Hop on in for lots of great Australian craft ideas, including my tutorial for how to make a cute Sydney Opera House. Also, look at my post Free 4-Week Kid’s Australia Unit Study Who Love Hands-on Learning for more fun ideas.
The Sydney Opera House is one of Australia’s most famous landmarks and the Sydney Opera House is an amazing building that looks like sails floating on the ocean.
Have you ever imagined visiting a land full of kangaroos, coral reefs, pink lakes, and a giant seashell-shaped building by the sea? Welcome to Australia, the world’s only country that is also a continent.
But Australia has so much more to explore, and this fun guide is the perfect place to start your adventure.
The Sydney Opera House is one of the most famous buildings in the world, and it’s a big part of what makes Sydney so special.
BOOKS ABOUT AUSTRALIA FOR KIDS
Next, look at some books about Australia to add to your learning day.
9 Australia Books for Kids Who Love to Read and Be Read To
Grab one or two of these books about Australia to add to your unit study or your home library.
The true story of Australia starts with a piece of land that went for a swim. Millions of years ago it floated away from Africa. Very, very, slowly. It was home to dinosaurs and giant animals, until the first Australians showed up and got comfortable. This wild and wonderful land was a mystery to the rest of the world. Then the English decided to make it the biggest jail ever . . . Experience the story of Australia from prehistory to federation in 1901.
Set along the rugged beauty of the South Australian coast, Storm Boy cares for an injured pelican and finds a friend that shows him the power of loyalty and love. This moving story is now a major motion-picture and one of the classics of Australian writing for children. This edition comes with five other stories by Colin Thiele that capture the unique voices of Australians across the natural and suburban landscape.
A captain who has lost his wife remarries a much younger woman to provide his six children with a new mother. Together, the couple had another child, making seven. The captain tries to run the family with stern discipline, but he is no match for the fun-loving children.
The story of a killer-dog. His owner had tried to train him to the domestic life, but the call of the wild and his hunting instincts were too powerful. As a killer he roamed abroad, hunted fiercely by farmers whose stock he wantonly destroyed. It is a story that is founded in fact.As for Warrigal -- he is as nature fashioned him.“I have not sought to glorify Warrigal, neither have I condemned him. I have just tried to present him as he really is, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.”
Meet Audrey Barlow - a girl with a lot on her mind. Her dad has gone away to work, her brother Price thinks he's too old for games, and little Dougie likes pretending to be a bird. So together with her best friend Stumpy, Audrey ponders some of life's big questions ... like whether being a swaggie is lonelier than being a girl, and whether it's better to be a sheep or a cow. Follow Audrey and Stumpy through this dazzler of a story and discover how friends are never far away ... even in the Outback. You'll soon wish you lived there too.
Billabong, a large cattle and sheep property in the Australian countryside, is home to 12-year-old Norah Linton, her widowed father, David, and her older brother, Jim. Norah's prim and proper aunts, who live in the city, consider she is in danger of "growing up wild" - riding all over Billabong on her beloved pony, Bobs, helping with mustering, and joining in on all the holiday fun when Jim and his friends come home from boarding school.
A fishing trip results in unexpected drama when they discover a mysterious stranger camped in the bush. Who is this stranger and why is he there? Norah's resourcefulness is tested to the full!
Fourteen-year-old Molly and her cousins Daisy and Gracie were mixed-race Aborigines. In 1931 they were taken away from their families and sent to a camp to be trained as good 'white' Australians. They were told to forget their mothers, their language, their home.But Molly would not forget. She and her cousins escaped and walked back to Jigalong, 1,600 kilometres away, following the rabbit-proof fence as their guide across the desert.This is the story of that walk, told by Molly's daughter, Doris.
Join Grace and her family as they hit the road camping, experiencing, and meeting all the people and places that make up Australia.
Grandma Poss uses her best bush magic to make Hush invisible. But when Hush longs to be able to see herself again, the two possums must make their way across Australia to find the magic food that will make Hush visible once more. “Another treat from Mem Fox that is sure to be treasured. The whimsical illustrations are a wonderful complement.
Now, look at a few more facts about the Opera House.
THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE MORE THAN A THEATER
It sits right next to the Sydney Harbor Bridge and seems to sparkle when the sun hits its roof, which is made of more than 1 million shiny white tiles.
