Minibeast Adventure with Jess

In her treehouse den, Jess is looking at caterpillars. Their main job is eating and they grow bigger and bigger until it is time to wrap themselves up and go to sleep in a chrysalis. She has one and is waiting for it to hatch. Setting off on a Minibeast Adventure, she meets up with some children and together they try to find a caterpillar near their flat. When they find one they have a good look at it and try to pluck up the courage to hold it in their hands. As some caterpillars love to eat nasturtiums, the children plant nasturtium seeds in the hope of attracting some caterpillars to their balcony.

In her treehouse den, Jess is looking at ladybirds. They are probably our best-known beetle and they come with varying numbers of spots from two right up to twenty. Setting off on a Minibeast Adventure, she meets up with some children and together with them searches for ladybirds. They are such good spotters that not only do they find a ladybird but they also manage to find a ladybird cocoon and a baby ladybird. Jess shows how to make a safe and warm place for ladybirds to live in during the winter.

In her treehouse den, Jess is looking at slugs. They are closely related to snails and if you look carefully you can see where their shell would grow. Setting off on a Minibeast Adventure, she meets up with some children and together with them searches for slugs in the garden. Once they find some, they have a look at how they move and are amazed to watch how they breathe.

In her treehouse den, Jess is looking at beetles. One in four animals on earth is a beetle, so there are plenty to look at. She has a close look at their hard shells, their sensitive antennae and the fact that they all have wings, though they do not all choose to fly. Setting off on a Minibeast Adventure, she meets up with some children and together with them searches for beetles in the woods. Looking under stones they are able to find one and have a good look at it. Jess shows how to make a tumble trap and they see what kind of minibeasts tumble into it.

