Each activity in this booklet is worth half an hour in your passport – complete as many as you can and

return them to your school’s CUA coordinator!

The change in the weather over the Spring months brings with it some beautiful changes in gardens both at

home and in your community. In this activity, you will choose a particular plant or flower and take a photo

of it. Then, five days later, return to that plant/flower and take another photo (preferably from the same

position as the original). Finally, ten days after your original photo, return again and take another photo.

Paste/attach the three photos below (or on the back of this page) and list at least three (more is fine!)

changes you have observed in the plant/flower over the ten day period.

One of the most beautiful changes we see in springtime is the bloom of colourful flowers. These bright

colours are important as they attract insects to the flowers. The insects then pick up pollen from the flower

and transport it to another, so that the original flower can reproduce!

Let’s make a dandelion. You may be able to see some dandelions in your garden.

Materials

White A4 paper

Water-based paint (multiple colours if possible)

Paper plate (to hold the paint)

Black texta

Method

Using your texta, draw the stem and offshoots of the dandelion

At the end of each offshoot, draw a small circle

Pour a small amount of each colour of paint onto your paper plate

Dip a finger into a blob of paint, then press firmly onto the end of one of the offshoots

Repeat until every offshoot has a coloured fingerprint at the end. Be sure to use a different finger for

each colour or wash your finger each time you’ve finished with a colour

Leave the work to dry while you clean up

After an exciting six months, the AFL finals are here - with so many fantastic games coming up, what better way

to cater for an event than with homemade pies!

There is a bit of preparation involving sharp kitchen utensils and you will be near some hot surfaces, so

supervision from a parent or another adult is a must!

What you need

750 grams of mince (beef mince is the most common, but you can use any type you wish)

½ small onion, chopped

One carrot, grated

One garlic clove, crushed

½ cup of tomato sauce

Three tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce

One tablespoon of vegetable or olive oil

One egg yolk (gently whisked)

Four sheets of frozen puff or short crust pastry, thawed

Cooking spray

Recipe

Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180°C

Ask an adult to place a frying pan over medium heat and pour the oil in.

Once you begin to see small bubbles in the oil, ask an adult to put in the chopped onion and fry for two

minutes.

Add the crushed garlic and cook for a further one minute

Add the mince and the carrots and use a wooden or plastic spoon to break up the large chunks. Heat

this mixture for two minutes, stirring it regularly.

Add the tomato and Worcestershire sauce to the mixture and cook it for a further five minutes, or until

the meat is cooked through.

Empty the mixture into a large bowl and leave it to cool.

Take a 12-cup muffin tin and spray it with cooking spray.

With adult supervision, cut twelve large circles out of the pastry. These circles must be big enough to line

each muffin cup in the pan.

Cut 12 more circles from the pastry. These must be big enough to act as lids for your pies.

Once the mince is cool enough to touch, fill each pastry-covered muffin cup with mince. Brush the edges

with the egg yolk, then place the pastry on top and pinch the edges together

Brush the top with egg yolk, then ask an adult to place the tray in the oven.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Take the pies out of the oven and allow to cool

before enjoying!

An acrostic poem is a type of poem where the first letter of each line spells out a word. Create your own

spring-themed acrostic poem for the letters below.

In Activity 3 we used paint to recreate the colours of spring, this time we will do it on a larger scale and in

three-dimensions! Regardless of size, all flowers function to entice visitors to collect their pollen. Bees are

the most common visitors, but some plants will even attract small birds!

Materials

Cardboard or extra thick paper

Scissors

Ball of yarn (you can choose either one colour, or multiple)

Popsticks

Green water-based paint

Glue or sticky tape

Method

Cut a flower shape out of the cardboard. You can make any type of flower you like.

Cut small slits around the edges of the flower cut out

Use your yarn to wrap the cardboard flower. You can choose to cover it completely or leave some of

the cardboard visible

Colour in the popstick green with the paint (or you could even use a green texta)

Glue or sticky tape the popstick to the bottom of the yarn-wrapped flower so that it looks like a stem

You may choose to make one, or multiple in different colours!

Why do plants bloom in Spring?

Like animals, plants are living things which require water and nutrients in order to survive. As they

cannot move around to find these things, they need to wait for perfect conditions before they can

grow.

The first things that plants need is water. Water is essential for all living things, but especially

plants, they can be as much as 90% water! When a seed is planted in the ground, it waits until it

takes up enough water before it begins to ‘germinate’ – which is when the plant grows out of the

seed. The reason the seed needs water is that the water can help to hydrate the food store inside

the seed so that the plant can take energy from it! In spring, there is still water in the ground left

over from winter, plus an occasional rain which can add some extra water for the seeds to take up.

The next thing that seeds need is food. In the above paragraph we learn that seeds have food

inside them, but what happens when that runs out? Well, plants have an amazing ability to create

their own food using carbon dioxide – a gas in our environment, the same one you release every

time you breathe out! There are tiny holes (called stomata) in the leaves of plants in which the

carbon dioxide can enter. The carbon dioxide can then combine with water to create glucose

which the plant uses as food.

For all this to take place, however, there needs to be sunlight. The change from winter to spring

brings with it more sunlight which the plant can use to grow. The sun sends heat energy down into

the environment and this powers the combination of carbon dioxide and water discussed above.

What three things do plants need to grow?

What happens when a seed begins to ‘germinate’?

Why do seeds need water to produce plants?

What form of energy do plants need from the environment?

What are stomata?

Which has a higher water content – humans or plants?

What two compounds combine to create the plants major food source?

What is the name of this food source?

The spring months bring about plenty of activity from both plant and animal life. We all know that animals

need food to supply them with the energy they need to move, so in this activity you’ll create some bird

feeders to help! Hopefully you will also see some new species of birds in your backyard!

Materials

Toilet paper roll

Bird seed

Butter knives

Peanut Butter

Sticky Tape

Newspaper

Method

With adult supervision, use a butter knife to cover the toilet roll with peanut butter

Lay a piece of newspaper on a flat surface, and pour one cup of bird seed onto it

Carefully roll the toilet roll in the bird seed, trying to cover the roll completely in bird seed

Leave the toilet roll to dry on the newspaper for 30 minutes

Once dry, find a tree in your backyard and hang your bird feeder from one of its branches

Check it each day to see how much it being eaten!

*Please note: Students with nut allergies can replace peanut butter with jam or honey.

Write how ‘spring’ would be said in each of the languages below. Then, draw a basic sketch of the flag of

one country that speaks that language.

French –

Italian –

Chinese –

Arabic –

Russian –

Dutch –

Japanese –

Hindu –

Spanish –

Afrikaans -

Who is in the picture?

Where is this happening?

What do you think happens next?

What is happening in the picture?