Matairangi Kindergarten

27/08/2026

A fantastic event on this weekend at Te Matapihi Central Library!

Join us at Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui Central for a celebration of the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world.

27/08/2026

This week our tamariki had a wonderful opportunity to explore rosemary and flowers gifted by a thoughtful kindergarten neighbour. They used their senses to smell and investigate the natural materials, then enthusiastically picked the rosemary leaves and gathered them into a bowl for mixing and scooping. Experiences like these help foster a connection with nature and encourage tamariki to value and appreciate the taonga found in our environment.

23/08/2026

LOOPY TUNES Preschool Music have so many great songs in the Pasific Languages that support our learning at Kindergarten! - Fakamalo Loopy Tunes! 🙏🏾

23/08/2026

🌺 Mālō e lelei and Happy Tongan Language Week! 🇹🇴

This week we have been learning new Tongan phrases and songs, and creating whales to add to our ocean display. Our ocean project is helping us celebrate and make connections to the Pacific Language Weeks, while learning about the diverse cultures, languages, and stories of the Pacific. 🐋💙

Supporting our Pacific nations to retain and celebrate their languages is so important, as language is a powerful way of preserving culture, identity, and connection across generations. We are proud to be learning alongside our tamariki as we celebrate the richness of the Pacific. 🌊✨

13/08/2026

Taking a leap!

Our tamariki have been having lots of fun recently, exploring jumping from the top section of the playground onto a mat on the level below. This provides an opportunity for tamariki to challenge themselves, test their physical capabilities and build confidence in their own bodies.

Kaiako support the experience by facilitating turn-taking and creating a safe space for everyone to have a go, ensuring tamariki have enough room to land safely and preventing any jumping or crashing into one another.

Tamariki are approaching the challenge in their own ways. Some confidently jump independently, some choose to hold a kaiako’s hand for extra support, while others turn around and carefully slide themselves down onto the mat.

It is wonderful to see tamariki making their own decisions about how they want to approach the challenge, supporting one another as they wait for their turn, and celebrating their growing physical confidence.

A simple jump becomes an opportunity for mana, agency, coordination, balance, turn-taking and developing confidence in taking safe risks.

06/08/2026

Real-life experiences inspiring imaginative play 🚧👷‍♀️👷‍♂️

Over the past two weeks, tamariki have been fascinated by the roadworks taking place outside our kindergarten. Watching the workers carefully dig up the road, remove old stormwater pipes and replace them with new ones, while they arrive to, and leave kindergarten, has sparked lots of curiosity and conversation.

It wasn't long before this interest found its way into the sandpit! Using our construction vehicles, traffic cones and lengths of pipe, tamariki are recreating the roadworks they have been observing. They dig trenches, bury and uncover pipes, transport sand, direct traffic and work together to solve problems, just like the real road crews.

Through this play, tamariki are making sense of the world around them, developing working theories about how roads, pipes and construction work. They practise communication, cooperation and negotiation as they share ideas and work alongside one another. They are also strengthening their fine and gross motor skills while digging, lifting, pushing and transporting materials.

It is wonderful to see how meaningful, real-life experiences inspire rich, imaginative play and learning. We can't wait to see where their construction project takes them next! 🚜🛻🦺

06/08/2026

Tamariki at Matairangi Kindergarten have an ongoing interest in vehicles. To build on their interest, this morning kaiako created a simple vehicle provocation using our road mat and a selection of cars and trucks.

The work to replace the storm water pipes started outside kindergarten this morning, and tamariki are already incorporating what they've noticed into their play. It didn't take long for tamariki to take this simple, kaiako created experience in their own direction. They discovered some large pipes and eagerly incorporated them into their play, sending vehicles through the tunnels, driving over the pipes and experimenting with different ways to move their cars. There was plenty of excitement as they explored which vehicles would fit, how fast they travelled and what happened when the pipes were positioned in different ways.

This spontaneous extension of the play demonstrated tamariki's growing curiosity about the world around them. By drawing on what they had observed in their local environment, they began developing working theories about roads, pipes and construction. Along the way, they were problem-solving, making predictions, experimenting with cause and effect, and sharing ideas with one another.

When children are given open-ended resources and the freedom to explore, their own ideas often lead the learning in exciting and unexpected directions. 🌟

27/07/2026

This is a critical time for early childhood education. After months of upheaval and change in the sector, we now have another report proposing more changes, this time to funding.

The consultation document that forms part of the government’s review of ECE, being undertaken by the ministerial appointed funding review group, has been released.

Kindergartens Aotearoa is concerned that it ignores the fundamental issue: the level of funding is simply not enough, and it hasn't kept pace with rising costs.

The options presented mean shifting money around rather than increasing it, with teacher qualifications, pay and conditions treated as areas where trade-offs can be made. These factors are fundamental to high quality provision, and undermining them would be devastating for the over 180,000 babies, toddlers and young children attending teacher-led ECE services each day.

Read more of our response below.

18/07/2026

Batter up! 🏏

There was lots of excitement at kindergarten as tamariki and Kaiako Tash created a new ball game together! Using a large road cone to hold the balls steady, tamariki took turns using a bat to hit the balls as far as they could.

There were plenty of cheers, laughter, and celebrations as everyone had a go. Along the way, tamariki were developing hand-eye coordination, balance, strength, and body control while practising turn taking, patience, and encouraging their friends.

It was wonderful to see how a simple idea sparked so much creativity, collaboration, and joyful learning. Sometimes the best experiences come from working together and giving something new a try!

14/07/2026

Through planting, tamariki are connecting with the rhythms of the Maramataka and the meaning of Matariki. As we welcome the Māori New Year, we are learning about the relationship between people, the whenua, the stars, and the seasons, while nurturing new growth in our garden 🌱