The DEP has developed a range of classroom activities and an outdoor interpretive walk focused on saltmarsh and tidal flats with support from the Australian Government’s Caring for Our Country. The material is most suitable for primary school students. A single classroom activity or the interpretive walk can be presented alone. However, the material has been designed to complement the interpretive walk, and if delivered together will enable students to gain a good understanding of the ecology and importance of saltmarsh and tidal flats to the broader estuary.
Classroom activities
Saltmarsh introduction Grades 1–10
The DEP website provides a general introduction to saltmarsh habitats in the Derwent Estuary. In small groups ask students to explore the website to answer a range of general exploratory questions.
They can get information and explore the interactive map on our saltmarsh and tidal flats page.
What animal is that? Grades 1–6
Students will learn about plant and animal species that are common to saltmarsh and tidal flats, and research the internet to find their niche, relationship with other organisms, and sensitivity to changes in their environment.
Get the What animal is that? activity PDF.
Discovery cards Grades 1–6
If planning an excursion to a saltmarsh or tidal flats (e.g. at Lauderdale or Old Beach) undertake this classroom activity before and after the field trip to promote scientific enquiry. Write questions about the habitat to be visited, revisit them in the field, and also when back in the classroom to see if they found the answers.
Get the Discovery cards activity PDF.
Create a food web and integrated diagram Grades 1–6
Within any ecosystem there is an intricate web of relationships between living things. Activity guidelines are provided for different age groups to guide student through the creation of their own food web to demonstrate how energy passes through an ecosystem and the feeding relationships between organisms.
Get the Create a food web activity PDF.
Outdoor activities
Wildlife Detective Grades 1–4
At a local saltmarsh (e.g. at Lauderdale or Old Beach), students/participants can make sketches and take notes about what they find and where on a field sheet. By being a detective everyone can try and piece together the users of the saltmarsh by the traces they find. Clues may come in the form of footprints, feathers, shells, or maybe animal scats/poo.
Get the Activity PDFs: