WKWT
Batty About Bats
Discover the nocturnal world of bats
There are 17 species of these aeronautical acrobats in the UK!
This is a simple session all about bats for pre-school children who might be intrigued to discover some fascinating facts about our only flying mammal.
Video: Join education manager Vicky as she goes batty about bats and their incredible superpowers and introduces a fun game to try in your own outdoor space, garden or local park. Then download our activity sheet to make a whirly bat!
Download the activity sheet
Colour and cut out our whirly bat then attach a string and run to make him fly!
Did you know?
Bats are incredible - check out our fact file!
- Bats are the only mammals that can fly.
- They are nocturnal and come out at night.
- The tiny pipistrelle bat can eat in incredible 3,000 mosquitoes in one night.
- Young bats do press ups to strengthen their wings before they leave the roost!
- They grow up quickly – at only 4 weeks old they can fly and feed themselves.
- A bat has the same eyesight as a human being but at night uses ECHOLOCATION to find its food, making a noise and listening for the echo to bounce back to it so it knows where things are.
- Brown long-eared bats have enormous ears to help them with their hearing, which they can roll up when they are asleep.
- Children can sometimes hear bats but grown-ups can’t so we have to use a bat detector!
Play a game
Common Pipistrelle credit Tom Marshall
Bat hide and seek! Bats find insects to eat using their hearing. The children are bats, close their eyes and count, while one child – the moth - hides with some bells. After counting, the child hiding rings the bells. Everyone else follows their ears to find the moth!
