The Mallee Catchment Management Authority (CMA) is play-testing a new life-sized board game, designed to get primary school kids interested in their local environment.
Students from Koorlong Primary School were the first to embark on the ‘Become a Mallee Explorer” experience on Friday.
The four-by-six metre game is based off the popular Snakes and Ladders format, and involves players rolling a giant die to progress up the board, and learn about things along the way.
The CMA’s Alison Gercovich said it’s a fun way for primary aged students to discover facts about wetlands and natural resource management.
“We’re really excited to be able to offer this kind of education opportunity to our community, and we would love everyone to become a Mallee Explorer,” she said.
“It’s probably really good for a class size of around 20 to 30 children that can be separated into smaller teams to play the game.”
The snake in this game is the endangered Murray Darling carpet python, the only python in our region, and there are questions and answers, and action card spaces on the board.
“The questions and answers are all designed to increase the knowledge of the students about natural resource management, about the services that Mallee CMA offer, about salinity and irrigation, biodiversity and the cultural values of our sites,” Ms Gercovich said.
“The action cards are so that no one is left out of gameplay, everyone joins in, so whether they are laughing like a kookaburra, jumping like a frog, or hopping like a kangaroo, it’s all inclusive of everyone that’s involved.”
Koorlong Primary School Principal Stuart Pain said the game was very interactive.
“The really good thing about the board game is that it’s hands on, it involves all the kids on the side, and the kids are the playing pieces which gets them involved and feel like they’re part of it,” he said.
“It’s based on the Victorian curriculum of biological science, so anything that we can add to our science program for the kids, we’re happy to be involved in.”
The large six-by-four version of the game can also be played outdoors, while a table top version has also been developed for smaller classrooms.
Schools interested in playing the ‘Become a Mallee Explorer’ game can call the Mallee CMA to book in a visit to their school.
