Wagga Wagga Urban Landcare were looking for a way to engage the many young families in our area in Landcare-related activities. The challenge was to provide an activity which would get families outdoors and inspire them to appreciate our amazing natural areas and native biodiversity, in a way that was fun, engaging and – importantly – easy to do for families with young children.
The group chose to focus on native bees due to their increasing vulnerability, and the strong interest within the community for their protection. We designed our workshop for younger primary school aged children and their families, and were lucky to receive funding to run it through a Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife grant. We used native bees as the focus, but really emphasised the importance and beauty of our native animal and plant species, threats to their ongoing survival in our region, and actions which can be taken by everyone to help protect them into the future.
The construction of native bee hotels was a fun activity for families to complete at the workshop, and gave each family a tangible product to keep in their garden, reminding them of the workshop, Landcare and the plight of our native wildlife.
