poems and stories capture the soul of the Australian bush and its people, providing a window into the life and culture of the country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Students competing have sought to base their scarecrow on Banjo Paterson's most iconic character, the Jolly Swagman from Waltzing Matilda, and were encouraged to delve into the poet’s famous works, to envision these archetypal characters.
weave their way through a giant flower garden to collect pollen. They’ll put their pollen disc into the beehive, before moving to the next station. 3. Planting - children will dig in a garden bed, planting vegetables. 4. Harvesting - children will harvest vegetables to learn about garden care and growth. They’ll find out how long different fruits and vegetables take to grow and will add some lettuce, potatoes, and carrots to their basket. 5. Fruit Orchard - children will water apple and orange trees (props) and pick a fruit for their basket. They’ll also have to identify whether certain fruits and vegetables are in fact a fruit or a vegetable. Flower Crowns Kids will be given fresh flowers and the necessary craft materials to make a pretty flower crown. This fun nature craft is great for creativity, with kids making patterns and designing their finished crowns. NEW - 4B Garden Learn about the birds and the bees, butterflies and bugs (4B) and, specifically, how to attract them in the 4B Garden. The impressive 14-metre-long self-guided garden will showcase the best types of flowers to plant in your garden to attract bees, along with their animal friends butterflies, bugs and birds. It will also feature sensory activities for the kids. Around the Grounds Ekka Learning Trail The Ekka Learning Trail is a self-guided activity where students are provided with a ‘passport booklet’ and encouraged to journey around the grounds to collect stamps from each of the eight learning trail points. The trail provides sensory, hands-on experience such as milking dairy cows and becoming a little backyard farmer. Learning Trail Passport Booklets can be collected at Information Booths. The eight trail points are: n Bees n Little Backyard Farmers presented by Somerville House n Agtech Alley n Cotton n Sheep Shearing n Animal Nursery n Horsing Around Show presented by Queensland Off-The Track n Norco Milking Barn & Norco Grass to Glass Experience Show Camp Some 20 grade six students will be given the chance to become journalists at Show Camp, a partnership program of Education Queensland and the Ekka. Here the students will capture the activities and experiences that make Queensland’s largest event unique, with many staying overnight onsite. Students will develop their news writing, researching, interviewing, photography, video and podcasting skills, while producing up to 40 stories to be published in the 32nd edition of the Ekka Courier. The student’s Ekka classroom will be located on level 3 of the Large Animal Pavilion.
Agtech Alley NEW - Greenhouse Innovators
Students from several schools have taken farming with AgTech to the next level by competing in the Ekka's Greenhouse Innovator Competition. Participating schools from across Queensland were provided with Greenhouse Innovator kits from IntegratedSTEM to analyse the effects of different soils, lights, and environments on the monitoring of plant growth and data collection. Over the past month, students from grades 7 to 10 have designed a research project, conducted classroom horticulture experiments, and presented their findings. The mini-farming operation and student project designs will be on display in the Ag Education Hall over the nine days of Ekka. Botbuilders Robotics Build, code and play with robots at this exciting new activation all about robotics. Here, students can build skills and confidence in STEM and robotics so they may participate in fun robotics competitions. Learn more about BotBuilders teams across multiple robotics competitions: FIRST Lego League, FIRST Tech Challenge, FIRST Robotics Competition and RoboRAVE. NEW - Ag Drones Ag-education goes sky high with this exciting new activation. This display will show how drones are used in modern farming from spraying and aerial seeding to mapping. NEW - UniSQ University of Southern Queensland leads this eye-opening activation, which shows how technology as powerful as your smart phone can be used in agriculture to identify seed, invasive insects, best practices methods and alerts on crops. Flower & Garden Precinct (H-13) 9am – 6pm daily Little Backyard Farmers presented by Somerville House Little Backyard Farmers presented by Somerville House is an interactive educational activity teaching kids about urban farming. There are five hands-on stations where children are taught the importance of future sustainability practices through composting, planting seeds, growing vegetables, and nurturing plants. 1. Chicken Coop - kids will enter a large coop, searching for an egg to add to their basket among the chickens (props) and hay. They’ll learn about life cycles and raising hens. 2. Flowers and Bees - in this colour matching activity, children will
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