When B-Boy comes to stay overnight, Little J becomes envious of the attention he is getting from everyone. Out walking on Country, Nanna, Little J, Big Cuz and B-Boy find an injured joey. Uncle Mick, a Search and Rescue officer, tells them how to care for the joey that they name ‘Hopalong’. The children feed and look after Hopalong until Mick finds him a place in a wildlife shelter.

Elaborate - Practise strategies they can use when they feel uncomfortable, unsafe or need help with a task, problem or situation

Theme - BUSH TUCKER

As a class, revisit Little J’s story within episode 7, ‘Hopalong’, and ask students to recall what type of animal Hopalong was and how and why he got lost from his ‘mob’.

Introduce the term, bush tucker, to students and bring to class some local produce. Identify each specimen and have students safely sample each: touch, smell, and taste (where appropriate) the samples of bush food.

Have students draw or photograph each of the specimens for a Food Diary, taking note of their colour, texture, shape, form, size and parts. Dissect and/or disassemble the specimens so that students are aware of the physical characteristics of the leaves, stalk, flowers, seeds, berries, fruits, etc.

Have students research each specimen, using resources such as:

• Top 10 Australian native foods you need in your kitchen
• Bush Tucker
• Kangaroo tartlet with wattleseed and macadamia dukkah
• The Complete Guide to Bush Tucker in the Northern Territory
• Bush Tucker
• Wattleseed
• Outback Chef
• About Native Australian Food
• A Look at Bush Tucker

The luncheon

Find bush tucker by walking on Country with an Elder who will identify safe local produce. Supplement these foods with seasonal fruits and/or vegetables and herbs.

As a class, make and share a luncheon using one or more bush ingredients or new fresh foods students may not have encountered before. Divide the class into smaller groups and have the students make a few simple dishes, for example a fruit salad or fruit kebabs, damper or flatbread, and a wattleseed-dukkah, or a simple frittata with dried bush tomatoes.

**Teacher note: Using a knife to cut, and placing bread dough in an oven should only be done by a responsible adult, perhaps with students supervising and directing.

When the food is ready, students practise acceptable behaviours/protocols offering food to each other, e.g., offering first before taking food, only taking a small amount rather than all of a dish, leaving the last morsel for a guest.

Students reflect on their approach to a new experience:

• How did I feel before and after trying something new?
• Would I try it again? Why or why not?
• Was it useful to watch other people’s reactions and to ask them about it? (Often a new food is not new to the whole class and as soon as one student says ‘Yum!’ another will try it. Peer encouragement is more powerful than adult encouragement in trying healthy foods.)
• How does it feel when someone offers you something you thought was nice?
• How am I a good host if I offer nice things to my guests?

Ask students to create a Word Cloud or Wordcloud using an image incorporating words that were the students’ responses to the food/bush tucker.

In pairs, students can design and create a recipe using the new food/s and/or the pair can plan a luncheon and explain how to make their guests feel comfortable, e.g. by setting up a nice place to eat, having music, and welcoming everyone one by one at the door.