If you have been following our Autumn topic either on this blog or via Social Media you will know that we decided to create a Mini Beast house. There are lots of different ways to create one and I thought I would explain how and show you how we made ours.
What is a Mini Beast House?
A Mini Beast House or Hotel is exactly what it says in the description. It is ideally an environment that has a various materials that would encourage different mini beast to enter and live; especially when it becomes colder and they need a habitat to survive or hibernate through the winter.
These are usually formed by a variety of stacks of wood, cardboard, materials and other recyclable items.
Investigating Structures
The Boys and I spent a lot of time going through Google images to find a range of different structures that make up a mini beast house.
The majority of pictures show a design based around using Pallets that are placed on top of each other. Within each section that have filled it with a numerous different types of materials.
We also found some cleverly designed structures that have been specifically made to entice the best mini beasts around.
After researching and discussing the different types we came to two conclusions:
1. Using Pallets seems to be the most common design to use. However, we only have a small garden/yard and to create a hotel like this would take up a lot of space.
2. Creating our own specific design would be cool but we are aware that Daddy isn't the best when it comes to making things!
How to make your own hotel
The best thing about making these is the recycle and upcycle aspects of it. Going to any recycling plant or industrial estate and you will find used pallets discarded at the side.
(Always ask permission to take these before you do)
If you are making your own then try to go to "Do It Yourself" stores or Garden centres and explain what you are doing and if they have any off cuts that they are discarding or are not able to sell.
Another alternative is to going to a building site and ask the workmen there.
(Please do not enter a building site without permission to gain materials)
We decided to do the latter as there have been several house builds locally. We explained to the workmen what we were doing and what sort of wood we would need.
The idea was to encourage the to design the hotel and choose the correct location for it, hopefully will encourage and sustain their interest and enjoyment.
When we got home we stacked several blocks of wood together and discussed sizes and what would be the best space available to entice insects to it.
The Boys still liked the idea of have the same shape as the pallets; with this in mind I started to try and construct it.
Using the off cuts of plywood and reclaimed wood I cut a rectangle shape.
( I did this 4 times to have 4 levels)
I measured 2 long and thicker depths strips and cut them.
( I did this 12 times. Please note though that as we only had off cuts they varied in height, which we found useful)
I then screwed the different sections together. Apart from the bottom level that had 2 points each level had a left, right and centre plinth.
I repeated this for each level. The Boys wanted 4 levels and some with different depths.
(Which I will explain why in the next post)
Ideally you could do this as many times as you like and have a tall structure!
The Boys had a clear understanding of what it should look like, how big or small and then which materials they would put in each section. They quite happily chatted and investigated along the way of making this; telling me exactly what I should do.
In the next post I will show how we filled it!
2 comments:
Looks great :) Does the chip board fair well in the rain? We made a mistake with hardboard this year which led to the comical collapse of a mud kitchen that Matt and the boys made. Got my eye out now for recommendations for materials that survive outside.
Yeah. Well I guess it does as I took it off of a building site where it was slightly exposed. I had considered hardboard but I remembered that it isn't too sturdy.
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