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GOODPLANET.be NATURE DISCOVERY

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Since 1997, GoodPlanet Belgium has inspired young and old to make an effort towards a sustainable society by sharing their expertise and taking positive actions. GoodPlanet is confident that everyone is able to consciously act to guarantee an economically efficient, socially just and ecologically sustainable development. For the current and future generations.

Thon Hotels is fully aware of the fact that our natural resources are not inexhaustible and that the sector has an impact on the environment. To counter this impact, Thon Hotels has set out an environmental policy focused on reducing its footprint without compromising on quality.

In Brussels, Thon Hotel customers can contribute to a sustainable relationship with the environment.

Customers passing more than one night in the hotel can choose not to have their room cleaned. They will be rewarded with a voucher of €5 which they can gift to GoodPlanet.

Responsable publisher: Jo Van Cauwenberge

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This brochure serves as an information leaflet which will accompany the insect hotel which GoodPlanet and Thon Hotels donate to schools taking part in the GoodPlanet Nature Discovery activity.

In this way we hope to: • inspire parents and teachers to build and install insect hotels at home and in schools, as many and as best as possible.

• give parents and teachers ideas on how they can use these insect hotels as educational material.

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Nowadays children play increasingly less outdoors. They are slowly becoming alienated from woodlands and nature. These are, however, ideal environments for children to play and learn. The more they go out into nature, the more they learn in widely varying fields: creativity, stamina, independence, motor skills and respect for nature.

Thanks to the support of Thon Hotels, a class will be able to discover nature in the vicinity of their school for half a day with an educational employee of GoodPlanet. In this way, we hope to create a bond between the children and that special place in nature. With our playful and educational model activities, we also hope to motivate teachers to go out into nature more often during school hours.

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WHAT IS AN INSECT HOTEL?

An insect hotel is much more than a shelter for creepy crawlies. It is also an intriguing, educational, playful and attractive way to discover the ways insects live and interact with their surroundings.

Are you putting the hotel in the middle of a natural garden? Then you can also call it a hotel-restaurant.

After all, its residents will be able to feed in the immediate surroundings on the owers and wild grasses.

An insect hotel can have various shapes, from a traditional house to a more discrete or on the contrary a more distinctive format. It can have a circular, triangular or square shape and range from the simple to the extremely complex. The designer’s imagination is the only limit.

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INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE Where?

Put your insect hotel in a sunny spot, protected from wind and rain. It must be facing south, south-east or south-west.

When?

How? One key priority for the insects is… food! You must make sure their bed comes with breakfast. There is not much point in putting an insect hotel on a walled concrete playground. The insects will still take up residence in your hotel, but when the larvae leave the nest and can’t find anything to eat, your hotel will soon turn into a graveyard.

Don’t forget: one night in a hotel is great fun, but there is no place like home. An insect hotel makes for excellent educational material. It offers the opportunity to bring together a lot of living things in a small space. You also get the opportunity to safely observe the insects. However, mortality rates are much higher than in nature. You should therefore make sure that your hotel is surrounded by a thick hedge, a meadow, some rough bushes or large trees.

Even better: let nature grow wild around the hotel.

This will create an ideal hiding place for shy insects.

The ideal time to install a shelter for insects is before the end of winter. This gives you the best chance that the hotel will be inhabited by spring. During that time, there is also very little else to do in the garden.

Winter is therefore the perfect time to arrange your garden.

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A HOTEL WITH MANY ROOMS‌ Your insect hotel has a lot of potential residents. Although some people are afraid of insects, they are totally harmless to us. However, that is not the case for their enemies in the garden. Slugs, aphids and other attackers won’t know what is happening to them.

Every insect needs its own type of accommodation. Below are a few of the most important insects you can give a special place.

MASON BEE Mason bees are solitary bees that prefer to place their eggs in a piece of (hard) wood with deep holes, hollow branches or even a brick with small holes. Contrary to the insects below, mason bees do not live in the hotel. They only use it as a maternity ward for their eggs. Solitary bees will leave the hotel as adults. The expert way in which this bee is able to pollinate, means that it is an ideal partner in your garden.

Make holes of varying diameters (3 to 12 mm) in the core of a piece of hard wood: oak, beech, robinia (locust), etc. Avoid resinous types of wood as the insects tend to stick to them.

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LACEWING Hollow stems are a paradise for lacewings. This delicate animal feeds on aphids. An ally in protecting your vegetable garden.

