Australian animals unit

An Acknowledgement of Country is a statement that pays respect to the Traditional Custodians of the Country that you are learning or meeting on and recognises their ongoing relationship with Country. The Australian Museum respects and acknowledges the Gadigal people as the Custodians of the land on which the Museum stands.

Which First Nations Country or Nation was your school built upon? If you are unsure contact a local First Nations organisation to find out. You might like to start with the NSW Aboriginal Land Council and the Aboriginal Education Consultative Group.

Ask your students to write an Acknowledgement of Country for your school. To get them started, read more about why an Acknowledgement of Country is important and how to write one in this ABC article.

Send your students out into the playground or section off an area – ask them observe the animals within the space and investigate their external features and movements.

When you return to the classroom, write down the list of animals students observed. Create a list on the board of these animals, and then create a second list of the animals students have seen in other places.

• What animals live in your home, backyard, school yard, or local park?
• Why do you think these animals live here?
• What animals have you seen in zoos, aquariums, or farms?
• Which of these animals are only found in Australia?
• If you have been to other countries than Australia, what animals did you see?

Discuss what humans and other animals need to survive in their habitat (air, shelter, water, food).

Demonstrate the importance of our thumbs by asking students to untie their shoelaces, then ask them to re-tie them without using their thumbs. Discuss as a whole class the challenges experienced by the students when they don't have the use of their thumbs.

• What are some benefits to having thumbs?
• How do your other external features help you survive in your habitat?

As a class or in groups, ask students to select an Australian animal on the Australian Museum website and identify one feature that animal needs to survive.

We have selected a few animal factsheet examples below to get you started. Once students have looked at their animals, ask students to share with the class.

Visit and explore our Wild Planet exhibition which showcases animals from Australia and around the world, or our Surviving Australia exhibition which highlights Australian animals, extinct and still living, from a variety of habitats.

We have also a range of free learning resources to support your visit, which you can access below.

In this immersive learning experience students will discover a diversity of animals in Wild Planet.

The program begins with the sharing of a First Nations story from the Dreaming which tells of how particular animal features came to be today. Students will also meet the characters from the story and see the features for real!

Then, in groups, students will explore the exhibition in search of different animal features which will lead them to find a mystery animal.

Access our permanent collections Wild Planet and Surviving Australia online via Google's Arts and Culture website. These exhibitions contain lots of Australian animals for your students to explore.

As a class, talk about the animals seen during the excursion. To help ignite discussion, look at any photos taken, and re-visit the exhibitions online via Google's Arts and Culture website: Wild Planet and Surviving Australia.

Ask students to draw or paint a picture of their favourite animal seen at the Museum, circle its features, and write one to two sentences about how its features help its survival.

Fast finishers

As a whole class or in groups, play a game of ‘guess the animal.’ A student pulls the name and picture of an animal out of a hat and the rest of the class asks questions about the animal's features and habitat. The student can only answer 'yes' or 'no'. You can also play a charades version of 'guess the animal'!

Ask students to choose a habitat from our Australian habitat activity and design their own, completely new animal. They must ensure it has features that will help it survive within the chosen environment.

Students can present their animal creations to the rest of the class.

An exhibition in a museum normally tells a story through objects, specimens, models, sounds, text, digital platforms, art, pictures and/or archival sources. A student-curated exhibition for your classroom or school would give great scope for object-based learning giving opportunities for students to investigate objects in ways that encourages collaboration, research, and discussion.

Students can set up their own exhibition about Australian animals, or animals around the world. Follow our scaffolded activity page to create your own exhibition in the classroom.