Nature activities for children and adults

Running Creek Valley, Scenic Rim

(90 minutes south of Brisbane)

Children's nature activities

• 

  Learn a lot while having a lot of fun! Nature games: treasure hunts, puzzles, guessing games, etc. in an outdoor setting and in our Wildlife Ecology Centre.
  
• Simple ways of sketching common animals (your guide Ronda enjoyed learning and expanding on these techniques as a child herself, and still uses them for quck sketches).
  
• How to make your sketches and paintings of wildlife and their habitats look more realistic.
  
• Other nature art and craft
• Seeking small creatures on land and in water and learning about their importance to ecology.

$25.00 per family of one or two adults and up to three children.$5.00 additional child

How to be an ecologist

• what is ecology?
• what sorts of questions do ecologists try to answer, out of scientiic curiosity and for conservation management?
• what are some of the tools used by ecologists, how are they used, and how do we minimise impacts on animals and plants while using them?
• observation and practice of some simple techniques (no handling of animals involved other than perhaps a few harmless invertebrates)
• why is mathematics important in ecology (some basic concepts to aid understanding - no complex exercises)?
  

Introduction to birdwatching and bird behaviour

• how to seek out birds and identify them from their overall appearance, silhouette, calls and behaviour.
• social interactions, feeding and other behaviours to watch for when viewing southeast Queensland birds
• various books, websites, apps and other aids to birdwatching
• using binoculars, spotting scopes and cameras

and of course do some actual birdwatching!

Introduction to identifying native plants of southeast Queensland

• different ways of identifying
  
• some useful books and apps for identification
• some of the common terms used in identification keys, and how to look for the features they describe
• plants of SEQ open forests and subtropical rainforests
• collecting, identifying and pressing specimens

Introduction to the natural history of southeast Queensland

• Why is Australia so different from the rest of the world, and what make the Scenic Rim so special within Australia?
  
• Geological processes that affected Australia as a whole and the landscapes, climate and soils of the Scenic Rim
• How this has affected our forests, wetlands and other ecosystems and the wildlife that ive there.
  
• Some importnant ecological interactions between local plants and animals

$12 individual. $20 couple. $25.00 per family (as above)