Offering electrifying outdoor experiences in the heart of Victoria’s great ocean road region, Live Wire Park is passionate about delivering a unique experience for school groups of all ages, whilst recharging the human spirit and connecting students with nature.
A trip out of school with their peers is the highlight of any student’s calendar. While it may look like the students are just scaling trees, swinging on ropes and plunging down a bungee jump, there’s a lot more going on during the high rope’s courses at Live Wire Park. A day at the park not only incorporates social skills, team building, confidence building, and teamwork, students will also learn about native flora and fauna and sustainability.
CONFIDENCE BUILDING
Safe outdoor spaces like Live Wire Park are perfect for children to find some freedom away from direct adult supervision, learning how to take turns, to pick themselves up then they fall and to become more independent and self-reliant.
Research paper by Brussoni, Olsen, Pike, and Sleet titled, ‘Risky Play and Children’s Safety: Balancing Priorities for Optimal Child Development’, highlights the importance of outdoor play as a necessary ingredient for healthy child development and reviews literature from many disciplines that support the notion that safety efforts should be balanced with opportunities for child development through outdoor risky play.
Encouraging children to try activities they might be a little afraid has also been proven to help them become more confident and self- assured. As well as getting rid of built-up energy and enabling them to become calmer and more focused when they return to the classroom.
The activities are the ultimate group bonding experience, bringing students into a whole new setting. At Live Wire Park children naturally come out of their shells and become more social through playing together, encouraging one another whilst making new friends.
“A great opportunity for kids to put down their screens and reconnect with nature,” reported Prahran High School.
POWERED BY NATURE
Live Wire Park is Australia’s first outdoor adventure park that is completely powered by nature. Student groups are guided through core sustainability principles and how these were implemented during the building of the park to ensure it had minimal impact on the environment.
These include the parks photovoltaic off grid system and how by harnessing solar energy. The park uses a 5.4 kW Solar Array which charges a battery bank, which in turn powers the entire park. Along with the parks water cycle management plan and the systems which is in place to capture water on-site, negating the need for mains water. Students also learn about treating waste onsite through self-composting toilets and recycling grey water.
CONNECTING WITH NATURE
Students are taught about Otway Forest in which the park sits, a temperate rainforest with a dense biodiversity and several species of trees and plants including towering Blue Gum Eucalypts which are over 150 years old. The Live Wire Park crew will discuss the native wildlife including koalas, wombats and kookaburras.
ELECTRIFYING EXPERIENCES
Soak up the beauty and the breath-taking views of the Otway Ranges with the immersive experience of the Canopy Circuit and Spring Circuit. Elevated above the ground amongst the native Blue Gums, this is the perfect way to enjoy Victoria’s rainforests with 120 metres of easy treetop suspended pathway (Canopy Circuit) and a five-zone elevated trampolining net park (Spring Circuit).
The Short Circuit has been designed with children and smaller teenagers in mind. Safe, secure and full of fun, the Short Circuit features a range of kid-friendly obstacle courses and suspended treetop trails to excite and entertain. While the park’s experienced instructors are always on hand to help guide little live wires.
For more information visit, livewirepark.com.au/school-programs
This article was originally published in Education Matters Secondary Magazine – to read the issue download it here.
