Welcome Back to the WiggleWorms Garden! 🌱

The school holidays are over, the backpacks are packed, and WiggleWorms is ready for a brand-new year of gardening, nature, insects, and outdoor adventures!

Hello, little gardeners! 👋 Wiggle and Worm have been busy in the garden while you were away, and there is lots to discover. September is a fantastic time to become a Garden Detective. The days may be getting shorter, but the garden is still full of life. Seeds are waiting to be collected, vegetables are ready to harvest, spiders are busy making webs, birds are looking for food, and lots of tiny creatures are hiding beneath leaves, stones, and plants.

So grab your wellies, find your nature journal, and get ready!

🔎 Your First WiggleWorms Mission

Your first mission of the new school year is simple: Become a Garden Detective! You don't need a big garden to take part. You can explore:

• Your Garden: Right outside your back door.
• Your School Garden: Perfect for exploring with classmates.
• A Local Park: Green spaces in your local community.
• A Community Garden: Growing together with neighbours.
• A Hedgerow: Bursting with late-summer life in Ireland.
• Pots or Containers: Even a few pots on a balcony or doorstep!

👀 What Can You Discover?

Take a slow walk around your outdoor space. Can you find:

• A green leaf  ☐
• A yellow flower  ☐
• A seed  ☐
• A spider web  ☐
• An insect  ☐
• An earthworm  ☐
• A bird  ☐
• A stone  ☐
• Something that is growing  ☐
• Something that is beginning to change for autumn  ☐

You don't have to find everything. Every discovery counts!

🐛 Look Closely!

One of the most important skills of a Garden Detective is learning to look closely. Instead of walking past a plant, stop and have a look:

1. Can you see tiny holes in the leaves?
2. Is there an insect hiding underneath?
3. Can you spot a spider web between two plants?
4. Are there ants walking along the soil?
5. Can you see seeds forming?

You might be surprised by how much wildlife is living right beside you.

🌿 September Is a Changing Time in the Garden

September is the beginning of autumn in Ireland, and the garden starts to change. Some flowers are finishing their flowering season, vegetables are ready to harvest, seeds are beginning to appear, and leaves may start changing colour. Birds are becoming easier to hear and see, spiders are making impressive webs, and underneath the soil, earthworms and other tiny creatures continue their important work.

The garden might look quieter than it did in summer, but there is still an amazing amount happening!

🪱 Wiggle's Question: Why Are Earthworms Important?

Earthworms are sometimes called the gardeners of the soil. As they move through the ground, they create little tunnels and help organic material become part of the soil, making them very useful garden helpers.

Next time you see an earthworm, take a moment to watch it. How does it move? Where is it going? Is the soil wet or dry? Don't pick it up unless an adult is helping and it is necessary for an activity. The best Garden Detectives learn to observe animals without disturbing them.

🕷️ Worm's Web Challenge

Can you find a spider web? Look carefully between plants, bushes, fences, hedges, and garden furniture. A spider web can be difficult to see when it is dry, but after rain, tiny drops of water can make the web sparkle and reveal its amazing pattern.

Challenge: Can you find three different spider webs? Don't touch them. Instead, draw one in your nature journal.

📓 Start Your WiggleWorms Nature Journal

This year, why not keep your own WiggleWorms Nature Journal? You can use an ordinary notebook. On the first page write:

Now draw something you discovered today—an insect, flower, leaf, worm, spider, bird, or plant—and write one sentence about your discovery.

🔬 Little Garden Scientist Challenge

Garden Detectives don't just look—they ask questions! Choose one thing you found today and ask a question about it:

• Leaf: Why are there holes in it?
• Spider Web: Why did the spider build it there?
• Earthworm: Why was it in that part of the garden?
• Flower: Which insects visit it?

There isn't always an easy answer. That's what makes being a scientist so much fun!

🎒 WiggleWorms School Challenge

If you're doing this activity at school, work together as a class in small groups:

• 🌿 The Plant Detectives: Look for plants, leaves, flowers, and seeds.
• 🐛 The Minibeast Detectives: Look for insects, spiders, worms, woodlice, and snails.
• 🐦 The Wildlife Detectives: Look and listen for birds and other animals.
• 🌦️ The Weather Detectives: Record the weather during your investigation.

📝 Your September Garden Detective Sheet

Copy these questions into your nature journal:

1. What was the most interesting thing you found?
2. What colour was it?
3. Where did you find it?
4. Was it moving or staying still?
5. What do you think it was doing?
6. What question would you like to ask about it?

🌱 The 5-Minute Nature Challenge

Go outside for just five minutes. Don't run. Don't shout. Don't touch anything. Just look and listen. See how many different things you can discover that you might have walked past hundreds of times without seeing!

Can you discover 5 things in 5 minutes? Ready... steady... WIGGLE! 🪱

🌍 Why Nature Discovery Matters

Gardens and green spaces are home to an enormous variety of living things. By learning to recognise plants, insects, birds, and other wildlife, children begin to understand how different parts of nature are connected:

A flower provides food for a bee. A plant provides shelter for an insect. An insect provides food for a bird. Earthworms help the soil, and healthy soil helps plants grow. Everything is connected!

🐛 WiggleWorms Promise

This year we're going to grow things, discover bugs, learn about pollinators, explore butterflies, get to know worms, discover Irish wildlife, carry out experiments, explore school gardens, make nature activities, keep nature journals, and learn how we can all help look after the natural world.