Growing your own garden can help the environment in many different ways such as:
Growing your own food can reduce packaging and pollution needed when you buy groceries
Growing flowers and other plants can create habitats for wildlife especially birds and insects
Gardening can help clear the air from pollution and create more green spaces
Composting is also important! It reduces the amount of food scraps that ends up wasted in landfill and it also creates nutrient-rich soil to help your gardens grow! Did you know that:
Have you taken notice of any cute animals that regularly visit you school’s garden, such as frogs, butterflies or birds? What could you do to improve the garden to attract more of these animals?
You can start by creating fun, accessible habitats using recycled materials that you would otherwise dispose of. Submit photos of your awesome creations and informative posters for your chance to win a cool Bunnings prize pack that you can share with the rest of your class!
Good luck with your Happy Habitats!
Before getting started you’ll have to gain a better understanding of the ecosystem you’re dealing with so that you can choose the most suitable habitat to construct in that environment. Here are some questions you should consider when investigating your garden:
As a team decide on which animal you would like to create a habitat for. Or feel free to decide on a few! We have provided some examples below but feel free to research other potential DIY animal habitats that you could construct e.g. bird habitat, lizard habitats etc.
Think about the recycled materials you could use to create these habitats e.g. using offcuts of pipes for a frog habitat.
With the guidance and supervision of your teacher you can start building the habitat of your choice. Here are some questions you should consider whilst constructing:
Now that you have constructed your habitat, you can share your knowledge on it with the rest of the school community! Create an informative poster that you can hang up close to your newly constructed habitat, so that when people look upon your creation they can gain a better understanding of why it’s there. Here are some points you can include:
Take photos of your beautiful creations along with your informative posters and submit it to us below or send us an email by the submission date, Friday 27th October. The EcoMarines team will choose a few entries to win a Bunnings prize pack for you and your class to improve your school’s garden!
If your school is within the Brisbane City Council region, you can apply for free native plants to help your school create clean, green habitats for our local wildlife.
Get a rebate from your local council for purchasing compost equipment!
Find a nearby communal compost bin or worm farm where you can dispose of your food scraps and organic waste.
To help with food waste and feeding your garden, why not implement a compost bin or worm farm at your school?
Our friends at Griffith University have created an app to help you design a native garden in SouthEast Queensland.
There are plenty of organisations that help with linking gardening, cooking and the curriculum. Check these links out:
Native bee hives are a great way to pollinate your school gardens. Check out this resource to see how you can get your own!
The amazing ambassadors at Dunwhich State School propagated their own Yalabin (native rasberry plants) and other native plants. They followed the growth of these plants with a photo journal up until they were ready to be sold in a plant sale! They even created a Plant for the Planet Guide that has information about how to propagate plants and what plants are best to propagate. Check it out below. Good job EcoMarines!
EcoMarines and support crew from Mt Crosby created a mindfulness garden. This is a space where students can come and have some quiet time. It is an area for reflection, reading and meditating. You can also create a themed garden, maybe a kitchen garden or a native habitat garden.
The EcoMarines from Clontarf Beach State School made their own bird sticks to attract birds to their school gardens. You can easily make these feeders from wild bird seed mixed with egg white, placed in a pot and then baked in the oven!
The EcoMarines from New Farm State School bought their own native bee hive. The native bees are important for pollination of native plants and are great addition to any school garden!
Every classroom at Eagle Junction State School adopted a plant to look after and at the end of the year each of those plants were planted in the school garden.
Thanks to Brisbane City Council, Eagle Junction State School, received these native plants for FREE! If you’re interested in expanding your school garden, check out the link below.
The EcoMarines from Hendra State School have been feeding their resident worms with all the school’s scraps and collecting their worm tea.
The ambassadors have this worm tea on sale as a fertiliser at their school’s front office. What a great way to fundraise for their environmental initiatives!
The EcoMarines of Wishart State School have created insect homes out of recycled cans. They painted these cans using bright paint colours to ensure that the cans attract many bugs and critters to their school garden.
Thanks to the Queensland Government’s Organic Waste Smart Schools Program, the EcoMarines at Morningside State School have been able to upgrade their resources in recycling food and organic waste at school!
They have introduced a ‘Farewell to Food Waste at MSS’ project, which involves separating and collecting food waste from school lunched, the tuckshop, and their Outside School Hours Care service. The school’s food waste is composted in several subpods that are scattered throughout the school grounds.
