Is

sue

4: J

une

2011

It’s a penguin egg hunt

Indigenous Australian Diets

The North Pole

Paper Mache Piggy Bank

Lava Fizz

Fresh Fruit Recipes

(Inside this issue)

www.justkidding.com.au

(Our Australia)

The Australian indigenous people had quite a healthy diet, they would eat different types of foods which depended on what part of Australia they lived in. Those who lived close to the coast line would have a diet which consisted more of seafood, fish and other marine animals like turtles.

For the indigenous people who lived inland and away from the coast, their diet would consist more of kangaroo, possums and snakes.

Interesting facts

Local Aboriginal people recognise five seasons:• Wanitjunkupai (April/May) – Cooler weather• Wari (June/July) – Cold season bringing morning frosts• Piriyakutu (August/September/October) – Animals

breed and food plants flower• Mai Wiyaringkupai (November/December) – The hot

season when food becomes scarce• Itjanu (January/February/March) – Summer storms

can roll in suddenly

On 19 July 1873, the surveyor William Gosse sighted Uluru and named it Ayers Rock in honour of the then Chief Secretary of South

Australia, Sir Henry Ayers.

Today there are around 145 Numbers of Aboriginal languages

spoken in Australia today.

There were around 250 Numbers of Aboriginal languages spoken in Australia before the first settlers.

The largest Original Language

Group people today are the

Anangu Pitjantjatjara who live

in the area around Uluru.

The men would hunt for the food using a wide range of tools like spears and boomerangs, they also knew how to catch their food using different techniques. That would not hunt nocturnal animals at night, but would catch them in their burrows during the day while they were sleeping. They also knew how to get within spearing distance to emus and kangaroos, and they learnt that putting certain poisonous plants in to lakes and waterways would kill the fish.

While the men were out hunting the women would collect plants like herbs, seeds, fruits, nuts even roots. As collecting plants requires a lot of knowledge due to certain plants being poisonous, the elders would teach the younger females which plants are poisonous and how to remove poisons from certain plants by soaking them in water for weeks.

The desert quandong

Indigenous Australian

Diets

(Geography)

The North Pole

Life at the North Pole:Research shows that it’s very rare for polar bears to travel to the North Pole due to the lack of food supply, though tracks have been seen in the area in the past.

Animals such as the ringed seal and the Arctic fox have been seen less than 60km away from the North Pole.

Researches say that birds such as the snow bunting, northern fulmar and the black-legged kittiwake can be seen in the area or be very near the pole.

Sea creatures such as fish are very rarely seen in the waters of the North Pole, and if are seen have been in very small numbers.

Where is it?The North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic Ocean is located in the Northern Hemisphere and is surrounded by Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia, it is mostly in the Arctic North Polar Region. It is the smallest and shallowest of the world’s five major oceanic areas.

Arctic Fox

Polar Bear

Interesting facts

The North Pole is significantly warmer

than the South Pole because it lies at

sea level in the middle of an ocean.

The sea depth at the North Pole

has been measured at 4,261 m.

At the North Pole all

directions point south.

The North Pole is the most northern

point on Earth, lying directly

opposite to the South Pole.

At the North Pole, the sun is permanently above the

horizon during the summer months and then in the winter

months it is permanently below the horizon. In summer

the temperatures are near 0 degrees and there is light. In

winter the temperature is about -30 degrees and it is dark.

It is under international law, meaning that no country currently owns the

North Pole or the region of the Arctic Ocean surrounding it.

US Navy Officer, Robert Peary’s sledge party at the North Pole in 1909.

(Craft)

The tail: Using a sharp crafts knife, have an adult make a small hole at the tail end of the pig. Insert a pipe cleaner into the hole, and then shape the pipe cleaner into a spiral.

Eyes: Make eyes with a marker or glue on plastic googly eyes.

Nostrils: Make two nostrils on the snout with a marker.

The Money Slot: Along the top of the pig’s body, have an adult carefully cut a slot large enough to fit any coin.

Paper Mache Piggy Bank

Supplies Needed

Steps

• One balloon for each piggy bank • A lot of old newspaper and/or brown-bag paper

• Masking tape • a paper egg carton (plastic ones won’t work)

• pink tissue paper • Flour-water glue (instructions below)

• One pink pipe cleaner • A craft knife

• Plastic googly eyes (optional) • Markers

This project takes a few days (there is a lot of drying time

between paper mache layers).

To make a simple, thin glue from flour and water, simply mix 1 cup of flour into 1 cup of water and stir until the mixture is thin and runny. Then stir the mixture into 4 cups of boiling water. Simmer for about 3 minutes, then allow to cool.

4. Let the paper mache balloon dry for a few days. When it is dry, you can pop and remove the balloon from the inside. This will be the body and head of the pig.

