Explore how plants enabled Aboriginal people to live with the Australian environment for thousands of years.

We highly recommend you book an Aboriginal cultural instructor to lead your students along this one hour trail.

Aboriginal Plant Use for Junior Primary
Aboriginal Plant Use for Upper Primary
Aboriginal Plant Use for Secondary

A minimum fee applies. To book a guide phone (08) 8266 5439.

Virtual Tour

Partner Program: explore Aboriginal people and culture at the SA Museum, Tandanya, the Migration Museum or the Art Gallery of SA, all located within 20 minutes walk from the Botanic Garden.

Learn about some of the fascinating features of Australian plants from environments nationwide.

Australian Plants for Junior Primary
Australian Plants for Upper Primary
Australian Plants for Lower S/dary

Partner Program
Investigate the adaptations of Australian animals at the Adelaide Zoo or the SA Museum, each 15 minutes walk from the Garden.

The following resources are designed to engage learners deeply with the story within the book Belonging. They are most effective when used by learners working in pairs or small groups to promote discussion and support thinking.

Reflection Frames
This resource is designed to encourage readers to ask questions, interpret and reflect on values and discuss their views with others. It is framed around four key concepts that are explored in the text. Each of these concepts is organised into two focus areas.

Environment:	Biodiversity
	Sustainability
Identity:	Connections
	Change
Community:	People and place
	Change
Jeannie Baker:	Story
	Technique
	More

Take a closer look This resource is designed to encourage readers to reflect, ask questions and explore specific aspects of Belonging. Learners choose a circular image and locate it in the book. Questions are provided with the circle to promote thinking and discussion. More

Look forward, look back This resource is designed to help readers reflect on the concepts of time and change. Learners focus on a particular person, place or object throughout the book and reflect on the story that they think is being told. A magnifying glass can be very useful for facilitating this activity. More

Visit significant plants and spectacular displays to hear stories that connect biodiversity to sustainability, endangerment, adaptations, feral plants, climate change, interrelationships and traditional Aboriginal knowledge of plants.

Plant Biodiversity suited to primary and lower secondary levels.

Plant Biodiversity suited to junior primary.

Plant Biodiversity junior primary teacher information.

Partner Program: Learn more about biodiversity at the Adelaide Zoo and SA Museum both located within 20 minutes walk from the Garden.

Bugs are at work everywhere in our Australian forest. Find clues to where they live, what they eat and how they survive along a trail that develops environmental observation skills.

Bug Detective

Junior Level
A simple four feature key to sort plants into their major plant groups.

Classification for Year 6 and 7

Classification for 6 and 7 - Teachers Guide

Senior Level
Use a range of keys and simple criteria in a field situation to sort plants down to class level. Suited to Year 11 SACE Stage 1 Biology students.
Classification for Lower Secondary

Classification for Upper Secondary

Partner Program
Extend understanding of the classification of living things by exploring animal classification at the Adelaide Zoo.

Compare how the different designs of plants help them to survive the challenges of living in the diverse deserts of the America, Africa and Australia.

Desert Survivors- Primary level but can be adapted for other year levels.

Wanting to compare deserts and rainforests?
Then try:
Plants and the Environment Primary
Plants and the Environment Lower Secondary
Plants and the Environment Secondary

Partner Program Learn more about deserts at the Adelaide Zoo and SA Museum both located within 20 minutes walk from the Garden.

Use plants that time forgot to explore the world where dinosaurs walked and discover how some ancient plants survived to the present day when the dinosaurs went extinct.

Dinosaur Daze for Junior Primary
Dinosaur Daze for Upper Primary

Partner Program
Visit the Fossil Gallery at the SA Museum.

Introduces environmental concepts like sustainability, biodiversity, inter-relationships and introduced species while integrating traditional Aboriginal perspectives of the land.

Save the Planet Ecotrek

Introduced plants pose one of the greatest threats to the Australian environment. Find out why they were introduced, what problems they cause and what solutions are available.

Dunia alam (Natural World)
Beginner Level
Language based tasks with an emphasis on the cultural uses of plants, set in a tropical rainforest which recreates the natural Indonesian environment.

Dunia Alam Teacher Guide
Dunia Alam Student Guide Part 1 & 2

Kehidupan Sehari-hari (Daily Life)
Intermediate Level
Glimpse traditional Indonesian village life and practise basic Bahasa Indonesia in a rainforest environment.

