Minimee Early Childhood Education Adventure

🌺 Celebrating Samoan Language Week at Minimee! 🌺

Last week, our tamariki enjoyed a wonderful week of learning and celebration as we explored Samoan Language Week through music, language, art, and community connections.

A special highlight was welcoming our amazing Samoan whānau, who led two engaging Samoan language and music mat times. The children explored rhythm and movement while learning Samoan words and actions.

Across our three rooms, tamariki took part in a variety of Samoan-inspired art experiences, including Siapo Mamanu painting, Samoan tatau designs, and sketching activities. Using recycled materials, they also created ula (garlands) and Samoan grass skirts, which were proudly showcased in our Minimee Fashion Show for World Environment Day.

On Thursday, our Nikau Room visited Glenfield Library for a special Samoan-themed mat time, where they enjoyed stories, music, dancing, and exploring the library. We also borrowed books about Samoan culture and insects to continue our learning back at Minimee.

It was a week full of creativity, cultural appreciation, and joyful learning. 🌺 Fa’afetai tele lava to our wonderful Samoan families for sharing your culture with us. Enjoy these beautiful moments from our celebrations!

The celebrations may be over, but the love, laughter, and beautiful memories from our Mother’s Day celebration are still filling Minimee with warmth. 💕

Before Mother’s Day, our tamariki lovingly created sweet and thoughtful gifts for their mums. Every special surprise was made with tiny hands, big hearts, and lots of love from their very own “Mini Me”.

On Friday evening, we hosted our special Mother’s Day Evening for all of our amazing mums. With delicious food, relaxing Thai massages, beautiful pink and orange decorations, drinks, sweet treats, and our Parents’ Aspirations display table, every detail was carefully prepared to create a peaceful space where our mums could truly enjoy some well-deserved “me time”. ❤️

Throughout the evening, Minimee was filled with laughter, heartfelt conversations, and precious moments of connection. Beyond the celebration itself, Mother’s Day also gave our tamariki opportunities to learn about love, gratitude, kindness, and appreciation for their mums. We will continue encouraging our tamariki to always love and cherish their mums.

Now, let’s look back at some beautiful moments from our Mother’s Day celebration together!

Since the beginning of this year, our Nikau Room tamariki have been on an exciting learning journey through our programme planning, “Home and Garden Beasties.”

Over the past few months, we have been exploring the fascinating world of bees through a variety of hands on experiences. Tamariki created bees and beehives using egg cartons, learned about bee body parts, explored the differences between bees and wasps, and discovered the roles of queen bees, worker bees, and drones. We also explored real beeswax and enjoyed many bee themed activities together.

One of the highlights was welcoming the Bee Lady to Minimee. Children observed real bees in a viewing box, learned amazing bee facts, rolled their own beeswax candles, and even tasted real honey. It was wonderful to see their curiosity, concentration, and excitement throughout the experience.

Our “Home and Garden Beasties” exploration has now expanded into butterflies and moths, and we are looking forward to many more discoveries ahead.

Nature exploration is endless, and our learning journey continues! 🐝🦋

At Minimee, graduation is a special and meaningful milestone. When our tamariki turn five, we celebrate with a joyful birthday and a heartfelt graduation ceremony.

We come together on the mat with whānau, form a circle, hold hands, and sing our national anthem. We then revisit each child’s portfolio, reflecting on their journey and the many special moments they have experienced.

Filled with smiles, laughter, hugs, and warm wishes, these celebrations remind us how far our tamariki have come.

Graduation is not the end, but the beginning of a new journey. Our tamariki carry their learning, friendships, and confidence with them as they step into their next adventure.

We are so proud of you all. 💛

This week at Minimee, we took time to acknowledge and reflect on ANZAC Day, a significant day of remembrance in New Zealand and Australia. It honours the soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who served and sacrificed in wars, and reminds us of the values of courage, respect, and remembrance.

During mat time, we shared simple stories with tamariki about the ANZACs in a respectful and age-appropriate way. Children also engaged in a range of creative experiences, including making poppies, a symbol of remembrance.

A special highlight was in our Nikau and Koru rooms, where tamariki worked together to make ANZAC biscuits and enjoyed sharing them with their friends. In our Baby Room, our youngest tamariki explored poppy painting through sensory art experiences.

Through these meaningful activities, children began to explore the ideas of remembering, caring, and coming together as a community.