Elderberry, rose, raspberry and buttery bushes‌ Hollow stems can be recognised by their interior; a soft core in which the insect can make itself at home.

PREDATORY BEETLES Tree trunks, old branches and bark are a simple hiding place for this fearless predator. It will gladly devour slugs and worms.

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LADYBIRDS Evenly spaced openings between planks are a perfect alternative for the spaces usually found in the bark of trees or old walls where ladybirds normally take up accommodation.

You will be grateful for the appetite of this insect. In other words: no more aphids.

Assemble the planks with a long threaded rod and insert a nut in between the planks. In this way you create a space of about 0.5cm between them. Ideal.

EARWIG A terracotta pot and some straw.

That’s all. Not a lot for a guest who will chase the attackers off your shrubs and fruit trees. Please reserve a special place for this little insect.

To increase the chances that your hotel will be occupied it is best to leave it standing on the ground for a day before suspending it. In this way the earwigs have time to get settled. To avoid the straw falling out you can stretch an orange net across the bottom.

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HOVERFLY I look like a wasp but I’m not. I am just a fly disguised as a dangerous wasp. I lay my eggs near aphids, so that my larvae can enjoy them.

I prefer hollow stems: bamboo, knotweed, reed, etc. Simply cut them just behind a joint so that the stem is open only on one side.

BUTTERFLY There is no need to introduce this little animal! A pleasant garden is also a colourful garden. You will really enjoy the presence of these elegant nectar-lovers.

Use any kind of cardboard box, even a drink carton. Cut out vertical entrances of 8 x 2 cm and put some branches in the box. Don’t forget to camouflage the box with leaves.

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RUNNING AN INSECT HOTEL Working with children outdoors is a good idea, but it requires a bit of planning. To really attract their attention, children need to get deeply involved in the project. Here are some tips and activities to create an emotional band between the children and their special corner of nature.

1. Starting point

3. Explore: study a subject in more detail

Invite the children to put to paper an experience they had with nature, for example the last time they saw a creepy crawly. This can be a drawing, a poem or just a story.

4. Structure Group the insects following certain criteria and give the group a name.

The (lower) jaws (mandibles), for instance, tell you something about their food.

5. A different view

Make a scientiďŹ c drawing of an animal that you think is very cute, very ugly or just really weird looking.

2. Activity to discover nature Collect as many animals as possible in small jars so that they can observe them. Test various methods to catch the insects: traps in high grass, a buttery net, shaking a branch above a white sheet, lifting stones and tree trunks, etc.

Go back to the stories of step 1. Ask the children whether they would still react in the same way to this insect after the earlier activities.

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THE BIODIVERSITY SQUARE

2. The children can also try to Educational objectives Discovering the various forms of name the animals with the aid of the cards. You will interact with life in a clearly marked zone. the various groups, helping and encouraging them and providing Method extra information where possible.

Observation You can also give specific information about, for example Material and preparation Bamboo canes or string (wool), the food chain, or tell them a short cards or documents with relevant story about a certain species. information, pencils, jam jars, 3. Gather everyone together and tweezers, spoons, nets, etc. let each child talk about the animal they have had in their jam jar.

Activity 1. Ask the children to split into Exchange experiences between groups of 2 to 4 and set out a the groups and observe each 1m² piece of ground in an area other’s finds. To conclude, ask the representative for the surrounding children what they have learnt and natural environment. Objective To whether it has changed their view make an inventory of the animals in of nature. Go to the insect hotel this square meter: insects, spiders, and see if the animals found in the molluscs, etc. Another objective is high grass, in between the leaves to find as many different species as or under stones are also living in the hotel. possible.

Note: adapt these assignments to the children and your own knowledge. For example: let each group of 3 or 4 children choose a corner they really would like to explore. Tell them to come back after 20 minutes and talk about what they have seen (various species and numbers).

ONE STEP FURTHER

More inspiring activities and methods can be found at www.deboomin.be

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Join us in providing places where insects are welcome by giving them a bed and breakfast.

Build your own insect hotel at home following the instructions in this brochure and WIN...

Share photos of your insect hotel on the Facebook or Instagram page of Thon Hotels to receive a voucher valid at a Thon Hotel of your choice.*

VOUCHER

A FAMILY WEEKEND IN BRUSSELS! A voucher valid at a Thon Hotel of your choice*

* This voucher is valid for a maximum of 2 adults and 2 children (younger than 12) for a date of your choice.

Booking according to the availability of the room.

Thon Hotels Brussels

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