Activity Centre

Activity Centre

Welcome to our online activity centre, where we bring together in one place a range of fun activities that you can do at home and on your own to learn and explore more about gardening, organics and our environment!

In addition to this collection, you can also access the resources of an amazing variety of other reputable organisations from around New Zealand and across the world by visiting out Links & Resources page.

We hope you find something that excites you, inspires you and leaves you wanting to learn more! Happy learning!

Overview of Activities by Section

Seeds & Seedlings

Flowers & Leaves

Animals & Insects

Soil & Compost

Craft-cycling

Cooking & Tasting

General Activities

Seeds & Seedlings

Create: Origami Newspaper Pot

With permission, check out this YouTube video that shows you some fun and simply ways of making your own plant pot our of newspaper.

Do you have any old newspaper lying around the house? Give it another life and put it to good use by using it to create origami plant pots for your seeds.

Once your seed grows into a sturdy seedling, you can plop it straight into the ground because the newspaper will biodegrade into the soil. Nice!

Materials

headphones (optional)
newspaper
jar or cup
potting mix
seeds

Investigate: Egg Carton Seed Tray

With permission, collect empty egg trays once you and your family have eaten up all the eggs.

These cardboard cartons make excellent seed trays! They already have perfectly sized and separated plots for each seed and they don't cost you any extra money!

Poke a hole in the bottom of each plot, fill it with soil, then just plant your seeds, give it some water and watch it grow!

Once your seed grows too big for its plot, you can just tear it from the tray and transfer it into the ground. Easy!

Materials

empty egg carton
potting mix
seeds

Investigate: Direct Sowing

With permission, find a suitable spot in your yard or garden if you already have one! Prepare the soil and then sow the seeds directly into the ground.

Depending on your situation, you can choose seeds for a plant that will grow well in the spot you've picked. Then make sure you plant it at the correct depth, with enough space and that you give it plenty of care as it grows! Click here for some more tips for direct sowing.

Takes notes and draw pictures as you watch your plants grow to keep a record of your awesome new garden!

Materials

notebook or paper
pen or pencil

Investigate: Seed Scavenger Hunt

With permission, go for an adventure around your yard or local neighbourhood.

- How many different seeds can you find?
- How can you tell their method of spreading?

Have a go at investigating the different seeds you find, but be careful of what seeds you may help spread! Takes notes and draw pictures of what you find to keep track of what you learn.

Materials

notebook or paper
pen or pencil
magnifying glass (optional)

Watch & Learn: A Video About Seeds

With permission, check out this YouTube video that helps to explain how flowers are fertilised, make new seeds and then how those seeds spread.

Takes notes and draw pictures as you watch to keep track of what you learn.

If you find the video is too difficult to understand, try searching for a similar video, or check out this section of our page about Plant Needs & Seeds.

Materials

headphones (optional)
notebook or paper
pen or pencil

Investigate: STEM Challenges

With permission, check out this Pinterest page of creative ideas to use science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) to test our ideas about how seeds move and spread.

Before each experiment, think about what you think will happen (hypothesis). Then compare your ideas with the results that you see. What did you learn?

Takes notes and draw pictures as you experiment to record your work.

Materials

notebook or paper
pen or pencil

Back to Overview of Activities

Flowers & Leaves

Investigate: Parts of a Flower

With permission, pick a couple of flowers from your yard or neighbourhood.

Then bring them home and examine them closely to see if you can identify each of the different anatomical structures.

Takes notes and draw pictures as you examine to record your work.

Materials

picked flowers
notebook or paper
pen or pencil
magnifying glass (optional)

Create: Origami Flower

With permission, search Google for instructions for how to fold an origami flower. There are many different styles of origami and different levels of difficulty to choose from.

Do your best to follow the instructions and fold a beautiful flower! Make a few of them or try your hand at a few different styles and you can put together a bouquet for your family!

Materials

origami instructions
coloured paper
scissors (optional)

Create: Colourful Canvas

With permission, get out your notebook or a piece of paper and your favourite colouring materials for drawing.

Have a go at drawing flowers you can see outside, flowers you have at home in a vase or maybe even try to invent your very own new variety of flower! - - What colours will you use?
- What shapes can you draw?

Materials

notebook or paper
coloured pencils, crayons, markers or paint
paint brush (optional)

Create: Leaf Rubbings

With permission, collect some leaves from your yard or neighbourhood.

Then bring them home and place them between two sheets of paper. Use pencils, crayons or other available colouring tools to rub gently on the top layer of paper, over the leaf. The shape and texture of the leaf should start to show as you rub!

Use different colours, types of leaves and creative arrangements to create beautiful leaf impressions!

Bonus: This rubbing method also works with other textures you may find around your home, yard or neighbourhood. See what kinds of textures you can grab in your area!

Materials

leaves
notebook or paper
coloured pencils or crayons

Create: Homemade Wreath

With permission, collect leaves, flowers and other bits from your yard or neighbourhood that you want to feature in your wreath.

