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Visit Arthurs Seat Park with kids 

Arthurs Seat State Park is a stunning mountainous bush location with sweeping views of Port Phillip bay rising above the Mornington Peninsula about 85 km south east of Melbourne CDB. With  numerous walking tracks for families to explore and discover,  Wonga as known by our First People, was home to the Boonwurrung People prior to European settlement. On a clear day the view extends as far as the city skyline, the You Yangs and Mount Macedon.

Around the outskirts of the gardens you can find some bush tracks that can be enjoyed in every weather condition. Walking in the rain provides some beautiful opportunities to spot some creatures that normally hide when it’s sunny, the canary worm for example. 

There’s also a fantastic nature playspace for kids. This beautiful nature themed children’s playground offers so many great opportunities for children to play, climb and have fun outdoors on the Mornington Peninsula.

The gardens are popular for picnics with tables, electric barbecues and toilets available adjacent to the car park. Disabled access is available to facilities and walking tracks. There is a new playspace at Arthurs Seat Park and 24 hour access to the park.

TOP 5 ACTIVITIES TO DO WITH KIDS 

1. 1. 1. Explore the exotic and Indigenous gardens at Seawinds Garden, you may see turtles in the pond and be sure to go through the bamboo maze and climb in the pine forest.
      2. With kids, take the easy Arthur’s seat summit 1.9-km loop trail near . An easy walk, that is mostly flat, short and kid-friendly. It starts in the parking near Arthur’s Seat Eagle cable car.
      3. See if you can find all of the William Ricketts Sculptures in Seawinds Gardens.
      4. Deciduous trees cover the floor in Autumn, providing a haven for nature play and discovery amongst the leaf litter. Don’t forget to look out for the fabulous fungi (you can download a fungi scavenger hunt pack here) that pops up during the months of March to May.
      5. Take a walk and enjoy the views of the bay and city skyline from the summit.

Eco Explorers runs a bush playgroup at Arthurs Seat Park on Tuesday mornings in term 1 2024. Find out more information or book your spot here. 

See our full Mornington Peninsula bush and beach kids programs for 2024 HERE. 

FLORA & FAUNA INFORMATION 

While walking through Seawinds Gardens you will come across a beautiful variety of native flora Throughout the year kangaroos and joeys can be spotted throughout the park, grazing and laying in the sun. The row of beautiful spotted gums provides homes for willy wag tails, rainbow lorikeets along with  possums. See if you can find their Dreys (possum nests).  Keep a look out for some creature clues … from echidna tracks and scats, blue tongue lizard tracks as well as kookaburra and cockatoo calls.  We also can’t forget the myriad of beautiful native bees that call the gardens home.

Walking through the park you will come across a beautiful variety of native flora. The row of beautiful spotted gums provides homes for willy wag tails, rainbow lorikeets along with  possums. See if you can find their Dreys (possum nests).

When walking through the Indigenous gardens you will see wattle, happy wanderer, egg and bacon pea, billy buttons, just to name a few. If you bring your nature glasses you may be able to spot some native orchids!

Bush Kinder enjoying the spectacular views from Arthurs Seat lookout.

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Braeside Park is part of an Aboriginal cultural landscape in the traditional Country of the Bunurong (Boon Wurrung) People of the Kulin Nation. The Bunurong People hunted, camped and gathered food in the area.

Managed by Parks Victoria, Braeside Park is a huge parkland stretching from Lower Dandenong Road to Governor Road with two access points for experiencing different aspects of the park. Once you’re in the park you will feel completely immersed in this natural oasis of bush, wetlands and grasslands!

Particularly wonderful for bikes and bushwalking, the extensive tracks (12 km of trails!) connect grassed lawns, Red Gum grasslands, wetlands, , BBQ and picnic shelters, mounds of mulch, trees to climb and native plants galore.

TOP 5 ACTIVITIES TO DO WITH KIDS 

1. 1. Take your binoculars for some wonderful bird watching as over 180 species of birds have been recorded.
   2. Go to the visitor centre (10am to 4pm) and check out the preserved native animal specimens
   3. Go for a bike ride or bush walk along the extensive tracks (12 km of trails!) connect grassed lawns.
   4. Visit the wetlands and learn about ecosystems
   5. Pack your picnic mat and some lunch and have a picnic

FLORA & FAUNA

Keep your ears tuned for frog calls and go on a scat discovery searching for signs of native and introduced animals. Echidnas, Tawny Frogmouths, Grey Headed Flying-foxes and snakes are some of the Braeside Park residents, along with an astonishing number of rabbits!