5. After the paper mache is completely dry, it’s time to add the legs and the snout.

1. You need to blow up a balloon for each piggy bank.

2. Then tear a lot of strips of newspaper or brown paper bags. The strips should be about 3cm or less wide; the length doesn’t really matter.

3. You then need to dip each strip of paper in the flour glue and then wrap it around the balloon. Have at least two to three layers surrounding the balloon. Let it dry after each layer.

6. Separate 5 paper egg carton sections (one for each leg and the snout). Then use the masking tape to attach them to the oval-shaped body.

7. To colour your pig, you will use the pink tissue paper.

8. For the tissue paper coating, first tear or cut the tissue paper into small pieces. Then cover the pig with a very thin layer of the flour-water glue (using your fingers is the easiest way). Next, put the tissue paper pieces on the pig (you may need to add a little more glue occasionally) until you have a nice pink coat for the pig. Let the pig dry completely.

(Experiments)

To do this activity you will need the following items:• Vegetable oil • Glass jar• Water • Food colouring• Plasticine • Aspro Clear, Alka-Seltzer,

or another kind of fizzing tablet

Lava FizzFollow these instructions to make your own lava fizzing volcano.

The Greek root word for water is ‘hydro’, so we say that water is

‘hydrophilic’ (loves water) while oil is ‘hydrophobic’ (afraid of water).

‘Fizzing’ tablets contain a mix of chemicals, including sodium bicarbonate and citric acid. Nothing happens when they’re added to oil, but when added to a solvent like water, the sodium bicarbonate separates and reforms with the citric acid to form sodium citrate. In the process, it also creates some carbon dioxide gas and a few water molecules. In your jar, the tablets reacted once they had sunk down into the water at the bottom, where they created bubbles that trapped and carried drops of water up through the oil to create your lava-like eruption.

1. Pour water into the jar until it is 1/5th full.

2. Add several drops of food colouring.

3. Fill the remainder of the jar with vegetable oil.

4. Make a volcano shape out of the plasticine, with a hole about two centimetres in diameter for the spout. Drop it into the bottom of the jar.

5. Wait about five minutes for the oil and water to separate completely.

6. Drop an Aspro Clear or Alka-Seltzer tablet into the jar through the volcano hole and see what happens.

What you need:

What to do:

What’s happening?

Interesting facts:

Join CSIRO’s Double Helix Science Club!If science makes you smile, then join the club! Membership includes a magazine subscription to Scientriffic (age 7+) or The Helix (age 10+) full of news, activities and science fun, plus exciting events around Australia, holiday programs, email newsletters, discounts and lots more. To join call 02 6276 6643 or visit www.csiro.au/helix.

(Recipes)

Method: 1: Mix the jelly in a heat proof jug following packet

directions. Then set aside to cool slightly.

2: Meanwhile, peel the mango and roughly dice the flesh. Then cut streams off the strawberries and cut them into quarters lengthways.

3: Spoon mango and strawberries evenly into 6 plastic cups.

4: Gently press fruit into the base of the cups or moulds to prevent the fruit from rising when the jelly mixture is poured over the top.

5: Pour the jelly mixture over the fruit. Then refrigerate for 4-5 hours or until firm. Top with extra strawberries and natural yoghurt and serve.

Fresh Fruit recipes

Q: Why did the banana go to the doctor? A: Because it wasn’t peeling well

Q: What’s the strongest vegetable? A: A muscle sprout

Q: Why did the Tomato go out with a prune? A: Because he couldn’t find a date!

Quick Jokes

Interesting facts:

Iced orange, pineapple

and blueberry cubes.

Strawberry & Mango Jellies.

Serving suggestions: • Serve the cubes in a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

• Serve for an after sport or after school snack. (Great in summer)

• Blend the cubes with fruit juice to make a refreshing slushies.

Mandarins are available from March to November

with there best value being from May to August.

Strawberries are the only fruit which grows seeds on the outside.

A cucumber is a fruit not a vegetable.

Why? Because it has seeds in the centre.

There are over 1,000 different kinds of apples.

Makes: 6 jelly cups

Preparation: 20 minutes

Ingredients: 1 x 9g sachet of mango or pineapple flavoured jelly crystals.

1 medium ripe mango

250g of strawberries (extra hulled sliced strawberries, to serve)

6 disposable clear plastic cups or small jelly moulds

Reduced fat natural or vanilla yoghurt (to serve)

Preparation about 15 minutes (plus overnight

freezing time for cubes)

Makes: 20 ice-cubes

Ingredients 200g of peeled pineapple,

chopped.

150g of punnet blueberries

4 fresh oranges, juiced.

Method: 1: Chop the peeled pineapple and then juice the 4 oranges.

2: Then to make the ice-cubes, combine pineapple, blueberries and orange juice in to a jug.

3: Pour fruit mixture into 2 deep ice-cube trays (each tray having about 10 holes each). Then put into the freezer and allow them to freeze over night.