The educational resource is dedicated to helping children explore their local environment throughout the seasons of the year.
Each term opens with a new approach to investigate and explore nature, and a suggested starter activity to get the ball rolling.
Starter activities are taken from DOC's 'Exploring your local environment' resource and our 'Nature Tasters' cards. Supporting activities can be found in our 'Enhancing Biodiversity' and 'Tools for environmental action' resources.
Download the resource
Example of the front side of the poster
Exploring your local environment through the seasons' poster (PDF, 1,672K)
Additional resources
- Exploring your local environment (PDF, 4,158K)
- Enhancing biodiversity in your green space (PDF, 2,657K)
- Tools for environmental action (PDF, 3,029K)
Content on poster
Page 1
Term 1
Investigate and explore: Get outside and explore your local nature! Get to know your special places using DOC’s teaching and learning resources.
- What are the Māori names for the plants, places and animals in your local neighbourhood?
- What’s the inquiry question?
Starter activity: Check out ‘Near, there and far’ on page 9 or 'Museum of nature' on page 10 of the 'Exploring your local environment' resource.
Gathering information | Planning project action | Working with others | Reflecting, evaluating |
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Make your own nature journal and record your experiences outside.
For specific sites, choose a photo point that all future measuring or progress photos will be taken from. This makes for easy comparisons. |
Start talking and sharing ideas:
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Who in your community knows about the early history of your local places?
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What did you learn?
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Term 2
Investigate and explore:
- What’s different in autumn?
- What’s the same?
- Why?
Choose a learning focus in your local nature.
- What do you already know?
- What questions do you have?
- What do you wonder about?
- What’s the inquiry question?
Starter activity: Map your local nature or make a photostory of your green space (page 10 of 'Exploring your local environment' resource).
Gathering information | Planning project action | Working with others | Reflecting, evaluating |
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Collect data – what calls your local nature home?
Collect local information and share it in a New Zealand-wide survey - support the Annual Garden Bird Survey. See DOC's ‘Experiencing birds in your green space’ resource
What funding opportunities are available to help carry out an action project? |
Analyse your data. What does it tell you?
Plan for action
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Take photos of action learning and progress made. Label them carefully and save them somewhere safe! |
Term 3
Investigate and explore:
- What’s different?
- What’s the same?
- Why?
- What’s the inquiry question?
Starter activity: Animal observations or Observing the role of trees, then Making sense of observations (pages 7 and 8 of 'Enhancing biodiversity in your green space' resource).
Gathering information | Planning project action | Working with others | Reflecting, evaluating |
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Get ready to vote! Which bird will be crowned Bird of the Year this year?
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It’s time to take action!
Invite others to join you and share the learning and the fun! |
Share your planning, progress and action – go on, tell others about it!
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Reflect and evaluate your action project success
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Term 4
Investigate and explore:
- What’s different?
- What’s the same?
- Why?
- What’s the inquiry question?
Starter activity: Photo competition. Get outside and take the most interesting photo of nature. Write a sentence to describe it.
Gathering information | Planning project action | Working with others | Reflecting, evaluating |
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Measuring progress/success
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What are your recommendations for next steps?
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Don’t forget to say ‘thank you!’ People love to be recognised for their contribution… and they’ll be more likely to want to help next time if you remember to say thank you.
Share your skills and nature knowledge. Teach others what you know. Celebrate your year of learning in nature. |
Who will/could/might continue this work next year?
What needs to be looked after over the summer holidays?
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Page 2
Summer/Autumn - term 1
- Water plants
- Collect seed
- Explore local places – what lives there?
- Collect real and useful data about your place:
- map your biodiversity – what native plants live in your place?
- which insects and birds are interacting with your plants (eg bees pollinating flowers)?
- track local animals in tracking tunnels – who lives in your backyard?
- count bird calls
Autumn/Winter - term 2
- Draw a planting plan:
- what/where are you going to plant?
- how big do things grow?
- are some plants better suited to wet/dry/windy places than others?
- consider sunlight and soil conditions.
- Tell people what you're going to do. Ask for parent helpers. Book your planting days into the school calendar and newsletters
- Plan/prepare a new planting site
- Propagate new plants – take cuttings, sow seed
- Use your school compost/worm wees to feed your new plants
- Clean and prepare tools
- Keep exploring your local places – what's happening out there?
- Garden Bird Survey (usually end of June)
Winter/Spring - term 3
- Plant while the ground is wet and digging is easy. The new plants will also have plenty of water to help them settle in
- Mulch around your plants to give them some space from weeds that may grow too close and block out the sun
- Plan a pest animal trapping programme
- Build traps and/or tracking tunnels
- Build insect shelters
- Join The Great Kereru Count! (end of September)
- Weed around new plants
Spring/Summer- term 4
- Weed – release the plants from surrounding weeds
- Mulch new plantings and water if it is a very dry season
- Animals and insects are also on the move and enjoying the warmer weather, monitor their movements
- Trap pest animals
- Think ahead to next year ... what kind of planting do you want plants for?
- weaving plants
- habitat and food for birds, invertebrates and lizards
- plants to prevent erosion
- medicinal plants
- amenities planting
- Order plants for next year so they have time to grow to a good size.