Greater Sydney Parklands

What will we see?

Features are what we see around us. Some are natural - they are part of the earth; and some are constructed - they have been created by people.

WILD PLAY

Parks are great places to have fun while exploring natural and constructed features.

Centennial Parklands is a big park right in the middle of the city that many people use for exercise and enjoyment. Within Centennial Parklands we have a special place called The Ian Potter Children’s WILD PLAY Garden.  

WILD PLAY allows you to get lost in the wonder of nature and is filled with endless opportunities for wild exploration. You can explore and play within the banksia tunnels, bamboo forest, dry creek beds, an artesian water play area, turtle mounds and treehouse.  

Can you spot the natural and constructed features in this special place?

Watch the video to find out more!

Activities

Goal: Design your own park

1-2 self-guided activity for children (around 20 minutes) 

  1. Reflect on the Centennial Park WILD PLAY video.  
  2. Students design their own park – including natural and constructed features like benches, bins, toilets, and barbecues. You can talk to students about features of WILD PLAY.
  3. Split students into small groups to make their own park together out of recyclable materials/ or natural loose parts. Encourage them to be creative when thinking about the needs of human visitors, animals and plants.
  4. If time at the end: have a class discussion about each group’s design. What features were included in each and why?   
Goal: Go on a discovery walk  (like Spotto)

1 teacher guided activity (around 20 minutes)

  1. Divide the class into 6 groups - 3 x “natural” features and 3 x “constructed” features in your playground/local park.
  2. Give each group a paper bag or small bucket to collect natural loose parts e.g. leaf, stick etc (“fallen treasures”).  
  3. Ask the groups to pick up “fallen treasures” when they see their feature, explaining it’s being used to help “tally” up their feature. For example, if a group is given flowers as their feature, each time the group sees a flower they need to pick up a loose part and add it to their bag or bucket.  
  4. After the walk, ask students to sit in a circle and count/tally up the total number of their “features”. You can also ask students to create pie charts, using loose parts, to record overall data.
  5. If time, have a class discussion about which features were the most common/least common and why?