Waterwatch (Pre-school to Tertiary level)

Learning Grounds (Indigenous Gardens for Primary and Secondary Schools)

Shine a light on local biodiversity and establish school gardens using local native plants of the Merri Creek catchment. We involve students, consider master plans, garden concepts and grant applications. Looking for inspiration? Come with us to visit other school's indigenous gardens.
Find out more about the Learning Grounds Program

Fascinating Frogs (Prep to Year 8)

Frog activities include creating lifecycles and talking frogs (learn the frog calls of local frogs and play a game to try and remember). Visit wetlands to see where real frogs hang out or we can bring live frogs to your school.

Five Senses in the Field (Prep to Grade 6)

Use the five senses to thoughfully observe and explore habitat values in outdoor settings. See tiny animals magnified, regard the tree canopy from below using mirrors and consider sound, smell and sensation of the natural areas in a focussed way to stimulate appreciation and inquiry.

Crafty Creek Creatures (Prep to Grade 6)

Students learn about creek life, consider the special adaptations of frogs and waterbugs and features such as body shape. They use their observations to create similiar creatures using a variety of natural and craft materials.

Habitat Surveys (Grade 3 to Tertiary)

Students explore elements of a natural area and then score its health using a template to record observations about plants, animals, weeds, litter, soil and water. Students then discuss their views on habitat health and propose ways to improve it.

Plant Prints and Botanic Drawing (Pre-school to Tertiary)

Examine live plants, discuss habitat values and observe distinguishing features such as shape, texture and colour of leaves before sketching them or making prints. Participants learn to identify local (indigenous) plants and consider the impact of introduced plants. A great activity to prepare for or follow up on excursions.

Volcanoes Rock (Prep to Year 8)

Explore the geology of the Merri Creek catchment. Look for evidence and travel back in time erupting model volcanoes to discover the volcanic past dating back millions of years. See how earlier volcanic activity played a vital role in the development, formation and ecology of todays Merri Creek.

Find out more.

During this interactive game participants take the role of a plant or animal in the food web. They discover what lives where and who eats what in the ecosystem. They find out what happens if something interupts or is lost from the food web. A lesson about the impact of pollution and habitat relationships.

Indigenous people have long recognised many values in local plants for medicines and to make eel traps and baskets. In this activity participants handle local grasses and consider traditions and heritage of the Wurundjeri-willam people.

Stormwater Story (Prep to Year 8)

Participants take on the roles of characters living along Merri Creek in various parts of the landscape such as grasslands and farmed land urban areas. Each character adds a different type of pollution (from grass clippings to oil) into a bowl of water representing the creek to see how human activity impacts water quality.

Picture This (Prep to Year 8)

Students observe and sketch a feature such as a plant before photographing it with a digital camera. In a follow up activity the photos are framed by paper in which they draw an extension of the photograph by recalling their observations of the site.

Learn bout the communities role to restore indigenous habitat through environmental restoration. Consider the impact on animals such as Sacred Kingfishers who visit Merri Creek in spring after a long journey from Indonesia. Create your own clip-on Kingfisher to take home.

Catchment Map

In the field or in the classroom our huge map of the Merri Creek catchment brings home many messages about the nature of a catchment and provides an instructive tool for discussion with students about the environment.

Maths and measurement in nearby nature (Years 3-8 but can be tailor for other levels)

Students perform waterway experiments using maths to examine and calculate waterway conditions. Each class will undertake up to 3 hands-on sessions that explore a different aspect of creek ecological health including:Students perform waterway experiments using maths to examine and calculate waterway conditions. Each class will undertake up to 3 hands-on sessions that explore a different aspect of creek ecological health including:
- flow; the velocity, and volume of streamflow and its impacts;
- life; what the number and type of waterbugs present in a waterway indicates;
- turbidity: the clarity of a waterway and the correlation to aquatic health.