Episode 25 Green Balloon Club

early, what creature comes out that is big and furry?

# Gather around, one and all

# You've got to answer the call

# Listen out, look around you

# There's a magical world to explore

# There's a nature adventure

# Coming your way soon

# So come and join us

# In this green balloon

# And when we fly

# We're higher than the moon

# So join us u-up

# In our green balloon. #

Oh! Hello.

We're just putting up some decorations. Come on in.

ALL: Hello! Welcome to the Green Balloon Club.

Now it's December, we're all feeling in a Christmassy mood. Are you

Shall we do a really Christmassy register? Yeah!

# Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way

# Jingle bells, jingle bells

# Sky is here today, hey

# Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way

# Jingle bells, jingle bells

# Jay is here today, hey

# Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way

# Jingle bells, jingle bells

# Cat is here today, hey

# Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way

# Jingle bells, jingle bells

# Skip is here today, oh

# Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way

# Jingle bells, jingle bells

# Ant is here today, oh

# Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way

# Jingle bells, jingle bells

# Lily-Rose is here today, oh

# Jingle bells... # It's YOUR turn. Join in with us

# Jingle bells, jingle bells jingle all the way

# Jingle bells, jingle bells

# I am here today, hey

# Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way

# Jingle bells, jingle bells

# We all are here today. #

Hurray!

Well done, everyone - that was fantastic.

Shall we do the Green Balloon Club chant? Yeah

DRUM BEAT

THEY CHANT: We love animals, plants and birds

We love snails and slugs

Large and small, we love them all

And we never ever step on bugs

Cos we are the Green Balloon Club!

Sky, won't we be able to get a Christmas tree?

Oh, I think perhaps we could. Can we get a really, really big one?

I don't think there's much room in here for a really, really big one.

Can we have a really tiny baby one? Um, that might be better.

Or one just middle-sized, the same size as me!

That's perfect.

I spy some Green Balloon Club members.

It's Josh, Oscar, Henry and Ben.

Hello! Hello.

We're at our grandma's house today for a very special treat.

A visit to Grandma's allotment.

Yeah, to pick winter vegetables to make lovely soup.

Come on! Let's go!

'This is the allotment.'

Look at all these vegetables.

Come on, boys, come and help.

Do you know what vegetables these are?

They're leeks. That's right.

'It's easy to grow your own vegetables

'and you can do it all year round.

'They just need a little weeding and watering.

'Our grandma is helping us pick some vegetables for our winter soup.'

I dig.

'This is celery.

'Celery takes a long time to grow

'but it's really worth the wait

'cos it's so good for you.'

Now we have leeks and celery.

Now time for the spinach.

'Spinach is a leafy vegetable.

'It grows above the ground.'

We've just found a slug on this spinach leaf. Take it off, Josh

We're picking the spinach.

'Spinach has got loads of iron in it,

'what will make us big and strong.

'This spinach is gonna go in our soup.'

Now we have leeks, celery and spinach.

Now it's time to go and pick some cabbage.

Cabbage comes in all shapes, colours and sizes.

The leaves are crinkly and green.

There's a red cabbage.

It will be tasty in our soup.

There we are, Ben, do you want to put that one in

Now we've got all our vegetables, we can go inside and make our soup.

Come on!

We can eat our tasty soup now.

Mmm... yummy.

'It is warming our tummies in the cold.'

Thank you for visiting us today

and good luck growing your own vegetables. Bye!

Bye!

Our scrapbook's coming on really well.

Let's have a look at some things in it.

That's the picture I drew of Skipper.

And that's when Lily-Rose spotted the dandelion clock.

She's even stuck some dandelion seeds in.

It's you, Ant!

That's when we got the postcard from Jelly.

And there's Lily-Rose's nasturtiums! And a leaf.

I love the seaside.

Yes, that was fun, wasn't it? Yes.

Look, I got a green star for spotting some bees.

That was when we were pirates and we did a treasure hunt. Yes.

That's when Skipper found the badger print.

Yeah.

And that's when me and you made the autumn owl. Yeah.

There's Georgina the ferret. I loved that ferret.

She was a bit smelly. That was her natural smell. I still loved her.

Ever heard of a pine marten? No. Do they live in pine trees?

I think so. Well, at least they live in the forest. What are they like?

They're like ferrets but they're wild animals and they're cute.

One of the hardest animals to spot in Britain has a little pointy face,

a long slim body and a long, bushy tail.

It's a very rare creature

and it's found in the far north of Britain in the Scottish Highlands.