Jess is down by her pond watching magical minibeasts - dragonflies. She explains how they are designed to be such great fliers. She also has a look at a baby dragonfly - a dragonfly nymph - which lives at the bottom of the pond. Setting off on a Minibeast Adventure she meets up with some children and with them goes pond dipping to find a dragonfly nymph and have a good look at it. They then search for dragonflies and are lucky enough to spot some magnificent ones amongst the reeds. They also find damselflies and find out how to tell the difference between dragonflies and damselflies.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a worm adventure. In her treehouse den Jess has a close look at some worms: how amazingly they move by getting longer and shorter, eating their way through the soil. Setting off on a Minibeast Adventure she meets up with some children and together they try a bit of worm charming. Finally they find some worms by digging and are amazed to find how stretchy they are. Jess shows the children how to make a wormery so that they can watch the worms at work as they make their tunnels.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a pond skater adventure. Jess is down by her pond watching pond skaters. They are amazing little creatures that are able to walk on the surface of the water and hunt small insects. Setting off on a Minibeast Adventure she meets up with some children and together with them visits a pond to search for pond skaters and observe how they move on water. They then try a bit of pond dipping and find out what other minibeasts are living in the pond.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a woodlouse adventure. In her treehouse den Jess has a close look at some woodlice. Related to lobsters, but living far away from the sea, their armoured shells keep them safe in the garden. Setting off on a Minibeast Adventure she meets up with some children and together they search the garden for the creatures that live there. The children find some woodlice and are able to have a good look at them. They then build a castle where the woodlice can live and hide away out of the sun.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a bee adventure. In her treehouse den Jess has a section from a beehive and is watching the bees inside it. She shows how the bees are filling cells with honey, spots the queen bee and has a look at the larvae developing, noticing how each bee has a different job within the hive. Setting off on a Minibeast Adventure she meets up with some children and together with them searches for bees. The children watch how the bees collect pollen from plants and Jess shows them how to plant a bee garden to attract bees to where they live, remembering that it's important to give them somewhere to drink as well as eat.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a fly adventure. In her treehouse den Jess has a close look at flies. Though not the most popular of minibeasts they are nonetheless fascinating. Jess shows their lifecycle from egg to adult fly. Setting off on a Minibeast Adventure she meets up with some children and together they search the garden for the creatures that live there. It's easy to spot flies - but not so easy to catch them. They set up a funny experiment to see what kind of food flies are most attracted to.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a butterfly adventure. In her treehouse den, Jess watches a butterfly hatch from its chrysalis. She has a close look at butterflies and watches one feeding on an orange with its long proboscis - its tongue. Setting off on a minibeast adventure, she meets up with some children and together they search in a meadow for butterflies. The children find butterflies of different colours and then show how to make a feeder to attract them.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a millipede adventure. In her treehouse den, Jess has a close look at a millipede and shows how it differs from a centipede. Setting off on a minibeast adventure, she meets up with some children and together they search the garden for the creatures that live there. The children find some millipedes and are able to have a good look at their many legs. Although at first it looks as if there are hardly any minibeasts in their garden, the children are amazed to discover just how many creatures they have living there.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on an earwig adventure. In her treehouse den, Jess has a close look at some earwigs and she shows how to tell if an earwig is male or female from the shape of its pincers. Setting off on a minibeast adventure, she meets up with some children and together they search for an earwig. As earwigs hide away in the daytime, the children have to check underneath things in damp dark places, and finally find one under a pot on their balcony. Jess shows how to make a earwig hotel, which is a safe place for earwigs and other minibeasts to hide away.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a harvestman adventure. In her treehouse den, Jess is looking at harvestmen - many people think of them as daddy long legs. Jess explains that they look like tall spiders but harvestmen are actually quite a different creature. Setting off on a minibeast adventure, she meets up with some children and searches for harvestmen with them. They discover that they are not at all frightening and are, in fact, very interesting. For a start they have a very large number of knees. Then they compare a harvestman with a spider and see how it is very different.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on an ant adventure. In her treehouse den, Jess looks at her ant colony with its queen and many worker ants. Setting off on a minibeast adventure, she meets up with some children and together they go in search of ants - which isn't too difficult as ants get just about everywhere. They watch ants in a meadow and follow them to discover their anthill. Jess shows how to make an ant observation box to get a look at what goes on inside an ant colony.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a moth adventure. In her treehouse den Jess is looking at moths. She has a beautiful large hawkmoth - just one of the many amazing moths in the UK. They mostly flutter around lights at night, but there are moths that fly in the daytime too. Setting off on a minibeast adventure, she meets up with some children and they try to find day-flying moths. Later they open up a moth trap to see what Jess has collected overnight, discovering some beautiful specimens.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a spider adventure. In her treehouse den, Jess introduces her spider friends. One has laid her eggs beside the treehouse walkway. Setting off on a minibeast adventure, she meets up with some children and together they search for spiders. They find beautiful webs and observe the spiders that made them. Then they find a spider that doesn't spin a web. This one has a beautiful sac of eggs which she is carrying around, guarding them until they hatch. The children have a go at spinning their own web and discover just how clever spiders are.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a centipede adventure. In her treehouse den, Jess has a close look at some centipedes - they are fierce hunters with lots of legs. Setting off on a minibeast adventure, she meets up with some children and together they search the garden for the creatures that live there. The children find a centipede and are able to have a good look at it, before building a cosy centipede corner where a centipede can hide away during the daytime.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a water boatman adventure. Jess is down by her pond listening to a strange sound - it's coming from a water boatman. Taking a close look at them, she shows how they have paddle-like legs which they use like oars to move through the water. Setting off on a minibeast adventure, she meets up with some children and they visit a pond to search for water boatmen. They go pond dipping and manage to find some water boatmen to observe. They spot that they have to come up to the surface to breathe. As the pond has so many minibeasts in and around it they play a game of pond I Spy.

Feelers out - what's about? Join Jess and her friends as they go on a snail adventure. In her treehouse den, Jess has a close look at some of the most easily-spotted minibeasts - snails. Their whole bodies are just one foot, which ripples along on a trail of slime. Setting off on a minibeast adventure, she meets up with some children and together they search the garden for snails. They find loads which are all different ages and sizes. Jess makes some special lettuce soup for the snails to eat and the children watch them feed, observing their mouths and trying to spot their thousands of teeth.