2023 NZ International Science Festival

Join us in making backyards happy spaces for us and nature

Be inspired by our beautiful exhibits and take part in our daily activities (11am to 1pm)

Festival activities for the school holidays

Most activities are suitable for all ages (but children under 14 must work with an adult).

Tūī

Birds

Fri 30 June to Sun 2 July
11am to 1 pm

Golden Centre Mall, Dunedin

Birds often visit our backyards and entertain us – we have teamed up with the NZ Garden Bird Survey to bring you a range of activities to learn more about these backyard visitors:

  • Make a Bird Mask using colourful templates or colouring in your own
  • Enter the NZ Garden Bird Survey colouring competition
  • Learning about bird sizes using the Chocolate Fish Index

Pick up a tally sheet to take part in the NZ Garden Bird Survey which from now runs until 3 July.

Butterflies and moths

Mon 3 July to Tues 4 July
11 am to 1 pm

Golden Centre Mall, Dunedin

Butterflies and moths can be hard to spot and identify. Learn more about these beautiful creatures through our activities designed with local game developers, Runaway Play:

  • Make a Butterfly or Moth Mask using colourful templates or colouring in your own
  • Build your own butterfly or moth using one of our origami templates

Green sprouts

Wed 5 July to Thu 6 July
11 am to 1 pm

Golden Centre Mall, Dunedin

Microgreens are quick to grow and highly nutritious. They grow all year around and require limited space.

Join Our Food Network’s microgreen demonstration and take home your own microgreens ready to grow!

Backyard builder

Fri 7 Jul to Sun 9 July
11 am to 1 pm

Golden Centre Mall, Dunedin

What would your ideal backyard look like? Explore our seed ideas and add images to our backyard that reflect your own aspirations

Art-making workshop

Thursday 6 July
11am to 1 pm

Community Gallery | Te Whare o Rukutia, Dunedin

Explore the idea of growing biodiversity in your own backyard in a creative art workshop.

Join social art workshop leaders and explore different inspirational ideas to piece together an image of “what I would like to see out my back window”.

Backyard biodiversity book

Fri 7 July to Sun 9 July
11 am to 1 pm

Golden Centre Mall, Dunedin

Help us build our dynamic biodiversity book. We have teamed up with local artist Luke Easterbrook-Clarke…..