I'm a pine marten,

one of the most secretive animals you're ever likely to glimpse.

I'm an excellent climber and move just as fast

in the treetops as on the forest floor.

If you catch a glimpse of me, you'll have to be quick

since I move very quickly as I vanish into the forest.

Look, there's another animal only found in the Scottish Highlands.

It's a wild cat.

But, look out, here comes trouble!

It's a golden eagle.

Eagles fly high in the sky looking for animals, just like me,

to swoop down and catch.

Phew! That was a lucky escape.

He nearly had me for his dinner

Talking of dinner, I better look for some food for myself.

I hunt small birds and creatures like mice, rabbits and squirrels.

But I'm also fond of beetles and maybe the odd berry or two.

So, if you ever get the chance to walk in the Highlands of Scotland,

don't forget to look out for a pine marten like me

and all the other creatures that live in these beautiful forests

Bye for now!

What a dear, little creature that pine marten is.

I'm sure you'd like to meet him too, Skipper, but they're difficult

to find because they're secretive and they live in the wild.

We have a pine marten and a badger on our website.

It could be this week's secret picture password.

Now, which one shall we choose

Shall we choose the pine marten or the badger?

The badger?! Why do you think that, Skipper

OK, let's try that.

Oh, it IS the badger!

How did you know that, Skipper?

Was that a lucky guess? I wonder.

OK, so the badger IS this week's secret picture password.

What's all this for, Jay?

I thought we could make our own Christmas trees.

Yes, that's a brilliant idea, but how do we do it?

We're gonna make them with these fir cones.

First of all we have to glue the spines on them.

So... if we get our paint brushes

and get some glue...

Try and hold it at the bottom so you don't get sticky.

We don't need to paint the bottom. OK, Jay.

It looks a bit like snow, doesn't it? Yes!

Now for the fun bit.

Grab a bag of glitter.

Please can I have green? Yes.

Thank you.

Now what we've got to do is open our bags of glitter,

put in our fir cones,

close the bags of glitter.

And make sure they're closed.

Now for the fun bit.

We have to shake it.

The messy part!

Now we've got our Christmas trees.

It's beautiful! Wow!

I thought we could use this cotton wool for snow.

You've got a bit too much on there.

Yes.

Take the bottom...

..then we stick it onto the cotton wool.

There. Right...

now we've got to decorate our trees.

We could use these red sequins as little baubles.

Yes, that's a good idea, Jay.

They look like little apples. Yes...

Now what we've got to do is stick a star on the top.

I think I'll have a gold one.

We've got to glue a little bit of the back of the star.

There, I think I've finished.

How are you two doing? I'm done.

Me too.

They could be for tiny, weeny fairies or tiny, weeny mice.

Yes. What's Skipper up to Cat?

She may have a job for the Ground Crew.

I like your Christmas trees. ALL: Thanks.

It's a mission. Which token would you like?

The bird, the beetle or the paw print? The paw print, OK?

Then it must be about an animal then.

Now the nights are dark early, which creature comes out

that's big and furry?

DING-A-LING!

It looks like we've got our mission, Ground Crew.

What's the picture of?

A paw print. What does the mission say?

Now the nights are dark

early, what creature comes out that is big and furry?

Wow, so we've got to find

a big and furry creature. How does that sound?

ALL: Brilliant!

We'll see if we can find any

signs of this creature and work out what it is.

Shall we have a look? Yeah.

What kind of things might we look for? What do you think, Jayden

Footprints. That's good.

What do you think, Eleanor? Things they eat. And Jennifer?

Where they live.

Why don't we split up? What do you think?

Yeah. Let's go, then. Go!

Chris, look at this. Wow, what have you found, Jayden?

Footprints, Chris. What do you think might have made these?

I don't think they're a cat's, or a dog's.

I'm not sure, Chris.

Shall we keep looking for signs? Let's go.

Nature Chris, look what I've found. What have you got then, Eleanor

Something's been eating this.

Something's been munching on that sweetcorn.

It likes to eat this, doesn't it? Yeah.

So what do you think is doing that? I don't know.

Shall we look for some more signs? Yeah. Let's go.

What have you found, Jennifer?

Poo. Poo. It looks like animal poo, doesn't it?

You can see some sweetcorn in there.

We found sweetcorn there, so I think this is the same animal.

That's the path the animal uses

Shall we go and have a look? Let's follow the path.

Our path ends here and the guys are already here.

