About 80 children and their guardians gathered at Alexandra Gardens to take part in a variety of nature-themed school holiday activities for the inaugural Nature Play Day.
Attendees made masquerade masks decorated with feathers, oak leaves, gum nuts and petals; used a crafted cloud viewfinder to identify cirrus, cumulus and stratus clouds; took part in a painting station with a large canvas spread out on the ground for everyone to paint; weaved long strands of flexible gum branches, leaves and flower stems to create a fairy shelter; and got messy at a popular clay play station.
Ararat Community Garden played host to a scavenger hunt, in which children were challenged to find 12 objects around the grounds, including a seed pod, a bee, a mosaic pot, lavender and a ceramic pumpkin ornament nestled among many real pumpkins growing in the garden.
Ararat Rural City Council staff thanked attendees for their enthusiastic support of Nature Play Day, along with volunteers who helped run the event and Ararat Gallery TAMA staff.
