Nature & Environmental Studies

  • Aongatete Forest Discovery Program: A unique AOEC Instructor led, full day hands on program where students explore the forest, and learn about it’s plants and trees, discover forest colours, learn about pest control and conservation and listed to and identify birds. This discovery program includes many fun games that help children develop a passion for the outdoors. The day is topped off with a night walk, exploring the night life of the forest with its many creatures.
  • Forest Discovery – Get to know a tree: Learning about specific plants and trees and how to care for our environment through discovery and games.
  • Forest Discovery – Native Birds in our Forest: A walk through the forest learning about Native Birds at Aongatete through discovery and games.
  • Layers of the Forest: Discover the layers of the forest on a forest walk and learn how everything in nature works together. An extension of this activity incorporates team building activities and what we as humans can learn from the forest. This can be a basic activity run as part of your camp rotations in small groups or can also be an activity that can be extended with a team building lesson to last a whole morning or afternoon.
  • Pest Control & Conservation: Students will learn about the effects that humans, logging, de-forestation/farming and pests have on our forests and biodiversity and the efforts now made to eradicate pests and restore our forests and biodiversity
  • Nature Trail: A short track developed to aid the identification and appreciation of the native flora and fauna and how learn about the formation of the Kaimais and the relationships of the forest. This walk can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the detail and design of the activity.
  • Nature Crafts & Forest Art: Nature Weaving and Leaf Creatures – great for rainy days and perfect to incorporate with bird/tree studies and to add focus and value to bush walks.
  • Rongoa Maori Medicine: Learn about how the forest can heal (with AOEC Rongoa qualified Instructor)
  • Waste Management: Looking after our Planet starts with Waste Management at AOEC (Coming Soon)
  • Night Time in the Forest: Discover the forest at Night Time
  • Solos: this exercise is designed to aid the student’s awareness of their surroundings, solos can be an important form of self-development. They can be run day or night, for any length of time and in any area depending on your groups needs.