ANZAC Activities

PoppiesTeachers

Kia ora teachers. We have made the resources on this site available to help you with online learning. Where possible we have used information and photos from the South Canterbury area. Please acknowledge the source where possible.

Feel free to use the links for your classes and to let other teachers know about these resources. The team at Heritage Education are also available to talk to your students via the meeting platform that your school uses - to book a meeting please just email us  to arrange a time and discuss your topic.

Junior

Listen to Dawn Parade by Phillipa Werry (you will need to download to share), then:

  • Make a Parachute - Use a small toy for your soldier and create a parachute using materials from around your house - see The Battle for Crete on New Zealand History for inspiration.
  • Make a Periscope - Pinterest has a range of pattern  or a cardboard tube to make a periscope. An old CD can be used for the mirrors. Check out the National Army Museum collection for an image showing periscopes.
  • Make a medal - Design your own medal after having a look at Te Papa's medal collection. Use materials from around the house. Think about what the medal is being presented for. You can also check out a full list of British and New Zealand medals awarded to New Zealand military personnel on the NZ Defence Force website
  • Create an art work - Look at art works from the Aigantighe Art Gallery's online exhibition Lest We Forget and have a go at creating your own art by drawing/painting/collaging
  • ANZAC Biscuits - Have a go at baking traditional ANZAC biscuits using a Edmonds recipe

SCRoll: Explore our WWI storiesSenior

Watch the South Canterbury Ernest Gibson and Ben Guinness videos below. Then try some of these activities that follow.

  • Discover our soldiers - Are your family from South Canterbury? Did you have an ancestor that went to WW1? Look for them on the South Canterbury Museum's SCRoll website and explore South Canterbury's Roll of Honour
  • Create an art work - Look at art works from the Aigantighe Art Gallery's online exhibition Lest We Forget and have a go at creating your own art by drawing/painting/collaging
  • Check out the NZ at War Timeline - The WW100 website has an awesome timeline where you can learn how the war unfolded
  • Look for local people on a war memorial - Find the memorial closest to your home or school on the South Canterbury section of the New Zealand War Memorial Register and click on the picture to see the names. You could look also explore more of these of these people's stories on SCRoll (as mentioned above)
  • Make a medal - Design your own medal after having a look at Te Papa's medal collection. Use materials from around the house. Think about what the medal is being presented for. You can also check out a full list of British and New Zealand medals awarded to New Zealand military personnel on the NZ Defence Force website
  • Read letters from South Canterbury soldiers - William Mill's letters (transcribed and handwritten) can be found at the bottom of his profile page on SCRoll here. Many other letters can be found online, either on SCRoll or printed in the Timaru Herald on PapersPast like Letter from a Timaru Boy at the Dardanelles, News from Egypt, or Letter from an Ambulance Man. Read some of these and write your own letter from home to a soldier in WW1 or write a letter about the Lockdown and your experiences.
  • Listen to Dawn Parade by Phillipa Werry (you will need to download to share), then write about a dawn parade or ANZAC service that you have been to. What do you remember the most? What part made you feel sad or proud?
  • Check out Gallipoli: the First Day app - Try out this app to explore what Gallipoli looked like during the war. Designed for tablets, some aspects can also be can be explored on the website

Published April 2020