National Aquarium of New Zealand has reimagined the traditional advent calendar, giving people the opportunity to give some gifts to nature this Christmas.

‘24 Gifts for Nature’ is a great way to learn about the small actions people can do that have a positive impact on the world around us. Designed to work like an advent calendar, there are 24 actions on the activity sheet.

“Anyone can get involved. 24 Gifts for Nature would be great fun to do together as a family, but we would also love for schools to take up the challenge leading up to Christmas,” says Rachel Haydon, General Manager of the Aquarium in Napier.

“It’s a great way to understand the kinds of little things that any of us can do. Having a positive impact on the environment is the best gift we could give to nature over Christmas.”

Participants can choose a minimum of five fun eco-friendly actions or challenge themselves (and their friends and family!) to complete all 24.

Activities range from things like collecting five pieces of rubbish outside and put them in the bin; to finding a way to make a carry bag out of an old t-shirt. The aim being to give everyone easy ideas for little actions they could take up in their everyday lives.

Activity sheets can be collected from the National Aquarium (no admission required) or they can be downloaded here.

People taking part can share photos or videos on social media by tagging the National Aquarium and use #24Gifts4Nature so others can learn and be encouraged to join in.

“We’d love to hear how everyone is getting on and we’ll share some inspirational posts on our National Aquarium social media pages,” says Rachel.

The campaign runs from this Sunday, December 1, through to Christmas Eve, with great spot prizes to be won. The two major prize draws are:

• Become a Nature Guardian - complete five actions and you’ll go in the draw for a fantastic Nature Guardian prize pack which includes: a family pass to the Aquarium, an annual Kiwi Conservation Club membership, reusable water bottle, metal straws, honey wraps and more!

• Become an Eco Hero - complete all 24 actions and you’ll go in the draw for the Eco Hero prize pack which includes: a Close Encounter with Little Penguins (for two), a 12 month Friend of the Aquarium family membership, an annual Kiwi Conservation Club membership, reusable coffee cup, mesh bags and lots more! 

Penguin Planet Protectors activity

During 24 Gifts for Nature, one of the activities that can be completed is the Penguin Planet Protector activity at the Aquarium. Draco, Penguin of the Year for 2019, is trying her hardest to keep her colony of penguin friends on the nice list this Christmas.

Ten penguins have ‘escaped’ Penguin Cove and are hiding around the Aquarium. Nine are doing nice things for the planet and one is being very naughty. Find the penguins and see if the penguins are doing good things for nature or not!

This activity runs from December 1 to 24.

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