Country Bears Early Childhood Centre

09/11/2025

**Rare Opportunity at Country Bears**

Due to a few families relocating out of Auckland and others choosing to delay their enrolments, we now have spaces available in our Babies Room and Over 3s Room. This is a unique chance to join our nurturing, play-rich, nature learning environment!

If you've been thinking about enrolling your little one, now is the perfect time to secure a spot in our loving and well-established (since 1993) centre.

Our Babies Room has that home away from home feel, connection to nature, large outdoor areas, with teachers who are calm and provide responsive care.

Our over 3 rooms encourage inspiring learning through play and exploration where each child has a sense of belonging and connection.

Spaces like these don’t come up often - get in touch today to arrange a visit or learn more!

Call us on: 09 412 8055
Email: [email protected]
Or send us a message right here on Facebook!

We can’t wait to welcome you and your whānau into our Country Bears community

Country Bears Kumeu provides high quality childcare, early childhood education by creating an natural environment where children are safe, nurtured and loved.

29/09/2025

No matter the weather, our youngest tamariki embrace every moment with curiosity and joy! From the many inside adventures to puddle-jumping days, they explore their world with open hearts and curious minds.
Through nga pukapuka (books), our little ones dive into early literacy, building a love for stories and language from the very beginning. When they are given the opportunity for mark making (using chalk), they express themselves creatively — and it’s more than just drawing! There’s a beautiful reciprocal flow between the child and their environment, where each mark sparks new ideas, reactions and discoveries.
This explorative play opens doors to rich learning opportunities, fostering communication, imagination and connection.
We are so proud of the way our babies engage, explore and grow every single day.

09/04/2025

Wow, what an incredibly busy few months we've had!

We've been connecting with nature, creating beautiful masterpieces and building strong relationships to help our children thrive.

In addition to all that, we also hosted a parent information evening focused on navigating children's behavior.

We truly love our Country Bears family; it's a supportive and genuine community that fosters a culture of trust and collaboration.

Together, we are creating an environment where everyone can grow and succeed.

26/08/2024

Why sharing is NOT caring

(as published in the Kumeu Courier)

"It's mine" .... “It’s my turn” … “I had it first” … these are often phrases we hear with our children.

For those who are still developing their verbal skills, we see objects being taken from the hands of another child. We often believe that young children who are speaking and have a good sense of the world, would recognise the concept of sharing, however, sharing is simply beyond their understanding. They may hear a common phrase like “sharing is caring” or “it’s kind to share with your friends”, and as adults we believe we are demonstrating kindness and compassion, but all children see and hear is that their beloved toy that they were enjoying, has just been given away.

Do we foster sharing? Do we encourage the children to share? Actually, no, we don’t. It would be like asking a baby who has just been born, to get up and start walking, or a one year old to have a conversation with us. Their brains just haven’t developed enough to grasp that concept.

Most children have not developed the sense that they are separate or an individual, so when they are holding on to their toy for dear life, they are learning that they are an individual and want to have a sense of power in their world. Their need to have this time with the toy is testing the hypothesis that they are in fact, an individual in the world. Research shows that children do not have the brain development or understanding of sharing until the age of around five or six, which may come as a shock, as many parents believe that children should master the art of sharing by their 2nd birthday.
The distinction between making kids share and encouraging kids to share is crucial.

According to author Heather Shumaker and based on her book “It’s OK NOT to share (and Other Renegade Rules for Raising Competent and Compassionate Kids)”, Shumaker makes the case that sharing should be authentic. It shouldn’t be done begrudgingly or on demand. It needs to be genuine. When we allow this, the rewards will be more long-term.

So what do we do? We encourage, role model and foster turn-taking; this could sound something like: “when you have finished playing with that truck, could you give it to Sam?”. We allow the child to fully explore with what they have, with no time limit. Yes, they may play with their object of desire for a really long time, especially in the eye of another child who also wants a turn, but this then teaches patience; a life lesson in the making - we can’t always get what we want immediately.

Research also shows us that if we force the art of sharing before a child is ready, this could backfire and delay the development of sharing skills and generosity. Thus, (as child development practitioners note), a child could stay longer in the “what’s yours is mine, what’s mine is mine, what I see is mine” phase for longer. Nobody likes having things taken away from them.

Imagine if you would, buying a brand new car, your dream car, in the perfect colour and only a few kilometers on the clock. But before you can have a real good drive of it, all your friends and family want to have a turn before you’ve even had a change to run it down the motorway. If we force a child to share, it could lead to resentment, maybe the same feeling you may have while waiting to drive your own car.

In addition to this, children who feel secure in their ownership of something, and then chooses to share willingly, these children will develop a lasting sense of generosity.

Country Bears - a friendly and engaging family atmosphere, reflected by our beliefs. Established in 1993, Country Bears is the name in childcare that you can trust. We are proud of who we are and how we got here, and we are committed to continue to provide this Country Bears quality for another generation.
Please feel free to come and have a look at our beautifully placed Centre with our professional and caring team of teachers. Check us out on our website:

Country Bears Kumeu provides high quality childcare, early childhood education by creating an natural environment where children are safe, nurtured and loved.

20/08/2024

Our nature-based learning is enjoyed by all ages. Having two forest areas enables the children to maneuver the surfaces safely, with some aspect of challenge too! Spending time in nature is enhanced by being able to bring the learning within the Centre.

10/07/2024

Another year celebrating Matariki in our te ngahere (the forest). This is still one of our most favourite and well attending events of the year, bringing all the whanau together. Cooking damper and marshmallows over the fire, enjoying the magic and warmth of the red embers, creating a community of connection.

Through these events, the children are able to share their daily experiences of the forest with their families, which support the connections between their community and within the Centre.

19/06/2024

Within the Centre or down in the forest, in every season of the year, barefoot or gumboots - the sensors are on full alert. We take a positive attitude to the rain and cold; encouraging the children to use their senses to feel the cold wind & rain on their cheeks, hear the sounds of the rain as it hits the ground or roof, smell the air and notice how different it smells when the rain stops. Bare feet in winter is encouraged; children's sensors in their feet are heightened, and this provides information and connection to the brain, thus supporting brain development.

28/05/2024

The last few weeks, our Baby team have been creating wonderful provocations for the children to get involved and spark their curious minds. Being outside is still important in these colder months.

We have also been reading loads of books, which is a definite favourite for our children; we love hearing all the new words the children learn or words from the songs and books we do daily.

21/02/2024

Country Bears provides challenge and risk-taking as being an integral part of any child’s development. We can take this a step forward by acknowledging that children are capable and competent learners, with capacity to learn through real life experiences.

Our children have the opportunity to use tools to whittle sticks and use flint & steel to create fire. Starting off using a potato peeler before moving onto the Opinel Knives for whittling, allows them to understand the safety and awareness required when working with tools. Shavings that have been created by the children can be used to start a fire using a flint and steel. To gain confidence in using a flint and steel we set up cotton wool with some vaseline, which provides a positive and rewarding experience when there is perseverance.

We reinforce the understanding that these tools are to be used with care and consideration with safety being a focus throughout. In our experience, when children have opportunity to use tools, we notice a new appreciation and awareness of not only their learning, but their sense of pride in their own capabilities. When a child has such an awareness, self-efficacy and identity are strengthened, thus future experiences are willingly accepted and risks are assessed rationally.