Eco Friendly Activity Pack

Eco-Friendly Activity Pack Fun and educational activities to encourage children to look after and reduce harm to our planet

Wildflowers for the Bees and Butterflies Pg 6

Recycling et Workshe Pg 11

Fun & Exciting Tree Facts Pg 5

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Leaf

0800 389 9072 www.ablecanopies.co.uk

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Why are trees important for the ecosystem?

Trees are a vital part of our planet’s ecosystem. As the biggest plants on the planet, they give us oxygen, store carbon, stabilise the soil and give life to the world's wildlife.

Able Canopies... Going Green, one tree at a time Here at Able Canopies, we’re regularly striving to become a greener company that contributes to saving the planet by creating eco-friendly policies for our staff to follow. Our continued commitment to environmental awareness has secured us the renowned ISO 14001 environmental certification for many years, which is something we are particularly proud of.

We are very proud that in 2021, we offset our carbon footprint.

However, in order to build on our ‘green goals’, we plan to implement more initiatives at Able Canopies HQ to off-set our carbon footprint further. We are also aware that many other schools and companies will be looking to do the same. That’s why we’ve come up with an idea that can help us both meet our goals, and all you have to do is choose us as your canopy and shelter supplier.

So, in order to help us both achieve this in October 2021, we started planting trees for every canopy and shelter order we receive for a school environment. We will also plant trees for every recommendation we receive that results in the booking of a site survey.

The organisation we have chosen to sponsor is Tree Appeal www.treeappeal.com; an environmental organisation that plants trees to create wildlife habitats, combat climate change and make a greener world. They plant their trees in schools, woodland and nature reserves across the UK and Ireland.

Activity Sheets Within this guide, you will find a selection of activity sheets for your pupils to discover the importance of looking after our planet and ways they can help too.

Web: www.ablecanopies.co.uk | Email: sales@ablecanopes.co.uk | Phone: 0800 389 9072

Pg 2 of 12

Leaf Identification On your next trip outdoors, see if you can spot any of the leaves pictured below and tick them off as you go.

Maple

Beech

Ash

Willow

Oak

Chestnut

Hazel

Walnut

Birch

Web: www.ablecanopies.co.uk | Email: sales@ablecanopes.co.uk | Phone: 0800 389 9072

Pg 3 of 12

Leaf Report When you are out hunting for leaves, find a leaf and complete the leaf report...

This is my leaf...

My leaf is the colour...

The size of my leaf is...

Big Medium Small

I like my leaf because...

Web: www.ablecanopies.co.uk | Email: sales@ablecanopes.co.uk | Phone: 0800 389 9072

Pg 4 of 12

Tree Facts...

Trees are t he biggest plants on t he planet.

Tree roots are important and help the tree to stay al ive.

The oldest tree in the world is over 5,000 years old.

Trees are also a source of our f ood, like fruit and nuts. d o o w r Al l ou aper and p om , e r u fur nit e made fr r a d r ca rees. t

Trees release oxygen int o t he air w hich we need t o live healt hil y.

There are over 60,000 species of trees.

The leaves are used t o create energy fr om sun light , a pr ocess known as phot osynt hesis.

Trees can live for t housands of years.

Web: www.ablecanopies.co.uk | Email: sales@ablecanopes.co.uk | Phone: 0800 389 9072

Pg 5 of 12

Wildflowers for the bees and insects What are wildflowers?

Wildflowers are plants that usually grow on their own without humans planting them and tend to flower in the spring and summer in woodlands, fields and grass verges by the roadsides where the grass hasn’t been cut.

Why are wildflowers important?

Wildflowers provide insects such as bees and butterflies with food from leaves, pollen and nectar, they also provide shelter and places to breed. Pollinators then return the favour by transferring pollen, enabling the wildflowers to develop seeds that produce more flowers.

Our favourite fruits and vegetables such as apples, strawberries, raspberries and more, rely on pollenation to produce a good crop. This job is carried out by pollinators bees, butterflies and other insects that depend on wildflowers; without them, we would require artificial pollination, which is time-consuming and very costly.

Web: www.ablecanopies.co.uk | Email: sales@ablecanopes.co.uk | Phone: 0800 389 9072

Pg 6 of 12

Colouring Fun Our buttercup wildflower needs brightening up can you help by colouring in the below diagram.

Web: www.ablecanopies.co.uk | Email: sales@ablecanopes.co.uk | Phone: 0800 389 9072

Pg 7 of 12

Pollenation Pollina on is a very important part of the life cycle of plants. Insects, birds, bats and even the wind are pollinators, they take pollen from the flowers between flowering plants, which means the plants can make seeds and reproduce (have babies!). Pollen is usually found in the yellow centre of heads.

