Imagine that you can be a sloth. What does it mean to find your inner sloth? Sloths are asleep a good portion of the twenty-four-hour day. The rest of the time they are slowly moving and feeding. What if you were licking an ice cream in a way that a sloth munches slowly on leaves?ContinueContinue reading “Inspired by Endangered Sloths – Sloth Meditation”
Author Archives: maliasa
Biomimicry for Young Children Inspired by the Endangered Sloths
Bring slowness into the world! On the Second Day of February, We Saved Two Sleepy Sloths Would it not be great to stretch time? How can we celebrate slowfulness? William Beebe was a sloth researcher who was very impressed by the sloths’ slowness. He wrote, “Sloths have no right to be living on this earth,ContinueContinue reading “Biomimicry for Young Children Inspired by the Endangered Sloths”
Biomimicry for Young Children – Inspired by Endangered Dugongs – Donald Dugong Seacleaner
Meet Donald Dugong Seacleaner! The graceful dugongs spend time eating seagrass from the bottom of the sea. Seagrass is important to save. We wrote a story about Doctor Delia Dugong who saved the seagrass (this is an unpublished story). We also reversed our thinking and ended up with an idea where we take something awayContinueContinue reading “Biomimicry for Young Children – Inspired by Endangered Dugongs – Donald Dugong Seacleaner”
Biomimicry for Young Children – Inspired by Endangered Dugongs
Dugongs spark our curiosity and tug our heart-strings. These sea cows are beautiful and fascinating creatures. On the first day of January we saved One swimming dugong Inspired by the carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, we made up a song where we each month saved an animal – The Twelve Months of Endangered AnimalsContinueContinue reading “Biomimicry for Young Children – Inspired by Endangered Dugongs”
Imagine a city! A Smart City!
People flying with their umbrellas as the wind blows. Paintings that escape from their frames. Buses are fish and fish fly in the sky! Imagine a City by Elise Hurst is an invitation to imagine all sorts of fantastic things. She encourages us to not only imagine fantastical cities but also take the game aContinueContinue reading “Imagine a city! A Smart City!”
Biomimicry for Young Children – Magic DinoPills
What if you were a dentist? Can you invent something inspired by dinosaurs? Magnificent plant-eating dinosaurs provided inspiration for the idea of Magic DinoPills. This is biomimicry applied to medicine — not copying an animal’s shape, but copying the biological trick that makes its trait possible. The long-necked, plant-eating giants such as Diplodocus and CamarasaurusContinueContinue reading “Biomimicry for Young Children – Magic DinoPills”
Jelly Bean Frog Story Writing and Robos- Biomimicry for Young Children
Tiny, tiny, tiny frogs! Some frogs are the size of a jellybean. Jelly bean frogs – wonderful inspiration! Of course, we could not resist cutting out the tiniest frogs and putting them beside jelly beans. Brachycephalus frogs are less than 1 cm long (0.39 inches) or approximately the size of a jelly bean. They haveContinueContinue reading “Jelly Bean Frog Story Writing and Robos- Biomimicry for Young Children”
Fibonacci, Cones and Biomimicry
Pine cones can be a great source of inspiration for craft and art projects. Use goggle eyes to transform a cone into a pet, a monster, or an owl. Wrap the cone in tinsel and glitter and have a sparkly Christmas decoration. The seeds can be glued onto a paper and a hedgehog or birdContinueContinue reading “Fibonacci, Cones and Biomimicry”
Spooky Spiderlicious Spycamera – Halloween-Inspired Biomimicry for Young Children
Be inspired by Spiders to prevent a thief from stealing Halloween treats. Spiders! Oh no! Although I have never been afraid of spiders, I must admit that finding a poisonous redback in my shoes in Queensland did make me jump back. The redback spider is a beautiful black spider with a big red stripe onContinueContinue reading “Spooky Spiderlicious Spycamera – Halloween-Inspired Biomimicry for Young Children”
Why is Biomimicry Important?
It might be difficult to understand why biomimicry is important and what children can learn from this approach of looking at nature to find inspiration for new ideas. Most schools teach children about how animals and plants grow, where they can be found, and taxonomy, but nature can be used as an inspiration to solveContinueContinue reading “Why is Biomimicry Important?”
Digging Deeper – Biomimicry and Philosophy
It is deceptively easy to think that biomimicry is simply an approach where the only purpose is to invent and design new things. Yet, biomimicry goes beyond mere invention and design; it is a way to learn from and mimic the strategies found in nature to solve human design challenges. New and exciting insights canContinueContinue reading “Digging Deeper – Biomimicry and Philosophy”
CroakMet Messaging Service – Biomimicry for Young Children
In the summertime, bike riding is even more fun! Yet there are several problems with bike riding. Frogs’ amazing bulging eyes and low, horse-like croaking sound inspired us to solve two of the most annoying problems. How do you talk to your best friend without shouting? How do you see everything that goes on behindContinueContinue reading “CroakMet Messaging Service – Biomimicry for Young Children”
Biomimicry, British Wildlife and Foxes – Fox Nose Box
Foxes are fantastic. They can leap up into the air and dive into a pile of snow to catch a mouse. Inspired by foxes, we made a Fox Nose Box – the food packing of the future. Just like foxes have great noses, so does this food box. The black nose is filled with trillionsContinueContinue reading “Biomimicry, British Wildlife and Foxes – Fox Nose Box”
Biomimicry Postal Stamps to Celebrate Nature
Postal Stamps to Celebrate Nature! Stamps are tiny works of art — small enough to fit in your hand, but often packed with incredible detail. For over 30 years, the United Nations Postal Administration has issued special stamps to raise awareness of endangered species. In 2017, twelve colourful stamps featured animals and plants newly addedContinueContinue reading “Biomimicry Postal Stamps to Celebrate Nature”
Smart Feathers – Biomimicry for Young Children
Owls have beautiful as well as smart feathers! Why not make a project and study feathers? The beauty of bird feathers provides inspiration for art activities. Their smart design is perfect for young curious biomimicrist. A great way to study how feathers have evolved and to use their clever design as inspiration for searching forContinueContinue reading “Smart Feathers – Biomimicry for Young Children”