Teach your pupils how to build a giant nest, create a butterfly garden or make their own family tree!
The resources provided here have been submitted by Heritage Experts, teachers or prepared by other educational organisations. The resources are both fun and educational and are designed to inspire and develop an appreciation and curiosity about Ireland’s wonderful natural and cultural heritage.
Resources can be searched for under the following categories:
Screw bound and printed full colour on both sides, this pocket-sized guide (85 × 125 mm, W × H) is an aid to identifying the 11 damselflies and 13 dragonflies that are resident in Ireland and includes colour photographs and distribution maps. Published by the National Biodiversity Data Centre and available to purchase at http://www.biodiversityireland...
Screw bound and printed full colour on both sides, this pocked-sized (85 × 125 mm, W × H) swatch should provide enough information to allow you to identify 18 of the Irish species of bumblebee that have been recorded from Ireland. True bumblebees are listed first followed by cuckoo bumblebees. The true bumblebees are grouped by tail colour as this is a key identification feature. Published by the National Biodiversity Data Centre and available at http://www.biodiversityireland...
This photographic guide will help identify 33 of Ireland’s resident and regular migrant butterfly species. For identification purposes, they are grouped by colour and taxonomic grouping. Published by the National Biodiversity Data Centre and available to purchase at http://www.biodiversityireland...
The shieldbug swatch covers the 16 Irish species of shieldbug and related insects and is available to purchase online from the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
The first ever Atlas of Mammals in Ireland 2010-2015 is a landmark publication mapping Ireland’s terrestrial and marine mammals based on almost a quarter of a million records submitted by organisations, researchers, national experts and citizen scientists. There are distribution maps on 72 species with detailed species accounts from 42 leading authorities.
This is a beautifully produced publication with colour photos or illustrations for all species. Every classroom should have one!
Published by the National Biodiversity Data Centre and available to purchase at http://www.biodiversityireland...
Explains how to establish various habitats on the school grounds such as a mini-wood, wildflower meadow, hedgerow, pond, nectar patch etc. It also shows how to establish a cultivation zone.
Available for €15.00 (plus €3 p&p) from paddy.madden@mie.ie
This template is for a Biodiversity Action Plan for your school has been put together by one of our very own Heritage Experts - Geoff Hunt. Geoff makes it easy for the children to assess and keep track of all the Biodiversity on your doorstep!
Build a giant nest, go on a mini beast safari, interview
a tree, be a nature reporter, make mud pies and even
investigate animal poo!
Visit the Woodland Trust’s ‘Nature Detective’ website for lots of imaginative things to build, create and discover in the outdoors. Great ideas for kids, but lots of fun for grown-ups too!
One of a series of talks on raptors by BirdWatch Ireland to St. Feichins National School in Abbey, Co. Galway. The school visits and environmental education focusing on birds of prey was funded by Galway, Clare and Tipperary County Councils and the Heritage Council.
One of a series of talks on raptors by BirdWatch Ireland to St. Feichins National School in Abbey, Co. Galway. The school visits and environmental education focusing on birds of prey was funded by Galway, Clare and Tipperary County Councils and the Heritage Council.
One of a series of talks on raptors by BirdWatch Ireland to St. Feichins National School in Abbey, Co. Galway. The school visits and environmental education focusing on birds of prey was funded by Galway, Clare and Tipperary County Councils and the Heritage Council.
One of a series of talks on raptors by BirdWatch Ireland to St. Feichins National School in Abbey, Co. Galway. The school visits and environmental education focusing on birds of prey was funded by Galway, Clare and Tipperary County Councils and the Heritage Council.
One of a series of talks on raptors by BirdWatch Ireland to St. Feichins National School in Abbey, Co. Galway. The school visits and environmental education focusing on birds of prey was funded by Galway, Clare and Tipperary County Councils and the Heritage Council.
Countryside Classroom helps teachers to find resources, places to visit and school support relating to the themes of food, farming and the natural environment. Their site contains a range of quality assured educational content from hundreds of contributors.
Read moreRead lessCountryside Classroom aims to inspire and enable teachers to use food, farming and the natural environment more often, in and out of the classroom, so that all children have the opportunity to learn about and experience these essential topics.
This DVD shows teachers and pupils how to plan, build, develop and maintain a school garden using organic principles. Along with the DVD disc, the pack contains 24 Worksheets/Bileoga Oibre to complement the video as well as a comprehensive document showing the curriculum linkages. The content is in English and in Irish and available free of charge to all Primary Schools.
Available from Bord Bia
Produced by By Kerry Earth Education Project for Bord Bia.
A practical manual for teachers and educators looking to set up and run their very own school garden. It's a practical guide detailing how to set up your vegetable patch, plant your own woodland or orchard and has practical tables for teachers allocating jobs and habitats for each class to take on in the garden.
Available from Irish Seed Savers Association and Kerry Earth Education.
SEED is a national network of educational centres with many years experience in Primary and Post Primary environmental education, specialising in all aspects of organic school gardening.
SEED's aims are to establish living classrooms in every school to demonstrate that school gardens have unlimited cross curricular potential, particularly tying in with SESE, SPHE, Art, Languages, History and Maths.
Making bird feeders is fun, cheap and very easy with help from Nature North West ..
A tip sheet from Nature North West on nest boxes and how to set them up ...
Find or identify heritage sites and explore heritage data sets anywhere in Ireland.
Ireland’s most comprehensive heritage resource, HeritageMaps.ie enables you locate a vast range of heritage-related sites and projects.
The HeritageMaps.ie viewer provides access to national heritage data sets in map form while incorporating additional contextual data from a wide range of online sources.
You may have heard that our bees and other pollinating insects are in trouble. The good news is that you can help by making your garden pollinator friendly. Every garden, no matter its size, can be a haven for hungry pollinators.
Register your school garden on with the 'Actions for Pollinators' mapping system to track the build-up of food and shelter for pollinators in your school garden.
Use the mapping system to check out what other gardens in Ireland are doing to help pollinators.
The actions that this website tracks align with a series of pollinator friendly guidelines. For example, the guideline document for Gardens suggests 20 possible actions suitable for any type of garden. You can download the Garden Guideline from the Pollinator Plan’s website:
www.biodiversityireland.ie/pol...
Once you've identified the changes you'd like to make to your school garden register your garden on the mapping system. Instructions on registering and using the mapping system can be downloaded here http://www.biodiversityireland...
Over 11,000 species of insects occur in Ireland but most are very small and escape notice. Identifying them accurately can be difficult or impossible. This comprehensive compact guide to over 120 of Ireland’s most popular insects includes all Irish species of butterflies, bumblebees, dragonflies, ladybirds, grasshoppers and shield bugs. All are illustrated in colour with clear descriptions enabling accurate identification.
Biodiversity Ireland is the free bi-annual magazine of the National Biodiversity Data Centre. Download a pdf from their website or contact the Data Centre if you would like a copy posted to your school.
Use the Biodiversity Data Capture app to record the wildlife in your school grounds and send the records directly to the National Biodiversity Data Centre’s national database. A species list can be downloaded from the website for all records submitted by your school over a given period.
Read moreRead lessThe app generates a co-ordinate automatically from a GPS, so recorders only need to select the identified species and some other additional information. Records can be sent immediately, or stored until reliable internet connection is available. Biodiversity Data Capture is free of charge and is available as iOS and android.
