Aspiring Kiwis Educare

St. Patrick’s Day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general. ☘️



Some of the artwork our preschoolers have been enjoying participating in to celebrate St. Patrick's day. They have been making handprint clovers and rainbows.

Happy Holi!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Recently our tamariki have shown an interest in using and manipulating structures and equipment to create structures. Houses, huts, hiding holes, you name it!

On this day we gave our tamariki a bunch of parts. Boxes, chairs, mats, and sheets to name a few. What was the task? Build a house for them and their friends.

There was collaboration, communication of ideas and thoughts, and problem solving to ensure the structure was sound enough to stand up to the winds of Tāwhirimātea, as well as the winds of interest from their fellow tamariki!

The price of cauliflower is WHAT?!?

With the price of groceries going up what can our tamariki do but create their own currency and set up a shop?

Our tamariki have loved playing shop recently. Ice blocks, coffee, animals, and toys. There have been a bunch of shops selling a bunch of things that are important to our tamariki.

Using models of numbers, our tamariki wrote values on notes, as well as demonstrating their number recognition. These symbols have meaning within their lives and are a way of communicating visually with others.

Not sure if their shop made a profit though...

After having a deep discussion about some pūrākau, the next day one of our tamariki decided to share what they had learned from our previous discussion with one of their friends.

It is wonderful to listen in on the interpretations and reading of stories by tamariki. It shows their understanding of narrative, recollection, as well as their interpretation of the key aspects of the story being told. Books give time to ask questions, build language, and get a greater understanding of the world around us.

Ahakoa he iti, he taonga...

Sometimes It is nice to just celebrate our tamariki working together with others.

Helping others, sharing toys, being welcoming and inclusive of others in play.

Navigating the tumultuous waters of social interactions can be challenging at times, so let's really acknowledge what we love about how our tamariki celebrate and support each other.

Ko Ranginui e tū iho nei...

Some of our tamariki wanted to create Ranginui after reading about and researching the Māori view on the creation of our world.

What colour is Ranginui, the sky father? According to some, Tāne Māhuta, the one who separated Ranginui and Papatūānuku, dressed his mother and father. What was Ranginui dressed with? What do we have up above us in the sky?

Following this interest and provoking these thoughts led to a collaborative project where our tamariki painted Ranginui and decorated him with kapua (clouds).

Today's happenings in the preschool ruma.

Here at Aspiring Kiwis Educare we encourage, support and value nga tamariki contribution to our centre values of whakamana, waanaga, whanaugatanga and kotahitanga.

NZ SEA WEEK CELEBRATIONS - 5 to 13 March 2022

NZAEE Seaweek is New Zealand's annual national week celebrating the sea. It is an opportunity to learn about and celebrate our connection with the ocean, it's habitats, characteristics and inhabitants better. This year's theme is Connecting with our Seas- Toi Moana, Toi Tangata.
The past 2 weeks here at Aspiring Kiwis Educare nga tamariki have been exploring the concept of Kaitiakitanga where they have been thinking of ways they can be kaitiaki of our moana. They have been learning about the sea creatures, what they eat and we can help to take care of them through our actions.

Magnets sure do attract!

How do these things stick together? Can the red stick to the red? Why does the magnet spin away when I try to put the red end on the red end?

Oh the wonders of hypothesis, testing, and result to determine how the myriad things in our world work!

Our thoughts go to the people of Ukraine during their resistance against the invasion from Russia.

Sunflowers are a sign of peace in the Ukraine and are a big part of Ukranian culture. Now they are a symbol of resistance.

In late 2021 our tamariki planted some sunflower seeds. Recently the flowers have bloomed and our tamariki have been able to experience the work that they did in the past.

Our tamariki have enjoyed carefully analysing the sunflower heads and drawing their observations of the different parts.

To those in the Ukraine and our Ukrainian whānau here in Aotearoa, we stand with you.