Kids explore Bundaberg Botanic Gardens with new activity book Roana O’Neill, Co-ordinator Communication and Engagement, Bundaberg Regional Council A kids’ activity trail booklet, designed to get kids exploring and investigating the Bundaberg Botanic Gardens, was launched in the June 2020 school holidays with much success. The self-guided activity trail features 20 stops around the gardens’ top lake. Each stop is identified with a numbered sign indicating where to complete the activity in the booklet. The booklet includes opportunities for drawing, matching activities, measuring, sketching, a word find, and decoding words. Activities range from identifying a plant and making a sound map, to animal spotting and measuring a tree. The kids’ activity trail booklet.
Gardens Curator Cody Johnson and I were discussing ways that we could provide an engaging educational activity for children, close to visitor amenities. The trail allows families to work together, providing a fun outdoors activity, especially during times of social distancing. The Botanic Gardens are founded on scientific research, conservation, display and education, so it’s important that we communicate the significance of the gardens to all members of the community. I wrote the booklet for ages approximately eight to 13 years, however, it has proved suitable for a wider age group and for kids with a range of abilities. Kids can do the trail in any order, at their own pace and at any time of the year, and they don’t have to do the activity in one go — they can come to the gardens multiple times to complete the booklet. We hope this initiative opens children’s eyes to their environment, and connects them to plants in the gardens they may previously have walked past. The gardens are a community facility so we want to encourage that feeling of community ownership.
The Kids Activity Trail showcases some of the diverse plants and animals in the gardens, including the Brazilian Silk floss tree and the King fern, the largest fern in the world, through to the Australian brush turkey and eastern water dragons.
THE BOTANIC GARDENer | ISS 55 SUMMER 2020/21
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