Friends of the Museum: A Melbourne Museum Colouring Book

By Museums Victoria, illustrated by Kym Haines

Colour along as you discover fascinating facts about Australia’s wondrous wildlife, from birds and butterflies to wallabies and whales, along with crystals, fossils and other marvels of nature.

This one-of-a-kind colouring book features exquisite illustrations from Melbourne Museum expert Kym Haines, along with detailed species guides and a rich selection of museum-certified facts.

  • 40 pages of incredibly detailed, scientifically accurate illustrations for colouring, fascinating facts and species identification activities plus 2 removable sticker pages
  • With facts approved by each of the in-house curators and collection managers at Melbourne Museum, from palaeontologists and ornithologists to entomologists and geologists, families can rest assured knowing that not only are these facts and illustrations fun and engaging, they are also grounded in science
  • The species identification keys on each spread encourage critical thinking and pattern recognition, as well as offering readers the opportunity to identify different local species
A page titles 'Bees & Wasps' consists of 4 bees and 3 wasp illustrations. A subsection titled 'Wasp vs Spider' details how Spider Wasps delimb huntsmen spiders so they can lay eggs in their bodies which hatch and eat the spider's organs while it's still alive. Yuck! Another section on Blue Banded Bees explains how this bee can shake certain flowers to dislodge hard to reach pollen. A third section on Quasihesma Bees from Queensland says they are the world's smallest bee at only 1.8 millimetres long. A page titled 'Arboreal Mammals' consists of 9 illustrations of mammals. A subsection titled 'Greater and Fluffier' explains how the Greater Glider can glide for over 100 metres despite being very fluffy. A second section titled 'Flying With Friends' explains how Grey-headed Flying-fox bats hang out upside down in groups (called 'roosts') that can have as many as 100,000 bats. A third section titled 'Fast and Fur-ious' explains how Brush tailed Phascolgale's fast and rigorous mating is fatal. A page titles 'grassland Birds' include 10 bird illustrations. A subsection titled 'A Regal Raptor' explains how Nankeen Ketrels likes to live near farms where rats are plentiful. A second section titled 'We're Worried About Our Wander' explains that the Plains-wanderer is critically endangered and that researchers are trying to recover the population of this flightless bird. A third section 'Cryptic Cuties' explains that Mallee Emu-wrens are easier to hear than see as they hide in long grass. A page titles 'Forest & Woodland Reptiles' includes 7 reptile illustrations. A subsection titled 'Frills and Thrills' explains how the Frill-necked Lizard looks normal until scared when they open their bright mouths and puff up their frills to look larger. A second section titled 'Diving from Danger' explains that Australian Water Dragons dive into water when disturbed where they can stay for up to an hour. A third section 'Long Neck = Long Life' explains that Long-necked turtles can live up to 50 years.
Details
Paperback, 40 pages + 2 removable sticker pages
Price
RRP $14.99 Information on buying our books

Join the mailing list and get the latest from our Museums direct to your inbox.

Sign up now

Share your thoughts to WIN

We'd love to hear about your experience with our website. Our survey takes less than 10 minutes and entries go in a draw to win a $100 gift voucher at our online store!