What's in the 2025 South African Hanson Box
WHAT’S INSIDE THE 2025 SOUTH AFRICA HANSON BOX?
To coincide with the visit of the DARWIN200 project (www.darwin200.com) to South Africa (and a large range of educational activities taking place in Cape Town, including training exceptional conservation leaders from across Africa, unveiling a statue of Charles Darwin in Simonstown, several ‘World’s Most Exciting Classroom’ events that are broadcast to schools across the planet, and an evolution-inspired exhibition by African artists in Cape Town), the Don Hanson Charitable Foundation has produced 500 special Hanson Boxes for schools across South Africa in partnership with Mike Bruton, the Cape Town Science Centre, Iziko Museums of South Africa, Simonstown Museum and the Two Oceans Aquarium.
The box includes:
- a book titled Spectacular Plants and How to Grow Them which explores a range of amazing plant species children can grow at home.
- a book titled Amazing Pets and How to Keep Them which explores a range of incredible invertebrates that can inspire children (e.g. rearing butterflies to show the amazing process of metamorphosis).
- A book titled Incredible Earth -The World’s Most Spectacular Geography, which explores the most spectacular and unusual landscapes, geographic features and phenomena on Earth. It is intended to excite and awe young minds and inspire the next generation of explorers and geographers.
- A book titled What On Earth? The Creatures You Have Never Heard Of! This book showcases several hundred animals that most children will likely have never heard of. All children are familiar with about 30 key animal species: cats, dogs, horses, rabbits etc., but what about the 1.5 million or so other animal species on Earth, e.g. Okapi, agoutis, cologus etc.? This book is intended to broaden the imagination of children and encourage curiosity and appreciation of the natural world!
The Don Hanson Charitable Foundation team really hopes that students and educators will enjoy the resources in the 2025 South Africa Hanson Box!
Publisher: Wild Nature Press
Author: Stewart McPherson
ISBN: 978-1-9995811-2-1
Page size: 240 x 285 mm
Cover format: Hardcover
Aimed at enthralling readers in the 8–12 year old age range, Spectacular Plants and How to Grow Them showcases the world’s most bizarre, surprising, weird and wonderful plants, and reveals many that can be easily grown at home!
Spectacular Plants and How to Grow Them explores plants that truly defy belief: from deadly insect-eating sundews, to sensitive plants with leaves that move rapidly when touched, to flowers that look like tiny dancing people, to an Aristolochia that resembles Darth Vader.
All of the plants recommended for cultivation in this book are harmless, and most are easy, fun and fascinating to grow on the windowsill, in the conservatory, garden or the greenhouse.
Age appropriate text and more than 400 captivating images explain each plant’s adaptations and the science behind each species’ unusual traits. This work also reveals how to cultivate many of the world’s most interesting plants, allowing children to grow, at home, stinky star-fish flowers to startle their parents, or chocolate-mint plants, white strawberries and purple potatoes to surprise their friends!
Spectacular Plants and How to Grow Them makes plants and horticulture fun and engaging! This work will appeal to students, schools, naturalists, pet enthusiasts and all those interested in science and conservation.
Publisher: Wild Nature Press
Author: Stewart McPherson
ISBN: 978-1-9995811-1-4
Page size: 240 x 285 mm
Cover format: Hardcover
Designed specifically for the 8–12 year old age group, Amazing Pets and How to Keep Them showcases the world’s most exciting small creatures suitable for children to easily and ethically rear at home!
All of the groups of pets included in this work (listed below) are easy to keep, harmless, fast growing and fascinating.
The diverse range of small creatures included here is specifically selected to showcase many of nature’s most intricate animal groups to inspire interest and awe in the natural world. Observation of the life cycles of these pets also introduces understanding of biological processes including, among others, metamorphosis, camouflage and drought survival adaptations.
Amazing Pets and How to Keep Them includes carefully crafted text that is easy to read but rich with educational information. Featuring over 400 spectacular images and drawings, this work details everything you need to know in order to obtain, successfully rear and breed your own collection of incredible small creatures at home!
Publisher: Don Hanson Charitable Foundation
Author: Stewart McPherson
ISBN: 978-1-913631-02-4
Page size: 240 x 285 mm
Cover format: Hardcover
The geography of Planet Earth is incredible.
From lava lakes, rainbow mountains, auroras, lost world mountains, glowing bioluminescent waters, blood falls, mud volcanoes and blue holes in the ocean.
Over 160 pages that are filled with breath-taking imagery, this book explores the world’s most spectacular and unusual landscapes, geographic features and phenomena.
Incredible Earth opens with a brief overview of the paleo-history of the formation of our planet, followed by an overview of the geological structure of our world, an introduction to the vastness of geological time and a summary of amazing facts about Earth.
The remaining 145 pages are dedicated to exploring 36 extraordinary geographic subjects and showcasing the secrets, beauty and wonder that they hold. Many of these geographic subjects that are featured remain little-known and little-documented in other works.
Filled with facts and up-to-date with recent discoveries, findings and research, Incredible Earth showcases many of the greatest wonders of Planet Earth.
This book was created for a single purpose: excite curiosity, awe and wonder in young minds, to inspire the next generation of explorers, geographers, geologists and naturalists
Publisher: Don Hanson Charitable Foundation
Author: Stewart McPherson
ISBN: 978-1-913631-00-0
Page size: 240 x 285 mm
Cover format: Hardcover
What is your favourite animal? A rabbit, a cat or a dog? Maybe an elephant, a lion or a tiger?
…or perhaps an okapi, a jerboa or a pangolin… or one of the 1.5 million other animal species that call this world home?
Discover the amazing animals you have never heard of! From iridescent-rainbow snakes to transparent ‘glass fish’, metre-long giant salamanders, flying frogs, poisonous birds, fish that crawl onto land, sea slugs that photosynthesise and mammals that lay eggs!
What on Earth? explores over 90 groups of unusual but amazing creatures that will astound young readers. Each animal group is depicted through beautiful imagery and documented through easy-to-read by detailed text that is filled with interesting facts and information.
The opening pages of this work provide an overview of life on Earth, its context in paleo-history, the taxonomy of organisms that exist today, an overview of the main terrestrial and aquatic biomes, and detailed sections on the key animal groups covered here (amphibians, birds, fish, invertebrates, mammals and reptiles).
What on Earth? will fascinate young readers interested in nature, geography, biology and conservation. It is intended to inspire awe at the diversity of the natural world and the variety of the organisms that call our Earth home.
About the 2025 South African Hanson Box
To mark the DARWIN200 project’s visit to South Africa and its associated educational events in Cape Town, the Don Hanson Charitable Foundation, in partnership with local museums and science centres, has produced 500 special Hanson Boxes for schools across the country.
