Birrigai Learning Descriptors
The following pages offer brief descriptions of the core Birrigai program offerings. Specialised or tailored programs can be
negotiated to ensure your visit maximises learning outcomes for your students.
Environment
Birrigai @ Tidbinbilla
Biodiversity – Protecting Life on Earth
Bushwalk
Carbon Cycle
Hey, Frog!
Enviro Trail
Grassland Detectives
Indigenous Perspectives –
Grass Trees and Bogong Moths
Sustainability Challenge
Teddy Bears’ Picnic
Time Trek
Web of Life
Wetland Wonders
Wetland Friends
Wetland Connections
Wetland Detectives
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Heritage
Early Settlers
Life on the Diggings
Gold Rush Democracy Day
Outdoor Adventure
Abseiling
Campfires
Crate Climb
Escape from Bull Ant Flat
Flying Fox
Giant Swing
Glider Possum
Leap of Faith
Low Ropes
New Leaders
Photo Orienteering
Team Initiatives
Team Rescue
Vertical Playpen & Dangle Duo
Birrigai @ Tidbinbilla
Biodiversity:
Bushwalk
Protecting Life on Earth
(Foundation – Adult)
(Foundation – adult)
(Years 3-6)
Take on the role of a scientist and
investigate habitat health in a small
area at Birrigai.
Collect real data and discover the
meaning of biodiversity in a fun and
engaging way. Catch insects and use
our excellent microscopes to take a
closer look.
Birrigai can deliver a range of
programs at Tidbinbilla, including
wetland ecology, Ngunnawal
knowledge and early settler heritage.
Visit the Sanctuary @ Tidbinbilla. The
‘Sanctuary’ is a world class wetland
environment that provides an insight
into the natural world. Get a ‘duck’s
eye view’ of the wetlands in the below
water-level weir, search for platypus
along the boardwalk, scramble over
the granite outcrops, see research in
action at the Vet centre and get up
close and personal with our reptiles. It
may be possible to catch a glimpse of
a platypus and find out about its unique
features.
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Explore the bush at Birrigai and
Tidbinbilla, rich in biodiversity. Find
out about the amazing flora, fauna and
geology of the area. Build a connection
with the natural world through drawing,
earth walk activities, history of the
Ngunnawal Peoples.
Learn about the threats to biodiversity
and how to protect life on earth.
Visit the granite tors for breathtaking
views and explore the sheltered caves.
There is also an orienteering challenge
using either photo clues and /or
compass directions.
Carbon Cycle
(Years 3-6)
Carbon is the building block of life. Join
in a carbon cycle game as the
atmosphere, a herbivore or a plant and
act out the carbon cycle. Molecules
are built and split as they are cycled
around. Find out what happens to the
natural system when extra carbon
dioxide is introduced.
Calculate how much carbon dioxide is
stored in a tree by completing a tree
passport. Explore the importance of
soil as a carbon store, mimic the action
of weathering and erosion to create
your very own soil.
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Grassland Detectives
Hey, Frog!
(Years 2 – 6)
(Years 3-4)
Discover the connections between the
grasslands, wildflowers and insects.
Use a net to explore the insect
biodiversity of the grassland habitat.
Use our wonderful microscopes to
have a closer look at the special
features of the plants and insects of
the grasslands. Shake a tree and
investigate the rich variety of leaf
dwelling bugs.
The amazing Northern Corroboree
Frog is an endangered frog from our
region. Play a dynamic game to find
out what threatens the frogs’ survival,
how the threats can be reversed and
what can be done to help.
Visit the Tidbinbilla Visitors Centre to
view the frog.
Listen for frogs at the Sanctuary and
learn about the successful breeding
program that has been established
there.
Indigenous
Perspectives –
Sustainability Challenge
Time Trek
Grass Trees & Bogong Moths
(Year 2 – Adult)
(Years 3 - 6)
(Years 3 - 5)
Through the construction of bolttogether cubbies, work as a team to
explore clean energy alternatives.
Make choices and complete tasks to
enhance cubby sustainability. Visit the
Learn and Earn table with innovative
energy saving ideas.
Investigate the history of life on the
planet and discover how the earth has
changed over time.
Could you survive in a mini Ice Age
living off the land and sheltering under
massive granite boulders?
Learn why Tidbinbilla is a significant
place for Ngunnawal Peoples for over
20,000 years. Discover bush food and
medicines and learn how to find an
animal by observing tracks and scats.
Learn about the amazing Bogong
moths and their flight to the mountains
each year.