If we lost all our pollinators, we’d lose our plants too which means we’d lose our fruits and vegetables and even some clothes because co on is made from the co on plant.

Here’s how pollina on occurs with bees: 1. A bee flies around looking for something to eat and finds some flowers. The bright colours of the flowers and their lovely smell a racts him to them.

2. He lands on the flowers and enjoys his lunch ea ng the yummy nectar from the centre of the flowers head.

Whilst he is filling his belly, the pollen from the flower rubs onto his body by accident.

3. The bee is s ll hungry so he flies over to another flower to have some more lunch. Whilst he is on the new flower, some of the pollen falls off his body onto it, which then fer lises the egg cells in the flowers so that it can make seeds to produce more flowers.

See what pollinators you can spot outside

Butterflies

Bees

Ladybirds

Flies

Web: www.ablecanopies.co.uk | Email: sales@ablecanopes.co.uk | Phone: 0800 389 9072

Pg 8 of 12

Why is recycling important?

Recycling is one of the easiest and most effective ways to take care of our planet.

Recycling is when you take an object like as glass, plastic, metal or paper and send it off to be made into something else so it can be used all over again.

Recycling is easy! All you have to do is pay a little extra attention to putting certain materials in a recycling bin instead of a regular bin.

Your school may already have different bins for different recycling items and your bin men may take away recycling from boxes that are separate from your bin bags.

Top 5 Recyclable Objects

Paper

Tin Cans

s e l t t o B c i t s a Pl

Glass Bottles & Jars

BatterIes Web: www.ablecanopies.co.uk | Email: sales@ablecanopes.co.uk | Phone: 0800 389 9072

Pg 9 of 12

Recycling Facts Paper and Newspaper • Paper is made from trees, the more paper we recycle, the less trees that are chopped down • A recycled newspaper is made into a new newspaper within seven days.

• Most toilet paper is made from recycled paper.

• The average family in the UK uses the equivalent of 6 trees worth of paper every year.

Plastic Bottles • Plastic water bottles and other drink bottles are a commonly used and littered item.

• Plastic bottles make up a third of all the litter that’s in the sea, causing pollution and harming animals.

• In the UK, we use 13 billion plastic bottles each year but we only recycle 7.5 billion so we need to do more.

• Do you have a eece jacket? Did you know they are made from at least 25 big plastic bottles!

Tin Cans • If all of the drink cans produced in the UK were laid out end to end, they would stretch all the way to the moon three times over!

• 13 billion drink cans are produced each year but only 5 billion of them are recycled.

• Tin cans are 100% recyclable They can be recycled into more cans, bicycles, car parts and other everyday products.

Glass Bottles • In the UK, we only recycle around half of glass containers we use.

• Recycled glass is used to make new bottles and jars, materials for road surfaces, and the sand you see in the bunkers of golf courses.

• An average glass bottle is made up of 25% recycled glass. Green glass bottles are made almost completely from recycled glass.

Web: www.ablecanopies.co.uk | Email: sales@ablecanopes.co.uk | Phone: 0800 389 9072

Pg 10 of 12

Recycling Worksheet Can you help with some recycling?

Draw a line from each item to the correct recycling bin.

FOOD WASTE

PAPER

GLASS

PLASTIC

METAL

Web: www.ablecanopies.co.uk | Email: sales@ablecanopes.co.uk | Phone: 0800 389 9072

Pg 11 of 12

Canopies & Covered Walkways

Cycle & Waiting Shelters

Shade Sails & Tensile Structures

Awnings & Playground Accessories

External Works; Surfacing, Fencing etc.

Able Canopies are the canopy experts. We provide safe and stylish weather protection that transforms outdoor spaces.

• Every year we complete hundreds of successful school canopy installations across the UK • These canopies provide schools with effective shelter & areas for outdoor learning and dining • We also work with universities and the retail, leisure & hospitality sectors to effectively transform outside space • Our team of canopy experts works with schools, architects & contractors to ensure on time, on budget, project completion • To ensure consistent high quality we control the design, manufacture & installation process of our canopies “The service received was impeccable throughout the whole company. We felt valued as a customer and not just another number on the order list.” Kites Nursery: Newport, Gwent

If you would like a canopy, shelter or shade sail quota on, contact us today:

Call: 0800 389 9072 | Email: sales@ablecanopies.co.uk