Australia Day ↑

We have held meetins about about Australia Day.

Australia Day is the official national day of Australia.

Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove, and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Jackson in New South Wales.

In present-day Australia, celebrations aim to reflect the diverse society and landscape of the nation, and are marked by community and family events, reflections on Australian history, official community awards and citizenship ceremonies welcoming new members of the Australian community.

The name “Australia” comes from the latin (Roman), “australis” meaning “to the south”.

Where is Australia? ↑

It is on the other side of the planet to Great Britain, and the country is about the size of the United States of America.

Google Earth (LINK)

Australia Quizz ↑

We have a quizz about Australia, with some example questions below which can be shown on a screen or projector.

Australia Quizz (LINK).

I’m a cub, get met out of here! ↑

You can combine the quizz with some pretend bush-tucker trials, in the manner of I’m a celebrity, get me out of here.

If you get the question wrong, you have to put on a blind fold and eat something.

It is harmless food, but we give it a pretend horrible name to put the cubs off eating!

For instance, the cub is told that an option is “dog food”, but it is really Mars Bar in jelly!

Other ideas:

• Chocolate raisins = kangaroo droppings!
• Kidney beans = mouse kidneys!
• Peeled grapes = sheep eyeballs!
• Flaked almonds (check for allergies) = dried snakeskin!

Boomerangs ↑

You could make and decorate paper boomerangs.

See my page on this. You will keep coming back to it!

Boomerangs Page (LINK)

Cork Hats ↑

You could make paper hats with corks hanging off, which (so the myth goes) were worn by Australian farmers to keep flies away from their faces.

We use colourful A3 paper card, cut out, and cellotaped together.

We also cellotape corks to the end of strings, and cellotape the strings to the brims of the hats.

Equipment:

• Colorful A3 card (plenty)
• Sticky tape
• String (cut to lengths of 5 to 8 inches)
• Corks

Method:

• Find a plate or bowl that is just large enough to fit on your head.
• Draw around the bowl on the card to make a circle.
• Then draw a larger circle around it that is about 2 inches wider.
• Cut along both circles. The inner circle is the top of your hat. The inner to outer circle is the brim.
• Then cut a length of card that is two inches high, and long enough to fit all the way around the inner circle. You can stick two pieces of card together if needed. Stick the ends together and this is the side of the hat.
• Use sticky tape to attach the brim to the side of the hat, and then the top to the side of the hat.
• Use sticky tape to stick corks to end of string.
• Use sticky take to stick other end of string to brim, so you have corks dangling down!

If you are feeling advanced, you could make paper tabs for the brim and top to help attach them with glue.