Pixel Puzzler #30: The Great Reveal
We’ve gotten tons of great guesses on Part 1 of this Pixel Puzzler and now it’s time for the answer. Are you ready for the great reveal? Find out if you got it right!
The answer to this Pixel Puzzler is (drum roll please) a rhinoceros! How did you do? Tell us in the comments!
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Spiky Berry Hedgehog
Spiky Berry Hedgehog
Time:20 min
Difficulty:Easy
This prickly pear is no cactus…it’s a tasty hedgehog!
- A pear
- Small fruit, like grapes, blueberries, or raspberries
- Something for eyes, like raisins, bits of carrot, or pretzel pieces
- Toothpicks
- Vegetable peeler
Here’s how you make it:
Step 1: With an adult’s help, peel the top half of the pear.
Step 2: With your pear lying on it’s side, poke as many toothpicks as you’d like into the bottom half of it.
Step 3: Push the small fruit onto the toothpicks. We used both blueberries and grapes on ours.
Step 4: Cut two little holes into the peeled half of your pear, and push in the eyes.
That’s it! You did a grape job with your pear-fect hedgehog.
Inky’s Picnic Plea
Yoo hoo! Yes, you! Can I have some of what you’re eating? Whaat? What do you mean a chipmunk like me can’t eat human food? That’s so sad!
What’s my name? Oh, it’s Inky. You see that pen over there? That’s what I’m named after.
I like coming here because there’s always leftover food. If I’m careful, I can find something good to eat. Yes, some of your food can cause tummy troubles for a chipmunk like me. But the biggest problem is plastic!
Leaving trash after a picnic is bad. Worse is letting any of the Single-Use Plastic Gang escape and hurt animals and the environment! These plastics are hard to recycle and they contribute to climate change. They can also injure animals like me or make us sick.
Who are they?
Four members of the Single-Use Plastic Gang like to join you during your picnics:
- Aquatron is a plastic soft drink or water bottle
- Baron Von Cuppington is a plastic drink cup
- The Picnic Gang are plastic cutlery that help you eat
- Plastosaurus is a single-use takeout container that carries food that you bought
What can you do to help?
Defeat single-use plastics by replacing them with eco-friendly, reusable picnic dishes.
What better time to start than now, during Plastic Free July?
Bring your own reusable bottle and drink cup, and say bye-bye to Aquatron and Baron Von Cuppington.
Use metal or reusable cutlery, and the Picnic Gang can’t get near you.
Bring your food in a reusable container, and Plastosaurus can roar but it can’t leave plastic behind anymore.
Celebrate this month by cutting back on plastic, enjoying fun picnics, and saving the planet! Join us for Plastic Free July!
Say NO to single-use plastics to help animals and the planet. Cut the SUP!
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It’s Christmas in July!
In a hot summer like this one, what better way to cool off than to draw some winter wonders? We’ve got just the holiday fun for you! Our friends at FPAC (The Forest Products Association of Canada) want your help: they’re working on designing this year’s holiday card, and they want to feature YOU front and centre!
Check out last year’s winning card from Earth Ranger Nevaeh!
All you need to do is create a piece of art that captures the beauty of trees and forests, then submit it to win one of THREE swag bags full of goodies, plus a chance to have your artwork featured on their Christmas card!
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Your artwork can be a painting, drawing, or you can get creative and design something using found forest materials. The sky is the limit!
2. The more creative the submission, the better! Take a walk through your fave forest and keep your eyes peeled for some inspiration. Think back to a time when you were awed by an outstanding tree. Can you recreate this moment on paper?
3. Your submission doesn’t have to be festive, but if you feel like getting into the holiday spirit, bring it on!
Need some inspiration? Check out some of last year’s top submissions!
Here’s how to enter:
Once you’re completed your masterpiece, have a parent or guardian upload a photo of it and complete the entry form here:
www.earthrangers.com/EN/CA/holidaycardcontest/
Hurry: the contest closes on August 14, so be sure to submit your entry soon!
Ultimate Shoreline Showdown
It’s warm out! Want to go to the beach?
Beaches are any strip of land along the edge of an ocean, lake or river, and great places to spot wildlife! There are plenty of types of beaches, including sand beaches, shingle beaches, and shore platforms. Is there one you would want visit? Who would win at Ultimate Shoreline Showdown?
Sand Beaches
Sand beaches are created when rocks or minerals are broken into teeny, tiny pieces. The sand comes in different colours: brown, white, black, green, pink, violet, and red. Many animals live on these shores, burrowing underground to hide from predators or lay their eggs.
What to look out for: Sea turtles, crabs, birds, or seals.
Be a Shoreline Saver: Sand beaches are popular, but easily damaged—and plastic is a huge culprit! Plastic trash breaks down into very small pieces, called microplastics, and they have been found in high concentrations in beach sand around the world. You can help by picking up any plastic trash or pieces you find on sandy beaches, and disposing of them responsibly!
Shingle Beaches
Don’t forget your water shoes! Shingle beaches, pebble beaches, rocky beaches – they all involve the same thing: rocks. Most shingle beaches come from glacier remains or wave action on cliffs and riverbeds, which create the pebbles. Shingle beach rocks come in many shapes and sizes and some, like quartz and granite, even have crystals.
