Ballarat's Dementia Friendly Forest and Sensory Trail in Woowookarung Regional Park has a new interactive story to explore

Final year Bachelor of Information Technology students Seth Leslie and Kurt Horsley have developed a soundscape and story to help evoke positive memories, feelings and sensations for people living with dementia and other users of the trail.

The project uses QR codes, placed near life-like native animals, which when scanned link to a website featuring information about the animals and the sounds they make.

They can also take part in an interactive story about 'Nanna Kookaburra' that Mr Leslie wrote and narrated. The Nanna Kookaburra story leads users along the path - Nanna Kookaburra does not know where she is and needs the help of her animal friends to find her way home.

The story draws users along the trail as they must find all the animals to complete the story, and receive a virtual congratulations.

"Seth and Kurt have spent an enormous amount of time on this project and have produced a high quality technical, professional and valuable human-interest outcome," said Anne Tudor, chair of the Bigger Hearts Dementia Alliance Ballarat.

Ms Tudor said sensory experiences like the interactive forest trail could be incredibly beneficial for people with dementia ... and the project could be enjoyed by children, families and people of all ages.

"They have created something special which will be enjoyed by the young and not so young and those impacted or not by dementia."

Federation University senior lecturer and program coordinator Dr Kathleen Keogh said the project provided the students with an opportunity to apply the skills they developed in their degree to a real problem.

" The project is an excellent example of how the work we do at Federation makes a positive impact on the communities we serve," she said.

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Both students enjoyed the chance to apply their skills to a project of benefit to the wider community.

"It's been wonderful to work on a project where I can tackle technical challenges as well as write and narrate a fun interactive story that will have real benefits for people living with dementia," Mr Leslie said.

"The project has helped me enhance my technical and non-technical skills while allowing me the chance to give back to the community in a positive way," Mr Horsley said.

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