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Explain team choices to the
Sustainability Inspectors and receive
an energy rating for your cubby. Find
out how sustainable futures are
shaped by our behaviours and how our
actions impact on the earth.
As a team set up a camp and earn the
Earth Key and map. Dig up a time
capsule and present your findings to a
famous scientist from the past.
Link your discoveries to the
magnificent Birrigai mosaic, ‘This
Planet we Share’, and find the
matching symbol.
Web of Life
Wetland Wonders
Wetland Friends
(Year 3 – 7)
(Preschool)
(Foundation –
Year 2)
The Web of Life simulation game is
one of the most popular environmental
activities at Birrigai.
Have fun exploring wetland
environments and the animals that live
there. Build a model wetland with an
ecology kit and develop techniques for
catching and identifying macro
invertebrates in a safe environment.
The game explores the
interrelationships between animals and
Australian ecosystems and examines
the effect of disturbances as they
resonate throughout the whole food
chain.
Investigate
wetland
habitats with a
particular
emphasis on
animal
adaptations.
Play the relay
game ‘Match
the beak’ and
learn how each
bird has a beak
specially
adapted to catch or collect its food.
The Web of Life simulation game could
be incorporated into a module on
environmental education,
sustainability, ecology, Australian flora
and fauna, native and introduced
animals.
Discover the wetlands on a binocular
walk and dip in the water to catch
macro invertebrates.
Use our wonderful microscopes to see
water bugs up close.
Join in a picnic with the some of the
wetland animals and find out what they
like to eat.
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Use our wonderful microscopes to
discover how the water bugs are
adapted to live in the wetlands.
Find out how they breathe, move and
eat. Model a clay animal with special
features to live in the wetlands.
Wetland Connections
Wetland Detectives
(Years 3 - 4)
(Years 5 - 6)
Explore wetland food webs and
interrelationships. Join in an animal
identification walk and discover some
of the amazing wetland creatures using
binoculars. Become a wetland animal
and get tangled up in a model web of
life. Find out who eats whom in the
wetland food chains.
Collect evidence to assess the health
of the water system. A guided walk
through the wetlands, water testing
and a quantitative and qualitative
assessment of the macro-invertebrates
will assist you to make this
assessment.
Use the microscopes to identify
species. Examine the ecological role of
wetlands and the need to conserve
such ecosystems.
Teddy Bears’ Picnic @
the Botanic Gardens
(Kindergarten)
Bring your
Teddies to
discover what
they and all
animals need to
survive in the
bush! Play Teddy
Bear Tag and
Musical Trees to
learn how trees
provide us with
the needs of life.
Go on a special kind
of bushwalk and use your senses to
explore the bush around you. Don’t
lose your Teddy or you will have to go
on a hunt to find them!
Catch macro invertebrates and
investigate them under our amazing
microscopes. Learn ways to care for
wetland ecosystems
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Enjoy a picnic under the shady trees
with your Ted and friends.
End the day by planting a seed
because you now know what we need
to do to make sure we always have
trees.
Environmental Trail @
Birrigai or the Botanic
Gardens
(Years 1 and 2)
Learn how the sun is necessary for all
life on earth. Discover the perils our
native animals face by playing the ‘Cat
& Bilby’ game. Distinguish between
our survival ‘needs’ and our ‘wishes &
wants’ in an energetic relay game.
Discover the smells, sounds and sights
of the bush, home to our wonderful
wildlife and plants. Take the role of an
animal and search for your food &
water in a mini ‘Web of Life’ game.
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Life on the Diggings
Early Settlers
(Years 3-6)
Experience the life of the early
Australian explorers, facing the
challenges of the new world. Join an
expedition as a navigator, botanist,
artist or geologist. Cook delicious
damper, twisted on a stick, over an
open fire. Role play a child in the old
bush school room complete with slates
and chalk. Fulfil the requirements of
homesteaders in the new Settlement of
Paddy’s River to receive your land
grant. Work in teams to fence your
land, put up a shelter and exchange
your crops for supplies.
(Years 3-6)
Pitch a tent on the ‘goldfields’ and try
panning, cradling and prospecting for
gold. Learn about the challenges
faced by the women and Chinese
miners at the diggings. Put on a
costume and travel back in time to line
up for school in the slab hut. Write
with nibs and ink and play some of the
old time games such as marbles and
bush billiards. Build a camp fire and
cook damper like the diggers. Visit the
assay office and swap your gold for
pounds and join in the trial of the
bushranger accused of grand theft.
