Date : April 13, 2022
Australian Easter Craft: Make a Paper Burrow
Each Easter, amongst the chocolate eggs and hollow bunny rabbits, you may come across a section of chocolate bilbies. In our last craft for Easter school holidays, I shared how to make a bilby. This time, it’s all about the bilby burrow!
Bilbies are Australia’s native equivalent to the rabbit. But unlike the rabbit being a pest to Australia’s eco-system, the bilby is the opposite. It plays an important and life-saving part to other species and the re-vegetation of plant life in arid Australia.
The importance of Bilbies to Australia
In Australia, bilbies can only be found living in the wild in remote and often arid areas of western Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Bilbies love to dig a lot and can dig up to 2 meters in the ground. They can dig up to 12 burrows at a time. These burrows are important for a few reasons.
- The depth can keep the bilbies safe from predators
- Temperatures below ground can keep bilbies stable as they can become heat stressed
- Their active digging assists with soil aeration and composting which is important to Australia’s ecosystem
- The burrows offer shelter to other species underground.
The research by Save the Bilby Fund has discovered 16 mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, and invertebrate species would be threatened if the bilby became extinct. Bilby burrows offer habitats for these creatures so if the bilby can’t burrow, the impact could pose the threat of extinction for other native species.
How To Make a Bilby Burrow
This Australian Easter Craft is a simple one to make and it creates a home for your chocolate bilby. It also makes a wonderful homemade Easter gift which can help others understand the importance of supporting the conservation of bilbies.
Materials
Brown paper bags - Scissors
- Stapler
- Leaves
- Bilby Chocolate Egg
Instructions
1. Use scissors to cut the folded sides of your brown paper bag.
2. Start folding (or rolling) the edges of the paper bag down to the base of the bag. Do this for both sides of the bag.
3. Use a stapler to secure each of the ends to create a boat-like shape.
4. Fold the bottom two corners of the bag inwards to create more of a nest shape.
5. Grab leaves from the garden to place in the burrow.
6. Place your Bilby Chocolate Egg in the paper burrow.
7. Your Easter Bilby is ready to be given to someone for Easter.
Other Australian Nature Easter Crafts
Crafty Bec
Crafty Bec is here to help stimulate little imaginations and spark a creative flame in little people. Inspired by May Gibbs’ own passion for creative writing and art, Bec helps educators and mums to embrace nature inspired creativity.
https://www.theplumbette.com.au/
