Craft Your Perfect National Park – Open to Grades 4, 5, 6 and 7
Get your child’s class to put their Minecraft skills to work by designing their perfect national park and they could win a fun-filled and educational Belair excursion – and may even see some of their ideas used in real life parks.
South Australian children in grades four, five, six and seven from across the metropolitan and Adelaide Hills schools region are invited to take part in the competition. This competition is part of a community engagement project asking people of all ages what sort of facilities would encourage them to spend more time in national parks.
The State Government has set aside $8.9 million for park projects, so some of the ideas your class create might end up being used.
Your child’s class’s perfect national park might include:
- trails for bushwalking
- mountain biking or horse riding
- barbecue and picnic areas
- public toilets
- wheelchair accessible trails
- scenic lookouts
- camp sites
- playgrounds
- natural play spaces
- places for rock climbing and abseiling
- geocaches
- interpretive trails
- launching areas for kayaks and canoes
- orienteering courses
- or something completely different that no-one has ever thought of before!
Just remember that whatever they design needs to be able to be created in the real world, so the park features need to complement the natural environment, taking into account the animals and plants that live there.
Need inspiration?
There are a series of National Park Open Days in April and May on weekends and school holidays:
- Sturt Gorge Recreation Park: Wednesday, 15 April 2015, 10am-2pm
- Onkaparinga National Park and Recreation Park: Tuesday 2015, 21 April, 10am-3pm
- Belair National Park Sunday, 3 May 2015, 9am-4pm
- Para Wirra Recreation Park, Sunday, 24 May 2015, 10am-3pm
- Cobbler Creek Recreation Park, Sunday, 31 May 2015, 10am-3pm
Activities vary according to the park and include kayaking, ride with a ranger, mountain biking, guided nature walks, orienteering, geocaching and educational activities like water testing, bird bingo and water bug identification.
The winner of the competition will be selected on criteria including sustainability, usability and overall skill, but parks are places to have fun, so the enjoyment factor will also be important.
The winning class will receive a full day’s excursion to Belair National Park, including a bus to take them from school to the park and back, free entry, guided walks with a ranger, mountain bike riding, free tennis court hire, environmental education activities, access to the adventure playground and all the makings for a yummy barbecue lunch.
The competition closes on Friday 12 June 2015 and the winner will be announced on Monday 13 July 2015.
The Entry Form along with the competition terms and conditions are available HERE.
For more information and all enquiries please visit the Natural Resources SA website.
What: Craft Your Perfect National Park Minecraft Project
When: Entries close 12 June 2015
Where: South Australian Schools
Who: Children in Grade 4, 5, 6 & 7
Please Note: Play & Go are in no way associated with this competition. Please direct all questions to the Natural Resources SA website.
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