What have you found, guys? A big, round hole.

This is the home of an animal, isn't it? Yeah.

What animal do you think we're looking for? A badger.

It's a badger. Badgers live underground

in a sett. And they're all asleep underneath us.

We have to be quiet and tread very carefully.

It's getting dark, we should go into the hide

and see if we can see some badgers.

What we'll do is put some of these peanuts out cos

badgers love peanuts.

Hopefully they'll come out and eat these.

Yeah. There we go.

Let's go, then.

We're in the hide now. We've put all those peanuts out

there cos badgers have got a good sense of smell.

So let's be quiet and watch.

I feel really excited, Chris.

I wonder why they're not coming out?

Maybe they can smell us.

We've waited and waited, and still no badgers, I'm afraid.

Our crew have filmed some badgers especially for you.

Have a look at this.

Look at the badger peaking out from behind the tree.

Badgers have a very good sense of smell.

Look at its nose sniffing around in the air.

They've found the peanuts

and they're all tucking in.

Oh, they've all run back into their holes. Isn't that fantastic?

Aren't badgers amazing?

You guys did guess that it's badgers we're after so that means it's. .

..mission complete!

And it's back to you in the Green Balloon. Bye...

# In the bleak midwinter

# Frosty wind may moan

# Earth stood hard as iron

# Water like a stone

# Snow had fallen, snow on snow

# Snow on snow

# In the bleak midwinter

# Long ago.... #

Sky, do you like my tiny, baby Christmas tree?

Oh, Lily-Rose, it's beautiful.

I'm going to make some for my friends. That's a lovely idea.

Are we going to get a real, proper one?

I'll try and get one for next week.

Yay! And I'll make lots of decorations for it

Yay! I bet Skipper will love it

I spy some Green Balloon Club members.

It's time for the Spot of the Week.

I wonder if it's a Christmassy Spot.

Hello...

This week we're spotting a holly tree.

Let's get spotting!

The holly tree has prickly leaves and bright red berries.

Be careful of the prickly leaves, they could hurt your hands.

Birds love to eat the red berries,

but they're very poisonous, so we mustn't eat them.

The red berries come out in October and stay there until the spring.

At Christmas time there's lots of holly about.

The holly tree is really strong

It can live on its own or in a wood.

So to spot holly trees, remember these clues.

The green prickly leaves...

The bright red berries...

You can find them living on their own or in a wood.

Why don't you spot a holly tree? Bye... Bye!

Holly makes a lovely decoration but it's a bit prickly.

It's also a very important food for the birds.

They need the berries.

I think it's best to leave the holly on the tree.

So do I.

Jay, Sky's going to get us a Christmas tree next week.

Can we make lots of decorations? We've got no time

for any making now cos we're coming in to land.

And whenever we land... it's time for a song.

# Grown-ups and children, babies and pets

# The more people join us, the happier it gets

# They call it Christmas

# But let's just call it fun

# We all get together so make sure we get on

# You don't need the reindeer

# You don't need the snow Be kind to one another

# That's all you need to know to enjoy Christmas

# Every single day

# It's such a good, good feeling

# Don't let it fade away Don't let it fade away!

# Some of us are green

# Some of us are blue

# Everyone's a colour and every colour's cool

# No need to know the language

# No need to know the words

# We all sing together and you will still be heard...

# You may sing a carol You might say a prayer

# Christmas is a feeling, anytime and anywhere

# Not just at Christmas

# Christmases are fine

# Whatever you're doing at Christmas is better all the time

# Brothers and sisters, family and friends

# Be good to one another and Christmas never ends

# You're not just being better

# Cos Christmas time is here Whatever's good at Christmas

# Is good throughout the year

# You may sing a carol

# You might say a prayer

# Christmas is a feeling Anytime and anywhere

# Not just at Christmas Christmases are fine... #

It's good throughout the year, isn't it? Yes.

# Whatever's good at Christmas Is better all the time

# Yeah, good Bill, good Bill

# Yes, whatever's good at Christmas

# Is better all the time. #

Are we going to carry on having fun? Jelly, get on down.

# La la la la la la la la la... # Go, Jelly!

# La la la la la la la La la la la la la la

# Oh, yes it's Christmas. # Do you like my dancing? Yeah.

It's all about having fun...

See if you can spot some holly

Leave it on the trees for the birds. Maybe make pine Christmas trees

Maybe you could get a real Christmas tree, like Sky's going to get us.

See you next week. ALL: Bye!