Backyard Biodiversity Survey
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Description
Your child marks off one small patch of outdoor ground, then carefully counts and records every living thing they can find in it, and looks at what the tally shows.
What to prep
- string
- notebook
- pencil
- magnifying_glass
Play guide
- 1Choose one small patch of outdoor ground, roughly a square metre, and mark its edges with string or four stones.
- 2Give your child a recording sheet with space to note each kind of living thing and a tally next to it.
- 3Have them look slowly and systematically, including under leaves and stones, recording each creature or plant with a tally mark rather than picking anything up.
- 4When they finish, help them count up the totals and notice which kind was most common and which was rarest.
- 5Ask what they think explains the pattern, and whether a shadier or sunnier patch might turn up different results.
Success signals
Your child stays with one patch rather than wandering, and records rather than only exclaiming. They use a tally for repeats instead of recounting. They can name the most and least common thing they found and offer a guess about why
If it's tricky
Child rushes and says there is nothing there: Slow them down by looking together at one small corner first, where there is almost always an ant or a seedling. Child wants to catch or keep creatures: Set the rule that everything stays where it lives and they record instead. Counting feels dull: Turn it into a prediction first by guessing the total before the careful count