It’s getting spooky at our house, thanks to this Bat Wind Mobile craft and the early morning fog that creeps in everyday now that fall is here. Halloween is in the air, literally. 🦇 💨
Bats are the perfect Halloween image but they aren’t just spooky Halloween imagery. We hope that while you create this craft you become fascinated with the many complex abilities the bat posses. Bats play an important and critical role in forest ecosystems and agriculture. One reason why bats are important to agriculture is because they are nocturnal aerial insectivores, so they help to control insect populations. They help limit the need for chemicals that kill insects. They can help control viruses spread by insects because of the high number of mosquitoes they consume. They also help pollinate plants and spread seeds, allowing the seeds to reproduce and create more fruit trees.
Bats are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight, they use echolocation to navigate in the dark, bats can eat 1,200 mosquitoes an hour, they can live more than 30 years, they often only have one baby a year. Bat species are still being discovered with 1300+ currently, and nearly 200 bat species are considered endangered around the world. Bats can be found on every continent except Antarctica. North America has 48 bat species, with 19 found in Canada and 16 species in BC.
We are fortunate to live only 5 minutes from the abandoned mine called Queen Victoria Mine, near Nelson BC. In June 2013, A number of Bat Conservation groups joined together to close off the abandoned mine to people, leaving access for bats to navigate in and out of the cave. This is a significant project aimed at protecting bat habitat and their hibernation roosts. Allowing Bats to hibernate safety and quietly during the winter. It’s also the perfect cool sanctuary in the summer. This project was funded by Sustainable Forestry Initiative. The Nature Conservancy of Canada joined partnership with concerned groups in the Kootenay’s to close off the entrance with secure gates. Other partners included, Kootenay community Bat Project, Canadian Cave Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society and several other groups.
This is one way people are helping to save bat species from declining and securing future habitats. There are many ways we can help bats. Some suggestions include; adding a bat house to your backyard, reduce pesticides, educate yourself and others about bats, maintain natural clean drinking water and reducing noises.
Here‘s what the Conservation Bat Cave looks like today:
We have a few images of the abandoned mine prior to 2013, before the Bat Conservation Project creating the gate. These images are just inside the cave but not deep within it, taken during a summer month.
Now that you know a bit more about bats, and how Interesting and helpful they are, let’s create this cool bat craft!
How to create a Bat wind mobile:
The bats can be made out of a number of materials. We used black card stock, but thick fabric, felt, foam core or cardboard would also work. The trick to this craft is using a transparent or thin thread instead of string, so that it’s invisible to the eye and looks like the bats are really flying!
Here’s a video of the bat wind mobile in action:
What you need:
Black card stock or thick paper or fabric
Sewing thread (any colour)
Scissors
A marker / crayons - plus a white crayon or marker (optional)
A stick or branch (we wanted something thicker so we chose a weathered branch)
Free Bat template
STEPS:
1. Trace out the template onto black paper.
2. Cut out your bat.
3. Decorate your bat (adding eyes, mouth or teeth etc). A White pencilled crayon works well,
4. Put a small hole on the top part of your bat.
5. Tie a piece of thread to the bat.
6. Tie the thread to a branch.
Here‘s a free bat template we made to printout and use as a bat stencil. Print it, cut it and trace the outline onto a piece of black paper. There are two versions of the wings and two different sizes. You can also adjust the sizes before printing to get the size you want!
Download these free bat printable here or on our freebies page! For personal use only copyright 2021
You can also create other bat project using the stencil, like this bat and moon picture:
We hope you have fun decorating for Halloween and learning a bit about bats along the way! Feel free to tag us (tag the image itself) on Instagram @acorns.and.aprons so we can share and like your creation!
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