Primary

Focus is on water conservation and quality, the water cycle, catchments and how to protect this precious resource.

What waterbug is that? (Aquatic macroinvertebrates)

This is a hands-on activity where students investigate waterbugs collected from the Edendale dam, using identification charts provided. This activity considers concepts such as water quality, lifecycles, living things and how they are impacted by their environment.

Tale of a Creek (Year 2+)

This activity follows the journey of the Diamond Creek, from its beginnings in Kinglake National Park to its more polluted end near Edendale, using story-telling and role-play. What pollutants get into our urban waterways, where do they come from, and what can we do about it?

Water Heroes (Year 2+)

Water as a scarce resource, and different ways in which we can save water in our lives. This activity considers the sustainable use and management of Earth’s precious resources, and how human actions can impact such resources.

Edendale farm tour (water quality focus)

In this activity, as we move around the farm, we consider how water is used and conserved (water tanks, swales, planting of indigenous plants etc). Students also get to interact with the farm animals as part of the tour. 

Water quality testing (Year 7+)

Students test and compare pH, salinity and turbidity of water collected from the Edendale dam and the Diamond Creek, this is a hands-on fieldwork activity aimed at secondary Geography students.

Curriculum links: Science Understanding: Biological Sciences

Focus is on what goes in each bin, making smarter choices when shopping, the environmental impact of waste, minimising waste going to landfill and recycling organic waste. It introduces students to the ‘Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ waste-reduction hierarchy

What a Load of Rubbish

A hands-on activity where students actively sort clean rubbish props into landfill, recycling and green waste bins, as well as containers for compost, textile waste, batteries and electronic waste. Focus is on understanding why we sort our waste, reducing waste to landfill, and there is a fun “Recycle Relay” at the end to reinforce learnings.

Soil Matters

This activity considers the role of worm farms and composting in organic waste recycling, as well as the lifecycle of composting worms (including up-close observation of worms). We visit Edendale’s worm farms and composting facilities, and also look at how these processes can help to produce great quality soil that we can grow food in.

Consumption Down! (Year 4+)

An extension on What a Load of Rubbish, we do a short bin sort for reinforcement and then move on to ways in which we can reduce waste by being smarter with what we buy (eg reducing single-use items, buying second-hand, reducing textile waste, re-purposing items).

Sculptural Junk (F-3)

This is an environmental art activity, where we use “junk” (repurposed materials) to make arty creations (focus in on re-using and re-purposing)

Edendale farm tour (waste focus)

As we move around the farm, we consider how we deal with waste (including food waste, waste from the public and café, as well as animal waste such as manure)

Curriculum links: Science Understanding, Geographical Knowledge, Visual Arts Practices, The Humanities: Civics and Citizenship

These activities emphasise the importance of plants and animals in the environment. Students gain an understanding of Biodiversity and its related issues, as well as actions that can be taken to help support and enhance biodiversity (including Citizen Science opportunities).

Habitat Heroes

What is “habitat”, and what does an animal need in a home? What other creatures call Edendale and its surrounds their home? What is an indigenous plant, and why is it great to plant them? Visit our indigenous plant nursery and discover that different plants can help to attract butterflies, bees, birds and frogs to your garden. And what else we can provide in our gardens particularly to provide shelter for local species (eg rocks, legs, habitat boxes, insect hotels)?

It’s a Bug’s Life

A minibeast discovery activity where students learn about the “little creatures” on the farm. Some or all of bees, spiny leaf insects, composting worms, waterbugs, and the Eltham Copper Butterfly may feature, depending on what other activities are booked on the day. Focus is on their roles in the environment, lifecycles, and their inter-relationships with their environment (and sometimes each other). 

Who am I? Eltham Copper Butterfly

Students learn about this endangered local species (including why it’s endangered), its habitat and very interesting lifecycle through a combination of storytelling, drama and a dress-up parade of eggs, ants, caterpillars and butterflies. 

