Trunk call to nature

Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has introduced five trunks that come packed with innovative techniques, which couple education with entertainment, and teach kids about nature simultaneously

Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has introduced five trunks that come packed with innovative techniques, which couple education with entertainment, and teach kids about nature simultaneously

You can rent educational trunks from BNHS for Rs 500 each or take a trip to the 33-acre oasis where the BNHS Conservation Education Centre is located in Goregaon.

Each trunk covers different topics like endangered species, plant life, insect life, bird life and the environment.
u00a0
The concept was introduced by Dr V Shubhalaxmi, general manager of education, in affiliation with Mumbai Metropolitan Region Environment Improvement Society.

Each trunk comes with a manual, a fact book, activity kit, puppets, movies, slide shows, flash cards, posters and books.

We rummaged through the trunks to find fun ways kids can learn about the world we live in.

For more information, call 9594953425

Once upon a time...
Resource person Katie Bagh has written a series of stories to bring home the various issues that plague our planet. A Gidhi Affair is a story from the endangered species trunk talks about the dwindling number of vultures and the reasons behind it. With the help of puppets and flash cards, the story of a papa and mama vulture trying to find food for their little ones is depicted.

No spoon feeding here
Did you know that less than two per cent of water on the Earth's surface can be used for drinking? With a majority of water resources lost in saline water and frozen glaciers, the thirst for resources is high and wastage is plenty.

To drive home the point about the value of water, students are given two buckets that represent usable water and used water. Students must simply transfer the water from one bucket to the other. The catch? They have to do it with a spoon, passing the water from one bucket to the other without wasting a drop.

Eating right
The web of life is an activity that explains how a food chain works. Each student is given a tag with an element on it, like the sun, plants and various animals. The students then hold a rope in the sequence of who eats what.

For instance, plants use sunlight and a deer eats plants. The fun continues when food chains interlink. A lion eats a deer but an elephant also eats a plant, and so on.

What's on the menu?
You may think planning a meal for family get-togethers is stressful, but imagine setting a menu for the animal kingdom. If a sloth comes over for dinner, you want to treat him well with a three-course meal. Students design a menu for different animals in this activity. You could offer him a fruit juice or some nectar; he could also snack on some termites and finish it off with an apple pie.

Losing your head
Did you know that the female green praying mantis bites the male's head off after mating? The praying mantis, scientific name Hierodula coarctata, offers his head willingly to the female in a state of trance. You can learn many such creepy facts with the field guide that gives you all the dope on the crawlies in the insect kingdom. BNHS also conducts five nature trails, namely leopard, Karvi, stream, temple and Salim Ali trail.