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In our January ‘Tree-Dwellers’ issue, we invited you to write a short story or poem. A hearty thank you to all who joined in. Your imaginative pieces were a joy to read.
Orangutan
The iguana and the frog
Sloth
In the depths of the jungle, hangs a creature so slow –
A sloth, so lazy and content, with nowhere to go.
Its fur, a shade of brown, blending with the trees,
Easily overlooked, but oh, it's such a peaceful ease.
With every movement, it takes its time,
No need to rush, no need to climb.
It simply hangs and sways, in its own rhythm and pace,
A reminder to us all, to slow down and embrace.
Its claws are sharp, but oh-so gentle,
Never inflicting pain, never being too forceful.
It eats and sleeps, and that's all it needs,
No worries, no stress, in this life it leads.
A sloth, so simple, yet so wise
Teaching us to live, without any lies.
For in its slow demeanour, there lies a message so true,
Sometimes, it's best to just take a breath and enjoy the view.
Koala
Emilie, age 11, London
Chameleon
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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.