What waterbug is that? (Aquatic macroinvertebrates)

This is a hands-on activity where students investigate waterbugs collected from the Edendale dam, using identification charts provided. This activity considers concepts such as water quality, lifecycles, living things and how they are impacted by their environment.

Buzzing Around (F-2)

Through dance, story, observation and play, children discover how honeybees live their busy lives. Using play-based learning and drama, they learn about how bees collect nectar and pollen, make wax and honey, pollinate flowers, the different roles of bees in a hive and how they communicate with each other using the “waggle dance”. We also introduce children to some of Australia’s native bees, and their important roles as pollinators in the local environment.  

Fun with Frogs (F-2)

Explore the amazing world of frogs, including their needs, habitat, lifecycle, roles in the environment and their calls (we even make a frog chorus with wood, stones, scrapers, sponges and our voices!). This activity is sometimes combined with What waterbug is that? depending on the time of the year. 

Students investigate a range of issues related to climate change, renewable energy sources and practical ways in which we can reduce our energy footprint. 

Cut Your Carbon

Students learn about the greenhouse effect, where most of our current energy comes from, renewable versus non-renewables sources of energy and practical actions we can take to reduce our carbon footprint. This activity includes pedalling on our human-powered bikes to generate some electricity!

Home Green Home

This activity is conducted as a farm tour where we look at how we have reduced Edendale’s carbon footprints (including solar panels and evacuated tubes for solar hot water), as well as the use of passive solar principles in some of buildings to reduce energy needs (double glazing, use of eaves, building materials, orientation of buildings).

Re-Generate

Focus is on different renewable sources of electricity and how they work (solar, wind, hydro etc)

Jump into Climate Action

In this activity, we consider how to be more climate conscious in what we eat, what we buy (or don’t buy), how we travel and what we wear.

Food Footprint

Here, we focus on the environmental impact of what we eat, but from an energy point of view (carbon emissions from different types of food, packaging, transport)

Curriculum links: Science Understanding – Earth and Space Sciences, Physical Sciences, Science as a Human Endeavour

Activities enhance student understanding of the value in maintaining and developing arable land, explore the environmental impacts of their ‘food footprint’ and the benefits of growing our own food or buying locally. 

Edendale farm tour (Food focus)

In this tour of the farm, we consider what farms produce for people. Students also get to see and interact with the farm animals (sheep, goats, alpacas, chickens, guinea pigs), as well as visiting our veggie gardens and worm farms (depending on what other activities are booked on the day).

Grow Your Own (F-2)

Why veggie gardening is great for the environment, and great for you! Children explore the Edendale veggie gardens, learning about the different parts of vegetable plants we can eat and how different plants grow depending on the time of the year. They will learn about what a plant needs to grow and plant a veggie seed in a little biodegradable pot to take home with them. The activity is designed to engage children in learning about where their food comes from, and why it helps the environment if we grow some of our own.

Soil Matters

This activity focuses on good quality soil as another of the Earth’s scarce resources, and how we can improve the quality of soil via worm farms and composting our organic waste. Not only does this keep organic waste out of landfill, but it also helps us to produce great quality soil that we can grow food in. Edendale’s worm farms and composting facilities are part of the activity, as well as up-close observation of composting worms.

Food Footprint (Year 4+)

The environmental impact of what we eat, which takes into account how food is produced, “food miles” (how far our food travels), packaging and food waste. Population growth, loss of arable land and climate change are considered, and we also discuss some potential foods of the future.

Curriculum links: Science Understanding – Biological Sciences, Design & Technologies – Food & fibre production

One of our most popular programs, particularly among upper primary and secondary schools, the Sustainable Living program incorporates activities from water, waste, food, biodiversity and energy. It draws together some of the key issues that help us to live more sustainably and reduce our ecological footprint.

Consumption Down!

An extension on What a Load of Rubbish, we do a short bin sort for reinforcement and then move on to ways in which we can reduce waste by being smarter with what we buy (eg reducing single-use items, buying second-hand, reducing textile waste, re-purposing items).