At home, start with a round base for your wreath. This can be as simple as a cardboard ring to paste or tape things onto or as advanced as a woven circle of twigs from the yard. Then, use string, glue, tape or other fastening method to decorate your wreath with the natural bits that you collected.

You'll have your very own DIY wreath in no time! Depending on the season or what you like, you can feature different leaves, colours of flowers or fun objects like tree cones or berry clusters!

Materials

leaves, flowers & other bits
cardboard, twine or other base
glue, tape or other fastener

Investigate: How Do Leaves Breathe?

With permission, check out this simple science experiment that helps to demonstrate how leaves respire, or breathe air.

Follow the steps of the experiment to collect living leaf samples, submerge them in warm water and observe the signs that they release oxygen over time.

Takes notes and draw pictures as you undertake the experiment and observe changes to keep track of and reflect on what you learn.

Materials

living leaf samples
clear container (glass or plastic)
lukewarm water
notebook or paper
pen or pencil
time and patience!

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Animals & Insects

Investigate: Backyard Bioblitz

With permission,

Out & About: Go for a walk and see how many and what different kinds of animals and insects you can find as you go along.

In One Spot: Pick a spot, maybe a flower or a tree or a cool corner of your yard. Now keep an eye on this spot at different times of day and in the days to come, and keep a record of how many and what different kinds of animals and insects visit.
- How popular is your spot? Who likes to visit?
- When is most crowded?

Materials

pen or pencil
notebook or paper
magnifying glass (optional)

Analyse: Sorting Critters

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With permission, click on the picture above to visit the NZMaths website for this activity.

Look at the insects and think about:
- How many different insects are there?
- How would you sort the insects?

Print them out or draw them on your own so you can cut them out and try arranging them in different ways. Make a graph of your results and talk about your process.

Materials

pen, pencil or printer (optional)
notebook or paper
scissors
glue or tape (optional)

Investigate: New Zealand's Native Bees

With permission, click on the picture above to visit the For the Love of Bees website about NZ native bees, or ngaro huruhuru.

Have a good read of the information there and learn all you can about native bees.
- Did you know NZ has native bees?
- What have you learned about them?
Takes notes as you read and keep a look out for native bees in your area!

More Links:
- NZ Native Bees (Informational Slides)
- How To Monitor Native Bees (Slides)

Materials

notebook or paper
pen or pencil

Create: Attract Birds to Your Yard

With permission, check out this information and activity page from the Department of Conservation on how to help benefit the native birds in your areas

Watch their short video about feeding native birds, take a look through the information and research they have available and figure out what you can do around your home to best benefit the birds in your neighbourhood.

Takes notes and draw pictures as you read, watch and take action to keep track of how many birds you see around your home and what impact you think you have on them.

Materials

notebook or paper
pen or pencil
food and habitat materials depending on your situation

Analyse: Birds - Native or Not?

With permission, go for a walk and see how many different kinds of birds you can spot. Can you tell which ones are native New Zealand birds and which are not?

Keep a tally of the different kinds of birds you see, and organise them into groups of native and non-native birds. How many of each can you find? Why do you think that is?

It can help to do a little research both before and after your walk so you know what to look for and can describe what you've seen.

Look through this list of native birds with pictures to help you identify them, or expand your research with this Forest and Bird guide to identify New Zealand birds.

Materials

pen or pencil
notebook or paper
binoculars (optional)

Create: A Lizard Friendly Garden

With permission, check out this guide to creating a garden environment that native lizards will love! Brought to us by Predator Free New Zealand, here are some easy steps to help protect and encourage some of our small, reptilian garden friends!

Expand your knowledge of what kinds of lizards you can expect to see in your garden, especially after some friendly changes, with this informational brochure from Auckland Council, and check out the Predator Free New Zealand predator fact pages to get to know who to look out for.

Takes notes and draw pictures as you read, learn and take action to keep track of how your space changes, who you start to see around your home and what impact you think you have on them.

Materials

notebook or paper
pen or pencil
food and habitat materials depending on your situation

Perform: Dancing Bee Charades

With permission, watch this video from the Smithsonian Channel, featuring Sir David Attenborough, to learn a little bit about how bees use the Waggle Dance to communicate.

Next you are going to try to use your own flash dance moves to communicate with your classmates, friends or family!

First, choose a notable thing or place around your school or home. Keep it to yourself and don't tell anyone yet! Then, once you have a thing or place in mind, try to describe what it is and where it is by only using dance moves. Can your group guess what it is and how to find it?

Take turns being the dancing bee and see who can come up with the most fun and communicate dance moves!

Materials

your body (to dance with!)
your imagination (to be creative!)

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Soil & Compost

Watch & Learn: A Chat About Compost

Investigate: Compost in a Jar

Watch & Learn: A Video About Worms

Investigate: Soil Biology BioBlitz

Analyse: What Can Go in the Compost?

Watch & Learn: A Video On Compost

Whoops! This is section is not 100% finished!

We apologise for the delay and are working to get this sorted as soon as possible!

Check back soon for more awesome activity ideas that you can do at home!

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