I’m excited to have finally made it to Australia on our tour of the world, both because I know that there are lots of resources available for learning about Australia and because the good people who own this website live in Australia, so it’s time to give their nation its due.
Australia Basics
Australia is the sixth-largest country in the world and the largest nation in Oceania. The commonwealth of Australia includes Australia, Tasmania and a few smaller islands.
It is the driest, flattest and oldest inhabited land mass, and has a population of around 27 million people, mostly situated in large cities near the coast. The capital is Canberra but the largest cities are Sydney and Melbourne.
Because of its size (2,969,907 square miles, or 7,692,024 square kilometers), Australia has a varied climate that includes deserts, rainforests, savannas and mountains.
Australia National Symbols
The Australian flag has a blue background with the Union Jack in the upper left corner and the five stars of the Southern Cross constellation and a larger seven pointed star known as the Commonwealth Star, which represents the Federation of Australia.
There are several other official flags, including the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Straight Islander flag (more on those below).
Get a printable cut and paste Australia flag from Lessons Learnt Journal. Learn more about the Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander flags with these printables from Simple Creative Living.
The national anthem is “Advance Australia Fair,” though “God Save the King” is also played at events with royalty in attendance.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9K4ve5pMqI?si=PulyJMcWr-v4ZM2X]
The national flower emblem is the golden wattle, and the national gemstone is the opal.
Australia Activities for Kids
Kids Activities Blog has a collection of free Australia facts coloring pages that are so cute. The post includes lots of fun facts, too, such as that Australia is the only continent without an active volcano and there are 828 species of birds there.
Simple Creative Learning has a great lapbook on Australia you can download when you enter your email address. It includes all sorts of things like basic facts, food, climate, animals, places of interest, slang and more. Our Worldwide Classroom has a printable mini unit on Australia including Australia Day, coloring pages, three-part cards and more.
123 Homeschool 4 Me has a printable Australia book for kids with facts about the country and flag, foods and animals. Make some animal crafts based on the animals of Australia with Danya Banya. Or find more Australia themed crafts at Artsy Craftsy Mom.
Try some Australian food: Anzac biscuits are a classic recipe said to be developed by soldiers’ wives during World War I. A good recipe comes from Recipe Tin Eats. Of course you can also try Vegemite or make fairy bread (white bread, butter, sprinkles)!
Check out a great collection of Australian picture books from Childhood 101. And listen to some Australian music with this playlist from Trillium Montessori.
Check out these Activity books for Australian themed activities.
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