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Nature has done a spectacular job designing fascinating shells. Each is unique and purpose-built for the animal that carries it or lives in it. Now it’s your turn!
Choose an animal (or a human!) and design a shell for them. What does it look like and how will it empower its owner? Show us your creation and tell us what makes your shell special.
Edward, age 7, Harlow
Spider Shell
“This shell is for an Australian spider to protect it from fire. It can also help spiders to fly as well as helping them to swim in water and through lava. A very versatile shell, I’m sure you’ll agree!”
Esme, age 10, Newton Stewart
Shell for Koala Bears and Kangaroos
Gaia, age 8, San Lazzaro di Savena (Italy)
My Own Shell!
“Here is my shell, I hope you’ll like it. It’s meant to protect me from the dangers of school!”
Evie, age 11, Chippenham
Rock and Roll Bees
Joshua, age 5, Diss
Rabbit Shell
“Joshua decided to draw a kaleidoscope shell on a baby garden rabbit to protect it from our cat! The brightly coloured shell would reflect the sun and scare the cat away keeping the rabbit safe and happy!” Joshua’s mum
Sophia, age 7, Cardiff
Shellomouse
Summer, Skelmersdale
Matilda, age 10, Kenilworth
Lylah, age 11, Leominster
Luke, age 7, Leigh
Chloe, age 10, Girona (Spain)
Charlotte, age 12, Matlock
Beatrix, age 8, Dunoon
Animal Olympics
by Carron Brown
Illustrated by Katy Tanis
Are you ready to meet some of the most incredible Olympians in the world? This fascinating book examines the amazing abilities of animals from around the globe with a captivating and original conceit – in the Animal Olympics. Readers will discover all kinds of astounding animals, from the bar-headed goose, which flies at heights of up to 6,300 metres, to the flic-flac spider, which cartwheels across the Moroccan desert.
More information at: www.quartoknows.com
RRP: £10.99
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This competition asked you to design a secret egg hidden somewhere in nature, and your entries went far beyond the obvious nests and burrows. Eggs arrived disguised as pine cones, floating on leaf boats, perched on volcano ledges, tucked into cloud cover and even masquerading as chocolate Easter eggs to fool foxes. Thank you to every reader who took up the challenge and thought like a parent bird, fish, reptile or imaginary creature trying to keep their precious egg safe.
We were swept away by the response to this competition. Letters arrived from rivers across the world – the Thames, the Mississippi and many more unnamed waterways – each one brimming with personality, passion and a genuine love of the natural world. You gave your rivers voices that were worried, hop...
Somewhere beneath a grassy field right now, a tiny insect is building an underground loudspeaker. Male mole crickets engineer horn-shaped burrows that amplify their calls hundreds of metres into the night air – and your child can recreate the same science at home using nothing but cardboard and a phone. This hands-on experiment explores sound, shape and natural engineering in a way that is genuinely surprising. No screens, no special equipment, just a brilliant idea borrowed from nature.
Paula Isherwood
July 08, 2020
Lovely designs, well done everyone!
I’m Luke’s Mum and he’s actually 7 years old, not 11 years old as it says next to his crocodile picture.