Kehidupan Sehari-hari Teacher Guide
Kehidupan Sehari-hari Student Guide

Partner Program
Meet the animals of the Indonesian rainforest by visiting the South East Asian Rainforest exhibit at the Adelaide Zoo.

An introduction to the different uses of plants in the daily life and afterlife of the ancient Egyptians.

Egypt Student Guide
Egypt Teacher Guide

Partner Program
Visit the Egyptian Room at the SA Museum.

Investigate reasons for the extinction of Australia’s megafauna and the exceptional adaptations that have enabled native Australian plants to survive.

Megafauna Junior Primary Level
Megafauna Primary Level

Partner Program
Explore Australia's megafauna at the SA Museum.

Investigate the history of paper and the plants from which it is made along with issues of sustainability and biodiversity in the paper pulp industry.

Explore the early days of Europeans in Australia through their use of the environment, technology, industrial development and traditional Aboriginal knowledge.

Plants and People - a colonial view - Primary
Plants and People - a colonial view - Secondary

Use the plants of Asia and their cultural stories to understand different aspects of Asian life and the natural environment. Includes extensive activities both in the garden and back at school.

Partner Program
Visit the Asian Collection at the Art Gallery of SA.

Use the plants of China and their cultural stories to understand different aspects of life and the natural environment in China. Includes extensive activities both in the garden and back at school.

Analyse how plants are designed by comparing the features of desert and rainforest plants and understand what makes them suited to their distinctive environments.

Plants for Upper Primary
Plants for Lower Secondary
Plants for Upper Secondary

Partner Program
Explore the adaptations of animals to their environments at the SA Museum or the Adelaide Zoo, both only 15 minutes walk from the Garden.

Plants for Upper Primary
Plants for Lower Secondary
Plants for Upper Secondary

Meet some of the world’s threatened plants and find out about their struggle to survive. Includes the recently discovered Wollemi Pine story. Encourages thinking on how to conserve what is left.

Partner Program
Explore threatened species in the animal world at the SA Museum or the Adelaide Zoo.

Look at, touch and feel the treasures in the tropical rainforest of the Bicentennial Conservatory and think about what you are seeing.

Rainforest Treasures

Partner Program
Combine the Rainforest Treasures trail by exploring the South East Asian Rainforest exhibit at the Adelaide Zoo.

Learn about all aspects of rainforests, how they work and why their conservation is so important.

Rainforest Walk for Junior Primary
Rainforest Walk for Upper Primary
Rainforest Walk for Secondary

Rainforest Audio Adventure Tour
MP3 players take students on an entertaining and educational sound tour of the tropical rainforest in the Bicentennial Conservatory. >> Sound samples
Flyer>>

Rainforest Adventure Video Tour
An entertaining and educational YouTube style, video tour of the spectacular rainforest in the Bicentennial Conservatory is available for download. The tour can be downloaded in parts or used in the Garden while on excursion. >> Video tour

Partner Program
Combine this trail by exploring the South East Asian Rainforest exhibit at the Adelaide Zoo.

Put students in touch with their natural environment by exploring the different moods, feelings and values various garden styles evoke. Make links back at school to the well-known book and film ‘The Secret Garden’.

Secret Gardens

Carnivorous plants, bird catching fruits and cork trees are some of the unusual plants you meet along this intriguing trail.

Strange Plants for Junior Primary
Strange Plants for Upper Primary

Experience the magic of some of the world’s most majestic trees and learn about their life stories. There are few bigger ‘green giants’ to be found anywhere in Adelaide.

Talking Tree Trail

A fun quiz designed to explore all aspects of water in the environment using the plants, lakes, streams, fountains and monuments in the Botanic Garden. Provide your own prizes to add to the excitement.

Water Quiz Teacher Guide
Water Quiz for Junior Primary
Water Quiz for Upper Primary

Birds in the Botanic Garden brochure

Use our colourful brochure to identify
many different types of birds living wild
in the Botanic Garden.
Tick them off as you find them and compare notes.
A great way to improve environmental observation skills.
Brochure kindly developed by the Friends of the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide

Partner Program
Explore bird adaptations at the Adelaide Zoo or the SA Museum all located within 20 minutes walk from the Botanic Garden.