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Rainforest Superpowers

What superpowers are needed by plants in this wet environment?

It seems easy at first to survive and thrive in the rainforest. The soil is fertile, the climate is often warm, there is water everywhere and life is found in abundance. Yet too much of a good thing creates a new challenge for survival: with so many plants in one place comes competition for resources!
 
Immerse yourself in the emerald world of our 360° Rainforest Walk at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney as you discover plant adaptations in this environment.

  1. Click and hold your mouse or touchpad, then drag it around to view your surroundings. Scroll your mouse or pinch your fingers to zoom in and out.
  2. Click on the icons to view images and various plant adaptations. Some are right at the top! 
  3. Click on the white arrows to go to the next location.

Activities - Rainforest Superpowers

1. Adaptations charades

Make cards for all the adaptations in the rainforest. The 360VR Rainforest Walk might help you! Now play a game of charades. Show the superpowers for rainforest plants by miming them out. For example, your hands can walk along a friend’s arm to represent creeping plant climbers or you can stand with feet wide apart to represent large roots, etc.
 

2. Rainforest diorama

Make leaves, vines and trees out of creative materials such as cardboard cut-outs, threads, sponge, scrunched-up papers, fibres etc. Collect twigs and branches from the garden to make tree trunks. Add in some jungle animals to complete the model.
 

3. Experimentation

Click here to view our 'Rainforest Plant Experiments' activity sheet and experiment with some of the rainforests plant superpowers using simple household items.
 

4. Mapping exercise

Where are the tropical, subtropical, warm-temperate and cool-temperate rainforests found in Australia? Plot them on a map. Name some plants common to rainforests.
 

5. Birra the Big Fig

Meet Birra the Big Fig, a gentle giant who is friends with everyone! Describe some of the superpowers he possesses. Create other plant characters with different superpowers as his friends. Make a story about their lives in our Rainforest Walk or draw them and label their plant superpowers.