In this activity students draw their favorite bird – alive or extinct – and learn about the importance of birds in our environment.

Organization: Museum of New Zealand

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand‘s national museum, located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa (Māori for “the treasure box“), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand and the National Art Gallery. The 17th-most-visited art gallery in the world, an average of more than 1.5 million people visit every year. Te Papa Tongarewa translates literally to “container of treasures” or in full “container of treasured things and people that spring from mother Earth here in New Zealand”. Te Papa’s philosophy emphasises the living face behind its cultural treasures, many of which retain deep ancestral links to the indigenous Māori people. The Museum recognises the partnership that was created by the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, te Tiriti o Waitangi, in 1840.