Teddy bears picnic program

Learning activities

Throughout the day students will learn to nurture respect for the natural world through first hand contact, understand  how living things obtain their needs of life from the environment and what those needs are and to make a positive contribution to caring for the environment that is at a level appropriate to their age.

Inquiry question

• What are the needs of living things?

Fieldwork

Earth walk

The focus of the bushwalk is to immerse the students in nature and develop sensory awareness of the bushland environment. Students will explore the features, colours and sounds of the bush through sensory activities such as touching textures, listening to bird calls, matching colours and smelling ‘whiff tea’.

Teddy bear tag

This game reinforces the needs of life: Plants for food, Air, Water, Shelter. Through a game of ‘tag’, each ‘bear’ or pair of ‘bear siblings’ collects four students wearing badges, one of each P-A-W-S, so that they have all the needs of life. 

Musical trees

This game reinforces the importance of trees in providing the needs of life. Students as ‘bears’ dance around, and when the music stops, every bear goes to a ‘tree’. ‘Chainsaw Charlie’ sneakily cuts down trees until the bears stop him. The students discuss the importance of trees and replant those cut down.

Teddy bears’ picnic

Student groups (with an adult) will follow clues leading them on a trail to discover what the teddies need to survive in the bush. The route will lead them to a surprise picnic lunch spot under the trees.

The old forest story

The students will be told a story about a forest that is cleared. Students suggest actions that could be taken to provide for the animals’ needs of life. 

Create a forest

Working in groups, students use natural materials and plastic animals to create a model habitat for Australian animals. This activity may be omitted if time is short.