Designed by Jørn Utzon, a Danish architect, It opened in 1973, after taking 14 years to build.
The original design was picked from 233 entries in an international contest.
At first, many people thought the building would be impossible to construct — but with creativity, math, and engineering, it became a real-life architectural wonder.
Inside the Sydney Opera House, you’ll find:
- Over 1,000 rooms
- Concert Halls with giant pipe organs
- Theaters for plays, ballets, and operas
- Rehearsal rooms
- Exhibit spaces and restaurants
Even though it’s called an “opera house,” it’s not just for opera! People come to watch musicals, dance shows, symphonies, and even kids’ performances.
All of Australia is full of wonders — from ancient cultures to unique animals and natural landmarks you can’t find anywhere else in the world, here are some fun facts about this amazing place.
FUN FACTS ABOUT AUSTRALIA
- The first people of Australia are the Aboriginal Australians. They have lived there for more than 60,000 years and are known for their beautiful dot art, dreamtime stories, and music played on the didgeridoo.
- It’s a Continent AND a Country-Australia is the only country that covers a whole continent — and it’s surrounded by oceans,
- The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef in the world, home to thousands of kinds of fish and sea creatures. It’s so big you can see it from outer space.
- The Outback- This is Australia’s dry, hot center, full of red soil, deserts, and wild animals like camels and dingoes.
- Most Australians live near the coast- because the middle is so dry, most people live in cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth, all near the ocean.
- If it’s winter in the U.S., it’s summer in Australia! Their seasons are the opposite because they’re in the Southern Hemisphere.
- The Capital is Canberra, even though Sydney is the biggest city, Canberra is the capital — kind of like how Washington, D.C. is the capital of the U.S.
- Holidays Are a Big Deal- Australia Day (January 26) is like their Fourth of July, and they love sports like cricket, rugby, and surfing.
Australia is an amazing place full of incredible animals, cool buildings, ancient stories, and fun crafts.
Whether you’re pretending to be a kangaroo, painting the reef, or building your own mini Opera House, you’re learning about a beautiful part of our world.
So grab your colored pencils, your glue stick, and your sense of adventure — it’s time to explore Australia through learning, art, and creativity!
AUSTRALIAN CRAFT IDEAS AND ACTIVITIES
- Try Australian Snacks like Anzac Biscuits (oats, coconut, golden syrup) and fairy bread.
- Check out these 6 Australian Animal Craft Ideas | Easy Paper Bag Platypus.
- Use Q-tips and paint to make dot art on outlines of kangaroos, turtles, or boomerangs, Talk about how Aboriginal art tells stories without words.
- Make a Simple Native Flower Painting: Celebrating Australian Nature
- Australian Animal Craft Project – Kookaburra Craft
- Create a detailed AUSTRALIA SALT-DOUGH MAP HANDS-ON GEOGRAPHY.
- 9 Australian Animals Art Ideas and Fun Koala Handprint Craft
- How to make an Origami Boomerang
- Learn some Australian words like -“G’day” instead of “hello”, “Brekkie” for breakfast, and “Mozzie” for mosquito.
- Watch kid-friendly videos on the Sydney Opera House or the Great Barrier Reef.
- Listen to didgeridoo music and learn about Aboriginal instruments.
HOW TO MAKE A CUTE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
Let’s create a cute diorama style craft of the Sydney Opera House using just a few paper plates and some scrap cardboard.
You will need:
- Cardboard scraps
- White paper plates
- Blue craft paint
- Hot glue or tape
You want a cardboard scrap large enough to hold a full paper plate bent in half. It need to be at least 8”x 14” long. Paint the surface blue to represent the Sydney Harbor, set aside to dry.
From another cardboard scrap cut another smaller strip that is rounded on one end for the base of the Opera house.
Once the blue paint has dried on the base, glue the other piece to it.
Fold a paper plate in both directions and cut out each wedge.
For the second plate fold it so that one side is larger than the other to create a couple of bigger domes, cut out each piece.
Fold each of the paper plate wedges in half like this.
Using a picture of the opera house to compare begin layering the domes as they are.
Once you are satisfied you can glue them into place, by adding a dab of hot glue to each corner and holding it until it cools or using tape for little hands.
Continue until all your pieces are in place.
