Park Explorers

Program overview

Park Explorers is an inquiry learning program for upper primary school students to discover and love what’s in their big backyard!

The program strongly links to Year 3-6 Victorian Curriculum areas of Science, Geography, Health and Physical Education, Critical and Creative Thinking and the cross-curriculum priorities of Sustainability and Aboriginal Histories and Culture. The program is based on Parks Victoria's Learning for Nature education philosophy: Connect, Learn, Protect and is designed to:

• develop positive connections between students and nature and strengthen their sense of belonging to place
• deepen students' knowledge of their unique local environment through inquiry learning and nature-based exploration
• empower students to care for nature and help safeguard Victoria's protected places.

The program includes:

• teaching and learning resources designed to engage students in their local places
• professional development opportunities for teachers
• interaction with a Parks Victoria staff member.

The video below outlines the educational philosophy, curriculum links and resources of the Park Explorers program.

Acknowledgement of Country

No matter where we are in Australia, we're walking on someone’s Country. We are all so fortunate to play, learn and live on the lands and in the waters of the oldest living cultures on Earth. Use the resources below to learn about whose Country you're learning on.

Registered Aboriginal Parties of Victoria

Explore the Registered Aboriginal Parties map to find out whose Country your school is on. Links to each Aboriginal group's webpage provide further details about how to get in contact and make connections with your local Traditional Owners.

Managing Country Together

Parks Victoria is proud to have the opportunity to work in partnership with Traditional Owners to care for this special Country. Our Managing Country Together team helps to guide the whole organisation to build strong and meaningful partnerships with Traditional Owners. Find out more on the Managing Country Together webpage.

NAIDOC teaching resources

The NAIDOC teaching ideas developed by the National NAIDOC Committee relate directly to supporting teachers in addressing The Australian Curriculum: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Culture cross-curriculum priority.

Literacy resources

Our literacy resources help young learners to build on their understanding of Aboriginal culture and nature conservation through informative text and engaging visuals. 

• Our list of Parks Victoria recommended picture story books (PDF 654 kB) support the themes within the Park Explorers program.  
• Our Victoria's protected places map (PDF 11.6 MB) and Victoria's protected places – ecosystem map (PDF 6 MB) can be used to explore and learn about the protected places and ecosystems near your school.