Creative Projects at Home

Create an Insect Hotel

Insect hotels provide an area for insects in your garden to live, insects will manage any pests and contribute to pollination in your area. They are also great tool to raise awareness about the important of insects to the ecosystem.

1. To make your hotel you first need to select its location, many insects prefer an area that is cooler so a shady area will work well. 2. You will need to create the structure; wooden pallets can be useful for this but any material you have that can create a structure with some gaps will work well (pro tip, you can make mini bug hotel structures using tin cans). 3. Fill in the gaps of your structure with the materials you gathered such as bark, drainpipes, leaves, stone and tiles etc. 4. Once you have filled in the gaps, make sure your structure is stable and if needs be, stabilise it with some rope or ties.

To make your insect hotel you will need a mix of any of the following:

Wooden pallets

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Tin cans

Broken tiles or bricks

Stone chippings

Cardboard Dry leaves

Bark

Straw or hay Rotting wood Logs or twigs

Broken plant pots Old drain pipes

Plastic bottles

Bamboo or hollow plant stems

It is recommended to keep bug hotels small. Larger hotels are more likely to attract pests and disease that may destroy all the residents.

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