Lest we forget.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the special moments we captured recently.

This week (13th–15th), we celebrated the Thai New Year and Cambodian New Year at Minimee!

This traditional Southeast Asian festival is known for its joyful water celebrations, symbolising cleansing, blessings, and new beginnings.

In the Nikau Room, children participated in “Rod Nam Dam Hua” during Monday’s mat time, gently pouring water over each other’s hands to show respect and share blessings.

Across both the Nikau and Koru Rooms, tamariki enjoyed a range of water-based experiences, including outdoor water play, learning about the festival, exploring simple Thai and Cambodian words, flower water sensory play, and creative painting activities.

In the Baby Room, our youngest tamariki took part in gentle water play and cultural art experiences.

Through our Songkran Festival experiences, tamariki explored how water can carry kindness, respect, and new beginnings. 🌺💦

The Easter Bunny has hopped away, but left behind so much fun here at Minimee! 🐰
Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from last week.

In our Nikau and Koru rooms, tamariki enjoyed Easter egg drawing and painting, listened to the Easter story during mat time, and had lots of fun creating bunny masks indoors.

A big highlight was our outdoor Easter egg hunt! Tamariki were full of excitement as they searched for eggs and discovered some yummy chocolate treats.

We also made rolls for afternoon tea and enjoyed eating together outside on the deck. It was such a lovely shared experience.

In our Toe Toe room, our pēpi explored Easter egg painting, sensory play with colourful rice, and created adorable bunny artwork using their footprints. There were lots of smiles and joyful moments.

Words can hardly capture all the fun, so enjoy the beautiful moments we captured. 📸

Last week, Minimee was filled with joyful shades of red as we celebrated Chinese New Year. From Monday to Friday, we planned a variety of meaningful experiences that blended tradition, creativity, and hands-on learning. Each day brought something new and exciting for our tamariki.

The children practised writing the Chinese character “福” with calligraphy brushes, made and tasted delicious dumplings, enjoyed traditional face painting, performed lion dances outside, created lacquer fans, wore festive red clothing, and rode cardboard hobby horses. Every activity was fun, engaging, and rich in cultural learning.

A special highlight took place on Tuesday when one of our tamariki joined us with his grandma for mat time. Earlier in the week, the children learned the greeting “Gongxi” (恭喜), meaning “Congratulations” or “Best wishes,” and confidently shared it together.

Thank you to our wonderful whānau for your support and involvement, which made the celebration even more meaningful.

On Friday, the children went home with beautiful memories, handmade dumplings, festive red envelopes for the Year of the Horse, and their own lacquer fans to share with their families.

This week’s photos capture the joy of our celebration. Let’s take a look together!

Last week, Minimee children came together to celebrate Valentine’s Day with love and joy.

In our Toe Toe Room, we created adorable handprint artworks and prepared special lace ribbon keepsakes titled “I Love You This Much (This Is How Tall I Am)” — a beautiful way to capture each baby’s growing height and the love that surrounds them.

Our Nikau and Koru tamariki also joined in the fun by baking delicious heart-shaped butter cookies. The children carefully added icing sugar to create sweet icing tops and finished them off with edible sparkles, turning each cookie into a little masterpiece filled with love.

We also enjoyed some lovely heart-themed face painting, adding an extra touch of celebration to the day. On Friday afternoon, the children went home with their heart face paintings and their sweet handmade cookies, ready to share a warm and love-filled weekend with their whānau.

Now, come and take a look at some of the beautiful moments we captured during this special celebration! 💕

Last Friday marked Waitangi Day, a special occasion of great significance in Aotearoa. To honour and celebrate this meaningful day, Minimee engaged in a range of thoughtfully planned activities across all our rooms.

In the Koru Room, we created a waka using cardboard boxes. The children loved sitting inside together and joyfully singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” experiencing a sense of togetherness and shared fun.

In the Nikau Room, children explored clay by creating greenstone shapes with different patterns and later painting them, expressing their creativity while learning about cultural symbols.

In our Toe Toe Room, children enjoyed playing with Māori puzzles, developing problem-solving skills while engaging with cultural learning.

Across all rooms, children also participated in a variety of creative Waitangi Day–themed art experiences and meaningful mat time discussions. The children were fully immersed in the celebrations, developing an appreciation for the importance and values behind this significant day.

Come and take a look at some of the wonderful moments we captured as we celebrated together! 📸✨