1. Synopsis
2. Planning A Tea Party
3. Guest List

Synopsis

The premise of the activity is that a host rainforest animal, Bush Turkey, invites many other diurnal rainforest animals to her/his party. The role of the host may be played by the teacher or a child. The roles of the animal guests are played by the children in the class.

Bush Turkey sends out invitations to come to a tea-party to be held under the Broad-leaved Tea Tree, Melaleuca leucadendra, a large tree found on the fringes of rainforest on river flats and swamps.

Click here for an Invitation template

Every child chooses what type of animal guest they will be.

Prior to the party they research the life of their animal. They find answers to the questions: Who am I? Where do I live? What do I eat? What do I do? What is special about me? Structured information and images of each guest list animal are located in the Resources Page.

Each child makes a hat, headdress or full body costume based on observable features of their animal which they wear to the tea party. Many daytime animals are brightly coloured, with notable features. Each animal on the guest list has some feature that can be represented by child when creating their headdress or costume.

When the class gathers for the tea party every child is dressed as their animal. The host, Bush Turkey, introduces each animal guest to the group. Each child then gives a short account of who they are based on their research. During the party the children continue to role-play by dancing as their animal and acting out special features such as a special call, noise or movement (see Resources Page).

There are rules for the tea party. Guests can only eat party food, not anybody else, no matter where they are in the food chain. They have to be nice to all the other animals, no matter how delicious they may be and everybody helps clean up afterwards.

Planning a Tea Party

To plan a successful party you need to:

1. Issue an invitation
2. Ascertain children’s prior knowledge
3. Conduct and scaffold children’s animal inquiries
4. children’s animal headdress and/or costume making
5. Identify and practice animal movements and sounds
6. Organise and prepare food for the tea party
7. Create a Tea Tree under which you hold the party

Invitation
The following text is available as a Formatted Invitation

Dear (name of animal)
You are invited to attend
A Tea Party
Venue: Underneath the giant Tea Tree next to the swamp
Time: afternoon
(… insert Day and Date …)
Looking forward to seeing you,
Your host, Bush Turkey

Prior knowledge
Brainstorm what children know about animals of the rainforest.
Discuss the meanings of terms ‘diurnal’ (daytime) and ‘nocturnal’ (nighttime) animals.

Discuss what differences there may be between animals that come out in daylight and those that come out in the dark.
For example: Daytime animals are usually brightly coloured and include many birds and butterflies as well as fish. Nocturnal animals are usually dull in colour with larger eyes to see better at night.

Discuss children’s knowledge of scientific terminology concerning animals see Definitions and Vocabulary

Animal inquiries
Each child is to represent an animal guest at the party.

Read the guest list to the children and ask each child to choose an animal. Children may wish to double-up on animals. The choice is theirs

If a child wishes to be a rainforest animal that doesn’t appear on the list you can consult reference texts for further information. Be careful to identify daytime animals for the tea party activity.

At the party, Bush Turkey asks each child to introduce themselves as their animal.

To prepare for this, children inquire into their chosen animal’s life.

On the Resources Page children research the following questions for their animal:

Who am I?
Where do I live?
What do I eat (besides party food)?
What do I do?
What is special about me?.

Children prepare a short speech to give about their animal selves at the party.

Costume and headdress making
Once the child has chosen their animal they can click on the thumbnail image in Resources Page to enlarge the image.

Ask children to look carefully at the features of each animal and make decisions as to what to recreate and represent in their costume and/or headdress design. Each animal on the guest list has a feature that can be reproduced in an imaginative way. Many of the birds are brightly coloured and attractive and these colours are easily reproducible.

Children use a variety of materials to make their headdress and/or costume.

Animal movements and sounds
Ask children to imagine how they will represent their animal in movement and dance.

Identify key features of the animal that can be represented and practice movements and the sounds they make.

At the tea party, play music that will encourage the children to express their animal selves in movement. A dance element may also be incorporated into the introduction of guests. Flying animals are easy to represent in movement. The lizards may prove more of a challenge.

Food
Guests can only eat party food and not each other so it’s very important to have a suitable range of foods for feasting. Children negotiate the types of food to be eaten. Parents and carers can be called upon to assist with food provision and preparation.

Class negotiation: Children discuss how the guests may eat, the kinds of food to have available and how strictly they will imitate their animal’s eating habits. Will herbivores be able to eat meat products? Will carnivores eat vegetables? Will the Peppermint Stick Insect be able to eat cake? Does everybody eat party food? The children decide.

