7 February 2013

Entering the Year of the Snake

We are coming to the end of the Chinese Year of the Dragon and moving into the Year of the Snake on the 10th of February.  Froglife celebrated a different wild 'dragon' every month in 2012 and this year we will be sharing all sorts of snake-themed topics, including light hearted stories, mythbusting and the latest conservation news to help raise the profile of these often misunderstood creatures.

To kick us off, Froglifer Laura Brady is sharing her secrets for making the best snake based jewellery - a fun activity idea for half term.

Year of the Snake: Make Your Own Grass Snake Bracelet

"This activity is something we have a done on a number of Froglife events, it’s a great way of getting new audiences aware of our species, whilst also breaking the myth that snakes have to be scary.
Most Froglifers in the office know I have a bit of a crafty side.  I really think promoting our work through other media is great to reach even more people, especially the younger generations!  I hope you enjoy making this bracelet, you can make it as easy or as difficult as you like, depending on the age group - it would be great to see what you come up with so do share any pictures on our Facebook page."
You will need:
  • Empty toilet paper tube
  • Pencil
  • White paper
  • Scissors
  • Felt in green and yellow and red
  • Glue
  • Markers
Step One: Start by drawing the snake body onto the outside of a cardboard tube. Make sure the body angles downwards slightly as you go around the tube and narrow the body until you reach the tip of the tail.
Step Two: Carefully cut the snake body out and temporarily flatten it out onto a sheet of white paper. Use a pencil to trace the snake shape then reshape the cardboard snake back into its natural curled form.
 
Step Three: Trace the paper snake shape onto felt and cut two shapes out. One felt piece for the top of the snake and one for the bottom. Glue the top and bottom felt pieces onto the cardboard snake body.
 
If you want to add a snake tongue, sandwich it between the felt and cardboard while gluing everything together. Reshape the covered cardboard as needed and let the felt dry.
Add a couple of marker dots for nostrils and eyes and your little friend is ready to wear!
Photos: Laura Brady

4 February 2013

Saving a Dragon for Valentine’s Day

Froglife has a number of really positive new projects on the go this year, with plans to reach hundreds of people through our work and transform a wide range of habitats.  We have some amazing, hard working and generous supporters to help make this happen, and we’re looking for more!  You can find out about our Save Our Dragons campaign and how you can help here.


Froglife Scotland’s New Years Raffle was drawn in early January and a big thanks to all who supported us.  We were fortunate to receive some great prizes from our supporters and promoted the raffle at various events including the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and Eastwood Park’s Winter Festival in Glasgow.  Due to your generosity, we raised over £500 – a huge thank you to everyone involved.

We'd really love your help to do more for amphibians and reptiles, and there are lots of ways you can show some love for the animals this Valentine’s day and beyond:
·         We have a range of cards, gifts and adoption packs in the Froglife shop here - click on the Valentines ideas box to see our range
 
·        We have a new fundraising tool enabling you to donate via text, for free.  Just text NEWT13 to 70070 followed by £1 to £10 to donate to Froglife and help save newts, toads, frogs, snakes and lizards

·         If you’re shopping for your loved ones online, Give as You Live is an amazing tool that lead to over £200 being donated in 2012.  This clever scheme enables online shoppers to nominate a charity to benefit from a percentage of their spend donated by the stores.  Thank you to everyone who picked Froglife – you can too by signing up to join the scheme here.

·         From a more practical angle, projects in London, Peterborough and Glasgow are on the lookout for volunteers, or you can sign up as a Toad Patroller and help us.  To find out more about volunteering opportunities, email Sivi.Sivanesan@froglife.org