Water Heroes

Water as a scarce resource, and different ways in which we can save water in our lives. This activity considers the sustainable use and management of Earth’s precious resources, and how human actions can impact such resources.

Cut Your Carbon (Year 5+)

Students learn about the greenhouse effect, where most of our current energy comes from, renewable versus non-renewables sources of energy and practical actions we can take to reduce our carbon footprint. This activity includes pedalling on our human-powered bikes to generate some electricity!

Habitat Heroes

What is “habitat”, and what does an animal need in a home? What other creatures call Edendale and its surrounds their home? What is an indigenous plant, and why is it great to plant them? Visit our indigenous plant nursery and discover that different plants can help to attract butterflies, bees, birds and frogs to your garden. And what else we can provide in our gardens particularly to provide shelter for local species (eg rocks, legs, habitat boxes, insect hotels)?

Food Footprint

The environmental impact of what we eat, which takes into account how food is produced, “food miles” (how far our food travels), packaging and food waste. Population growth, loss of arable land and climate change are considered, and we also discuss some potential foods of the future.

Tale of a Creek

This activity follows the journey of the Diamond Creek, from its beginnings in Kinglake National Park to its more polluted end near Edendale, using story-telling and role-play. What pollutants get into our urban waterways, where do they come from, and what can we do about it?

Sustainable Edendale farm tour

This is a tour of the farm (so students get to see and interact with the animals), but we also cover different aspects of how we manage the farm sustainably (from an energy, waste, water, food etc point of view)

Young Changemakers (Year 5+)

What type of changemaker are you? Not everybody wants to be the frontperson (the spokesperson, or the mobiliser) – but for change to occur, we need many different skill types (communicators, innovators and doers!). 

Curriculum links: Geographical knowledge, Science Understanding, Personal and Social Capability, The Humanities

“Making” activities for younger students using recycled or repurposed materials and objects from the natural world, including:

Calico Bag Prints

Students create a colourful print on a calico drawstring bag, using fresh flowers and foliage from Edendale and local gardens

Sculptural Junk

Using repurposed materials that otherwise might have made their way into landfill, students make arty creations to take home with them (this activity can also be linked to a specific topic, such as minibeasts or the farm)

Build a Bushkin (natural material sculptures)

Students create sculptures using tactile materials from nature including gumnuts, pinecones, hay, sticks, wool and hessian.

Curriculum links: Visual Arts

• Prices are per student with a minimum class size of 20 students.
• Our programs are aligned to the new Victorian Curriculum F-10 where sustainability is a cross-curriculum priority.

Our activities for incursion include:

• Tale of the Creek (Story and role play with a water quality focus)
• Growing Your Own Food / Food Miles
• Soil Matters (organic waste recycling, worm farming and composting)
• Food Footprint (Environmental impact of what we eat) - Year 4+
• Hands-on Veggie Gardening (in your patch)
• Indigenous Plant Propagation and Planting (seasonal)
• Eltham Copper Butterfly (Story and role play about this special endangered species)
• Consumption Down! (Waste reduction hierarchy, smarter shopping)
• What a Load of Rubbish (What goes in what bin and a fun recycle relay)
• Buzzing Around (The amazing life of bees)
• A variety of environmental art activities.

• These prices are per student and based on a minimum 20 children per class

• These prices are for Nillumbik schools, and for those based within a 10 kilometre radius of Edendale. Please contact us for incursion prices if you would like a quote on an incursion and you are further from us than that. 

Complete this form to check for availability or prices for the program you are interested in.

We will be in touch as soon as possible to discuss further details.

Book early as our programs are very popular.

Extras

Other things you may like to incorporate into your excursion:

• A walk along the Diamond Creek trail to Murray’s Wetlands, approximately 15 minutes. This area is a habitat for local flora and fauna.
• Time to wander around Edendale and see the animals, if this is not part of your booked program.
• Lunch and a play at the Eltham North adventure playground, which is a short walk from the farm and is also the drop off and pick up point for buses.