Creating a tea tree
The Tea Tree, Melaleuca leucadendra, usually grows next to a river or a swamp (good for fishy guests). The tree has white flowers and a representation of both foliage and flowers can be made from a variety of materials.

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Guest List

Bush Turkey’s tea party guest list
The guest list is briefly described here. The same list complete with images and structured information in located in the Resources Page. Children can research their animal in the Resources Page.

Diurnal (daytime) animals are different from the nocturnal (nighttime) animals of a rainforest. They are often brightly coloured and may are birds and insects. Most rainforest mammals, reptiles and frogs are nocturnal, only a few are out and about in daylight hours. Every animal on this list has observable features, or makes notable movements or sounds that can be imitated and represented by young children. Many of these animals will have great party costumes.

The guest list consists of birds, insects, spiders, crustaceans, mammals, reptiles, fish and amphibians.

1. Host animal: Bush Turkey (Bird) also called Brush Turkey and Scrub Turkey – has red head and yellow wattle and black feathers
2. Pacific Baza (Bird) – unusual rainforest bird of prey with grey head and brown stripes on its breast
3. Wompoo Pigeon (Bird) – large, multi-coloured rainforest pigeon with a distinctive call
4. Cassowary (Bird) – highly endangered, large, flightless bird with black feathers , two red wattles and a head and neck that is brightly coloured in hues of blue, orange, red and purple. A distinctive casque protrudes from its head
5. Pale Yellow Robin (Bird) – rainforest songbird with yellow breast
6. Golden Bowerbird (Bird) - an iconic rainforest bird, bright yellow home decorator
7. Victoria’s Riflebird (Bird) – endemic Bird of Paradise species with iridescent green and black feathers
8. Forest Kingfisher (Bird) – the world’s smallest kingfisher with bright blue feathers
9. Four O’Clock Moth (Insect) – a day moth, it flies around at 4 pm in the afternoon
10. Ulysses Butterfly (Insect) – big, iridescent blue and black winged butterfly
11. Cairns Birdwing Butterfly (Insect) – the largest of all Australian butterflies, it is a great flier as well as dramatically coloured with green and balck wings and a yellow body
12. Hercules Moth Caterpillar (Insect) – the Hercules is Australia’s largest moth, but it has no mouthparts and does not eat. The brightly coloured caterpillar (moth larva) eats all the time
13. Mueller’s Stag Beetle (Insect) – has long curved jaws (mandibles) and is one of the world’s most beautiful beetles being coloured metallic green, purple and gold
14. Peppermint Stick Insect (Insect) – large, pale green, stick insect
15. Cicada (Insect) – green cicada that lives high up in the canopy and is responsible for the ‘possum alarm’ drumming in mountainous rainforest
16. Golden Orb Spider (Arachnid) – huge spider the size of an adult’s hand that builds large 1 metre, golden webs, is carnivorous and eats small animals including birds
17. Orange-fingered Yabbie (Crustacean) – semi-aquatic freshwater crayfish, blue-green or olive-brown in colour with bright orange tips on claws
18. Estuarine Crocodile (Reptile) – ancient and still vulnerable species
19. Saw-shelled Turtle (Reptile) – short-necked, freshwater turtle found in rainforest streams, was introduced to Lake Eacham on the Atherton Tablelands. Is one of the few Australian animals that can successfully eat cane toads
20. Boyd’s Forest Dragon (Reptile) – ancient form of lizard with large spines on head and down its back. Is only found between Cooktown and Paluma
21. Rainforest Skink (Reptile) – a striped skink that lives in the trees, very rare
22. Catfish (Fish) – edible freshwater fish that grows almost a metre long
23. Common Mudskipper (Fish) – can pull its body out of the water, has protruding eyes and a big dorsal fin
24. Snake-headed Gidgeon (Fish) – also known as Mud Cod, a brightly coloured fish (green-brown or orange-red) that lives in the lower reaches of freshwater rivers and creeks
25. Common Tree Frog (Amphibian) – familiar tree frog seen around homes, lives everywhere but the densest rainforest
26. Musky Rat Kangaroo (Mammal) - the smallest and most primitive member of the kangaroo family and is an endemic species. Children can imitate its hopping.
27. Red-legged Pademelon (Mammal) - a small, red marsupial, solitary and secretive. It loves small berries. Children can imitate its hopping.
28. Agile Wallaby (Mammal) – lives in large groups on the edges of forests, also in sugar cane. Is a good hopper with large ears.

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