What to look out for: Birds, worms, snails, crabs, plankton, sea anemones, and even rabbits or foxes. Watch out for the sea urchins!
Be a Shoreline Saver: Shingle beaches – especially ones that also have plants – are home to a huge variety of species. Some are even recognized as internationally important habitats! When cleaning up a shingle beach, take extra care to look for litter that can hurt or ensnare animals, like cans with sharp edges and long pieces of string.
Shore Platforms
Shore platforms go by many names, like wave-cut platforms, coastal benches, or rocky shores. They are made from sea waves hitting cliffs and creating a flattened area. Because of the waves and the tides, these shorelines can be dangerous for humans, but they are still important homes for plants and marine animals!
What to look out for: Fish nurseries, kelp, coral, anemones, limpets, oysters, mussels, or barnacles
Be a Shoreline Saver: Shore platforms may have fewer visitors, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help them stay clean! Our waterways are all connected, meaning litter around creeks, rivers, and lakes all eventually end up in the ocean. Stop ocean pollution in its tracks by picking up shoreline litter, anywhere you go!
Which shoreline do you think should win the ultimate showdown?
When we work to reduce waste and keep our shorelines clean, everyone can enjoy them!
What can you do to help clean up? Accept Shoreline Saver in the Mission section in the Earth Rangers App! You’ll get ton of helpful information to get you well on your way to becoming a shoreline superstar!
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Pixel Puzzler #30: Part 1
Let’s put your identification skills to the test! Can you figure out what is hidden in this picture? Make your guess in the comments.
Check back next week for the answer!
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Platypus Scramble
Platypus Scramble
Time:10 min
Difficulty:Medium
Let’s get ready to unscramble! See if you can figure out the words in this platy-puzzle.
Here’s how to play:
- Read the paragraph below and use it to unscramble the words.
When it comes to weird animals, no one beats the platypus. They have a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver’s, and webbed feet. They live in Australia and have some cool superpowers. They use electric signals underwater while hunting to find their prey. When they’re under attack, they use the venomous spurs on their back legs to defend themselves. To top it all off, they also lay eggs! What interesting creatures!
Think you got them all? Tap on the puzzle image to see its secret answer!
The Quest for the Best: California Dreamin’
The final chapter of the Quest for the Best is here!!
The score is tied and today Emma and Ryan face off with their last challenge: to share facts about the biggest mammal they can find. Who will win? Will Ryan be taking over as the new podcast host?
Let’s tune in and find out.
Rangers…guess what? It’s finally time!
After so many twists and turns, the final round of The Quest for the Best has reached its end. Ryan and Emma faced off on their last challenge. And it was crazy! Did any of you expect this would turn out that way?
Let’s look at the cool places Emma and Ryan visited. Thank you Earth Ranger Will for mentioning the Redwood National and State Park. It turned out to be a lucky place for Emma!
Redwood National and State Park is made up of more than one park, providing plenty of forest, grassland and beaches for animals to live in. Some of these include deer, elk, and bears.
There’s more than just cool wildlife in the Redwood National and State park! Did you know that this park has the tallest trees in the world? I sure did not! The trunk of some of its Redwood trees are so big that if cut into, a car could drive through! It’s the perfect place for Emma to find a BIG mammal.
Let’s not forget, that the park is not all forests! It is found along the Northern California Coast after all! There are plenty of beaches to walk along and see the beautiful cliff-side views.
What makes these coasts so special? That would be its Marine animals– or more “Marine Mammals” to be specific. If lucky, you might spot seals, sea lions, dolphins, or porpoises swimming nearby. Many of you were quick to suggest that Emma look for whales. Luckily she was able to spot them here!
What about Ryan? Things definitely blew up for him in this episode. But where did he travel? What animal did he cover? My sources tell me he went to the Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. It’s a beautiful canyon that he completely missed the chance to talk about.
The biggest mammal living in the canyon is the mountain lion.
Mountain lions go by many different names: cougar, puma, panther, catamount, and even yellow cat. They’re extremely adaptable and live in different habitats across North America. They’ve got a pretty poor sense of smell, but they make up for it with their extremely good vision and hearing. They usually hunt for prey in the morning and evening, and like to eat deer and small mammals like mice and rabbits.
Meeting a mountain lion is not something you should look for. While rare, they can still be dangerous to humans. Normally, they try to avoid people completely. Ryan should consider himself lucky that they evaded him.
Listeners, were you surprised to find out that Ryan was cheating during the race? Probably not, since looking at the comments – many of you actually pointed this out (and I may have just mentioned it to Number 1 as well, causing her to take a closer look at Ryan’s travel receipts…)
Thank you, everyone, for helping us during this adventure!
Let’s not forget our last episode’s trivia competition! In our previous episode, we ask the question: “What is the biggest reptile in the world?”. Who is our final winner?
🎺 Congratulations to Earth Ranger Hannah for being the first to comment the correct answer!! 🎺
The solution is the saltwater crocodile!
Be sure to check your inbox for the award code to receive your special t-shirt.
Thank you so much for helping Emma along her journey! Emma has been on a long adventure, and it’s time she returns home.
But what about you? Do you have a favorite place or animal that she talked about on this quest? Do you have some US trivia or cool animal facts to share? Let us know in the comments!
