The Nature Walk

What every living thing needs: food, water, air and a home. A short walk through each of the six Little Roos places, meeting who lives there; two life cycles to step through; and a nature hunt to take outside.

How it works

• A walk is five stops. Each is a picture and one true sentence about food, water, air or a home, which Ruby Roo reads aloud. Your child taps Next when they're ready; nothing moves on by itself.
• Who lives here? At the end, your child helps three animals home: tap an animal, then its home.
• A nature hunt card to take outside: three things to look for, to tick off, print, or keep in My Roo Journal.
• Watch it grow: from egg to frog, and from egg to butterfly, a stage at a time. Then put the stages in order in Frog's Big Change.

Every walk starts from its place: look for "Take a nature walk" on each place's page.

Away from the screen

Take the hunt card outside. Look closely, touch gently, and put every little creature back where you found it. Talk about what each thing you find might need.

Every fact, and where it comes from

Each sentence on the walks was checked against the page it links to, written for grown-ups to read.

The Rustly Bush

• Kookaburras eat insects, frogs and even small snakes. (Australian Museum)
• Whipbirds live in thick, damp bush near creeks. (Australian Museum)
• In the daytime, bandicoots sleep in grassy nests. (Australian Museum)
• Ulysses caterpillars love to eat one tree best of all: the pink-flowered Euodia. (Wet Tropics Management Authority)
• Koalas eat gum leaves. They hardly ever drink: they lick the dew off the leaves! (NSW Environment and Heritage)
• Kookaburras nest in tree hollows. (Australian Museum)
• Bandicoots sleep in grassy nests. (Australian Museum)
• Whipbirds live in thick bush. (Australian Museum)

Nature hunt: a leaf, a stick, a feather.

The Bobbing Billabong

• Green tree frogs lay their eggs in little ponds, and the tadpoles swim there. (Australian Museum)
• A platypus dives for about a minute, then comes up to breathe air. (Australian Platypus Conservancy)
• Pelicans scoop up water creatures in their big pouch. (Australian Museum)
• When the water dries up, yabbies dig deep burrows in the mud. (Australian Museum)
• Reeds and rushes give wetland animals shelter, and places to nest. (Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre)
• Platypuses rest in burrows in the riverbank. (Australian Museum)
• By day, green tree frogs hide in tree hollows. (Queensland Government)
• Pelicans live on lakes, rivers and swamps. (Australian Museum)

Nature hunt: something wet, a smooth stone, something that crawls.

The Dusty Red

• By day, leaf-tailed geckos hide in cracks in the rocks. (Australian Museum)
• Emus walk a long way to find food and water. (Australian Museum)
• Meat ants build big nests under the ground. (Australian Museum)
• Echidnas catch ants and termites with a long, sticky tongue. (Australian Museum)
• Spiky spinifex grass gives lizards and little animals a shady place to hide. (Queensland Government)
• Geckos hide in cracks in the rocks. (Australian Museum)
• Meat ants build their nests under the ground. (Australian Museum)
• Emus live in forests and grassy woodlands. (Australian Museum)

Nature hunt: some sand or soil, a rough rock, a seed.

The Quiet Deep

• By day, the octopus sits in its rocky den. (Australian Museum)
• Moon jellies catch tiny creatures with their stinging tentacles. (Australian Museum)
• Dugongs come up to the top of the water to breathe air, every few minutes. (eAtlas)
• Saltwater crocodiles live in rivers, creeks and estuaries, where rivers meet the sea. (Australian Museum)
• Seagrass grows in meadows under the sea, and dugongs eat only seagrass! (Australian Museum)
• The octopus sits in its rocky den. (Australian Museum)
• Dugongs like wide, shallow bays, where the seagrass grows. (Australian Museum)
• Moon jellies drift in the ocean and along the coast. (Australian Museum)

Nature hunt: a shell, something blue, a smooth pebble.

The Bright Spot

• Cockatoos eat berries, seeds, nuts and roots. (Australian Museum)
• Rainbow lorikeets sip nectar and pollen from flowers. (Australian Museum)
• Galahs eat grass seeds from the ground. (Australian Museum)
• Stingless bees build spiral nests inside tree trunks. (Australian Museum)
• Flowers give nectar and pollen: food for bees. (Australian Museum)
• Rainbow lorikeets sip nectar from flowers. (Australian Museum)
• Galahs eat grass seeds. (Australian Museum)
• Cockatoos eat berries and nuts. (Australian Museum)

Nature hunt: a flower, something yellow, a busy insect.

The Cosy Burrow

• Wombats spend most of their lives in their burrows. (Australian Museum)
• By day, possums sleep in hollow logs and trees. (Australian Museum)
• Little forest bats catch insects as they fly. (Australian Museum)
• At night, blue-tongue lizards hide under logs, rocks and leaves. (Australian Museum)
• Wombats munch native grasses, sedges and rushes. (Australian Museum)
• Wombats live in burrows. (Australian Museum)
• Possums sleep in hollow trees. (Australian Museum)
• Blue-tongue lizards hide under logs. (Australian Museum)

Nature hunt: something soft, a little hole in the ground, something that crawls.

The life cycles

From egg to frog

1. Eggs: Frogs lay their eggs in water.
2. Tadpole: A tadpole hatches. It lives in the water, and breathes with gills.
3. Legs: Back legs grow first, then front legs.
4. Froglet: The tail gets smaller and smaller, and the little frog climbs out of the water.
5. Frog: Now it's a frog! Frogs breathe air with lungs, and through their skin.

Sources: Australian Museum

From egg to butterfly

1. Eggs: A butterfly lays her eggs on the plant her caterpillars will eat.
2. Caterpillar: A caterpillar hatches. It eats leaves, grows, and sheds its skin.
3. Chrysalis: When it's fully grown, it stops eating and becomes a chrysalis.
4. Butterfly: Out comes a butterfly! It spreads its wings and flies away.

Sources: Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, Australian Museum

What it practises

• Australian animals. What animals look like and where they live (My animal friends cards).
  AC9SFU01 (Science, Foundation); AC9S1U01 (Science, Year 1)
• Life cycles. How living things grow and change: egg, tadpole, frog; egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly. Life cycles are a Year 3 outcome, so this is a gentle early start.
  AC9S3U01 (Science, Year 3); AC9S1U01 (Science, Year 1)

What it costs, and what we collect

Nothing, and nothing. Hunt cards your child keeps stay on your own device and are never sent anywhere.