Abseiling
Campfires
Crate Climb
(Year 5 to adult)
(Year 3 – adult)
(Year 4 – Adult)
Visit a spectacular rock face and
experience the challenge by choice
and peer support opportunities offered
by an abseiling session. Various rock
faces suitable for all year levels are
easily accessible at or from Birrigai.
Building a campfire is a wonderful
opportunity to work as a team.
The Crate Climb involves two
participants working together to build
(and ascend) a tower of milk crates.
Build natural surface abseiling in to
your group’s outdoor
challenge program.
Learn how to become a master chef
and cook damper twists to perfection.
Discover the basics of fire safety and
how to work together to complete the
task.
Partners need to steady each other as
they ascend, particularly as the tower
grows in height. The remaining team
members assist with construction from
the ground.
Each attempt at the Crate Climb is
terminated when the tower topples. A
typical attempt takes approximately
eight minutes, allowing different
partners in the group to have a go.
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Escape from Bull Ant
Flat
(Year 2 – Adult)
Sharpen leadership, communication,
cooperation and organisational skills
as part of either the Sting or Pincer
team. Personal qualities such as
bravery, strength, balance, and
stamina will be required to complete a
series of 8 challenges including KnockEms and Rolling Thunder.
Points are earned for teamwork, lateral
thinking, team support and
encouragement, style and artistic
movements.
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Flying Fox
Giant Swing
(Year 3 – Adult)
(Years 3-adult)
Flying Fox addresses active team
participation and support for fellow
team members.
Experience Birrigai’s exhilarating
Swing-By-Choice.
Flying Fox is a challenge-by-choice
activity and operates on the principle of
team haul-up. The participant is towed
to a starting position of their choice,
where they then activate a release
rope to commence their ride along a
cable.
For Yr 6 – adult, groups may choose
Flying Fox Off the Pole for a more
individual challenge. Extra support
harness available for students from
Specialist Schools.
Participants choose the height they are
hauled by their team and release
themselves for a Swing allowing views
over the Paddys River Valley to the
Bullen ranges.
Extra support harness available for
students from Specialist Schools.
Glider Possum
Leap of Faith
Low Ropes
(Year 3 – Adult)
(Year 7 – Adult)
(Year 4 – Adult)
The Glider Possum is an exciting high
ropes activity resembling a giant
pendulum in which the participant is
first raised and lowered, and then
swung into the air, resembling a “glider
possum” in flight.
The Leap of Faith activity provides a
challenging culmination to an
adventure training program.
Low Ropes is a fantastic challenge-bychoice activity that develops trust and
communication in small teams.
A single participant at a time climbs to
a platform seven metres in height
before leaping off the platform and
attempting to touch a suspended ball.
Have fun working together to complete
the nine elements that constitute the
course.
The element operates on the principle
of team haul-up: a single participant is
raised and lowered by a team of peers.
Extra support harness available for
students from Specialist Schools.
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Swing on the bosuns’ chairs and
balance on the swinging log.
Learn the safety system and step out
of your comfort zone in a supported
environment.
New Leaders
Photo Orienteering
(Year 5 - Adult)
Team Initiatives
(Year 3 – Adult)
(Year 3 – 6)
Birrigai’s natural environment is a great
setting for developing a true sense of
team and leadership.
Experience opportunities to develop
both team and self through planning,
problem solving, decision making and
goal setting in a fun, challenging and
open way.
Step outside of your comfort zone,
build trust and challenge your
capabilities.
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Photo Orienteering is a fun, action
packed activity focusing on cohesion
and communication in a small team.
The Team Initiatives course is a
dynamic way to learn about leadership,
problem solving, cooperation and
communication in small groups.
Work in groups to complete as many
orienteering courses as possible in the
timeframe provided.
Discuss ideas and formulate solutions
to each of the initiatives and have fun
putting the ideas into action.
To complete each course, teams must
locate four orienteering clips using a
sequence of photos from the
surrounding landscape.
Team Rescue
(Years 3 – adult)
Using a rescue scenario, teams are
challenged to negotiate a series of
obstacles. Success requires a high
level of cooperation and lateral
thinking.
The Vertical Playpen &
Dangle Duo
(Year 3 – Adult)
The Vertical Playpen and the Dangle
Duo (Giant Ladder) both operate with
two participants ascending at once.
Partners will need to assist each other
as they climb the structure. The
Dangle Duo in particular requires a
large degree of cooperation between
the two climbers.
The remaining participants comprise
the belay team with three people
belaying each climber.
The level of challenge is set with
reference to the age level and required
outcomes sought by the group.
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For more information about Birrigai
programs and to see how they map
against the Australian Curriculum,
go to our website at
www.tidbinbilla.com.au/birrigai