The Governor Road entrance which is best for the wetlands and bird hide is open from sunrise to 4pm, and the Lower Dandenong Road entrance which is best for access to toilets, picnic/BBQ spots and a lovely large playground is open until sunset.

Don’t forget to download your FREE Eco Explorers Nature Scavenger Hunt here to take with you!

Eco Explorers runs Bush Playgroup at Braeside Park and you can find out more about our nature playgroup programs here.

References: http://www.braesideparkfriends.org.au/Park-note-Braeside-Park.pdf

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Visit Brimbank Park with kids 

Located 15kms north-west of Melbourne’s CBD, Brimbank Park in Keilor East is a large expanse of bush and grasslands situated around the Maribyrnong River. Part of the Maribyrnong Valley Parklands, the park is on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation and has always been significant to these people.  Signs of habitation along the Maribyrnong River date to around 40000 years ago, and the Keilor Cranium and leg bone of an Aboriginal person that was found in a sacred site there has been dated as almost 15000 years old.  The word ‘Maribyrnong’ means ‘I can hear a ringtail possum’ in Woi Wurrung, the language of the Wurundjeri people.

Brimbank Park was used as farmland for stock and crops during the mid 1800s due to the fertile nature of the land around the river.  Farming continued until the late 1970s after which the land was given to Parks Victoria to revegetate in places, and opened to the public.  Now, it is an extensive beautiful park offering many different opportunities to connect with nature, whether walking, cycling, having a picnic or sitting under one of the many magnificent large river red gums along the Maribyrnong River.

TOP 5 ACTIVITIES TO DO WITH KIDS 

1. 1. 1. Have a picnic and a play at the Brimbank Park Nature Playscape, an inclusive and accessible play area designed to connect families with nature
      2. Walk, run or cycle along the many trails along the Maribyrnong River flowing through the parklands
      3. Take a walk across the fiords over the Maribyrnong River and keep your eye out for fish, waterbirds and even Eastern Long-Necked Turtles.
      4. Do some rock-hopping at the river at Car Park C and dip your toes (or more!) if it’s a warm day
      5. Explore the grasslands throughout the park, looking for the mob of Eastern Grey Kangaroos that call Brimbank Park their home

FLORA & FAUNA INFORMATION 

Brimbank Park boasts a population of magnificent River Red Gum eucalypt trees lining the banks of the Maribyrnong River.  These hundreds of year old trees provide important habitat to ringtail and brushtail possums, as well as many species of birds such as sulfur-crested cockatoos, galahs and rainbow lorikeets.

Wedge-tail eagles and other birds of prey have been sighted soaring above the grassy plains of Brimbank Park, searching for prey such as rabbits and other small mammals who live there.  Water birds are abundant in, on and around the Maribyrnong River also searching for their prey.  You will see many duck species including Pacific Black Duck and Australian Wood Duck, as well as Black Swans, Eurasian Coots and White-Faced Herons.

Making up the water birds’ prey are different species of fish and water bugs such as trout, redfin and eels.  Eastern Long-Necked Turtles may poke their heads out of their shells to look around occasionally and the platypus is known to inhabit the river too.  Eastern Grey Kangaroos prefer the grasslands areas of Brimbank Park but will visit the river to drink and rest in the shade.

Visit Friends of Maribyrnong Valley for more information about Brimbank Park’s flora and fauna, as well as other projects being undertaken there and in the wider Maribyrnong Valley Parklands https://www.landcarevic.org.au/groups/portphillipwesternport/friends-of-the-maribyrnong-valley-inc/

References https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/brimbank-park

Eco explorers runs Bush Playgroup , Bush Kids Forest School program at Brimbank Park and also Forest School during the term.

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Currawong Bush Park, located off Reynolds road in Melbourne’s outer Eastern suburb of Doncaster East. It’s a wonderful and diverse location for our bush playgroups with many kangaroos and other wildlife to spot.