
- Caring for animals
Helps Nature with:
- Creating a safe space for squirrels
Take some BBQ Skewers and Monkey Nuts (Peanuts in shells), using the sharp end of the skewer, pierce a number of nuts through the sharp end of the stick.
Once you have four sticks filled with nuts (leaving the ends empty), stick them into the ground like you are making a teepee shape.
Secure the top of the teepee with an elastic band at the top.
Secure into the ground and wait and see if you have any visitors
Wildlife watchers might also want to leave the teepee in a tray filled with damp sand or flour to see evidence of footprints left behind.
Trying it out at home!
The premise behind our Wild Wednesday activities is that we find the best ideas in books, online and on Pinterest and then try them out at home and share our experience.
Events and Community Manager, Laura McGrath tried making the Squirrel feeder at home then passed onto her mum, who has a regular squirrel visitor at home.
Ingredient Sourcing: The ingredients for this were really easy to come by and I had most things at home to begin with.
Mess Factor: Just the odd bit of peanut shell (mostly from the frenzy of Ida trying to eat them! We skipped the flour / sand element, which in truth is probably a touch messier, but if done outside would be fine.
Attention Span: I’m honestly really surprised how engaging this was, the fact its (sort of) edible was a big help. I think bigger kids would really enjoy this as they’d actually understand what the purpose of it was. Even though Ida was none the wiser, she still had a great time helping with the skewers.
Particularly exciting for us, my mum has a regular squirrel visitor so when Ida stayed overnight she got to enjoy seeing a red squirrel eat the nuts from the garden the next morning. If you do have regular wildlife visitors this is a good addition to your garden and I can confirm it went down a storm in my mum’s garden.
Observations: The original instructions include the option of adding a tray of sand or flour to view footprints. We skipped this as it was icy but even if it wasn’t icy, I’m not sure how easy it would be to secure the teepee shape, though I might try again in milder weather and see.
If you are looking for an easy wildlife activity I really do recommend giving this a go. We’d love to see any recreations too! Send to hub@quorumpark.com
Watch a video of the squirrel enjoying the feeder below!
Try some of our other Wild Wednesdays here: