Orchids have driven rational people to crazy extremes for centuries. What makes this flower so irresistible? That’s exactly the question explored by Auckland Museum’s multi-sensory exhibition Wonderland: The Mystery of the Orchid.

Wonderland: The Mystery of the Orchid is the first chapter in a two-part exhibition exploring stories of the world’s most popular flowers. The second chapter, Wonderland: The Magic of the Rose, opens in October 2009.

For teachers of Science, Art, English or Social Studies, this exhibition provides you and your students with a unique opportunity to explore the botanical world from a new perspective. 

Wonderland provides links with:

• New Zealand Curriculum, Te Marautanga o Aotearoa – related content from Science, Arts, English and Social Sciences.
• Strong opportunities for the practise of the key competencies and values exploration
• A scientific pathway and a cultural pathway through the exhibition, making it ideal for general visits or more focussed study.

Admission: Free entry for school groups and accompanying adults.
Education programme charges: $4 per student or $8 per student depending on selected programme.

Programme Information

  Download the Wonderland Educator’s Guide

Exhibition Facilitation

Educators are available to prompt and inspire students to make deeper inquiries and engage in discussion related to the objects and exhibition themes.

Tutorials

In addition to facilitated visits, Wonderland offers two tutorials for primary, intermediate and secondary school groups:

 Poetry Tutorial

A tutorial that explores the role of flowers in major historical events and our everyday lives. Students will also examine how flowers have inspired some of the world's most famous poets and identify the poetic conventions used in their work.

• Students will use their investigations to create and submit their own poem for potential inclusion in a poetry showcase on the Museum’s website.
• Session time: 1 hour. We suggest this tutorial is preceded with a 30 – 60 minute exploration of the exhibition.
• Suitable for Y3 and above
• $4 per student for Poetry Tutorial only
  AND
  $ 4 per student 1 hr Exhibition Facilitation OR free of charge exhibition self-guided.

  Download the Wonderland Botanical Illustration Guide

Botanical Illustration
Tutorial

A tutorial that examines the science of flowers and provides opportunities to practise methods of illustration.

• Students create their own botanical illustration for a web exhibition
• Session can be focussed on either science or visual art
  Session time: 1 hour. We suggest this tutorial is preceded with a 30 – 60 minute exploration of the exhibition
• Suitable for all year levels
• $4 per student for Botanical Illustration Tutorial only
  AND
  $ 4 per student 1 hr Exhibition Facilitation OR free of charge exhibition self-guided.

Related Museum Resources

New resources are currently in production for this programme.  

Galleries:  Special Exhibitions Hall  |  Origins  |  Land  |  Weird and Wonderful  |  Natural History   |  Human History  |  Natural History Information Centre

Other Related Resources

In addition to facilitated visits, Wonderland offers two tutorials for primary, intermediate and secondary school groups:

University of Illinois:  Interactives for kids on plant life.

Bio Diversity Heritage Library: Curtis's botanical magazine.  Reference resource library for teaching, copyright free material.

Natural History Museum: The voyage of HMS Endeavour (1768-1771) was the first devoted exclusively to scientific discovery. This site presents most of the botanical drawings and engravings prepared by artist Sydney Parkinson before his untimely death at sea, and by other artists back in England working from Parkinson's initial sketches.

Related Activities

This programme may be combined with:

Natural History Galleries, Weird and Wonderful

Useful Links

NZ Orchid Society:  The New Zealand Orchid Society is dedicated to the encouragement and advancement of orchid growing in New Zealand through the exchange of information relating to the culture of all types of orchids.

Australasian Native orchid Society: A site dedicated to the cultivation, conservation and scientific study of native orchids in the Australasian region.

American Orchid Society: Getting Kids Involved – the future of orchids

Resonating Bodies:  A series of mixed media installations and community outreach projects which focuses on biodiversity of pollinators indigenous to the natural and urban ecosystems of the Greater Toronto Area.