
Whānau challenges
Try some creative challenges at home with your whānau. Each challenge is connected to Te Papa’s collections or expertise.
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Open every day 10am-6pm
(except Christmas Day)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Birds are an iconic part of Aotearoa. What’s your favourite bird from New Zealand? Create an image of it! The manu can be extinct or living.
Whānau challenge
North Island Giant Moa. Dinornis novaezealandiae. From the series: Extinct Birds of New Zealand, 2005, by Paul Martinson. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Te Papa (2006-0010-1/17)
Birds Online is an amazing resource which has all of the birds both living and extinct found in New Zealand. You can look through thousands of photos, see where the birds live/lived, and even hear what they sound like!
Why do we keep specimens?: Scientist, Andrew Stewart explains why museums keep specimens.
Making life-size moa skeletons: Moa are the tallest birds ever known, and were completely unique to Aotearoa New Zealand. See how the Te Papa team overcame the challenges of putting male and female moa skeletons on display.
See how an albatross is taxidermied: See how taxidermist Peter Wells worked on two albatross, mounted in their mating ritual display.
Filming the elusive kiwi in the 1940s: Bird expert, Colin Miskelly, comments on recently rediscovered 1940s footage of a kiwi, and explains how far wildlife documentaries have come in the last 70 years.
Try some creative challenges at home with your whānau. Each challenge is connected to Te Papa’s collections or expertise.
Early childhood, Primary
Choose an artwork from the collections and try and replicate it in 3D – you can use everyday objects and materials at home, or make it on the computer.
Whānau challenge