Busy Bees New Plymouth

At Busy Bees New Plymouth, our preschool room, Waiwhakaiho, has been immersed in learning about science and discovering the world around us. From using magnifying lenses to observe a range of creepy crawlies to getting our hand dirty learning about what seeds need to thrive, our tamariki have asked many questions to deepen their understanding.
Our tamariki have been highly engaged in these learning experiences and excited about the activities and discoveries still to come. There have been so many opportunities to Bee-curious and explore te maramatanga ki te ao - understanding the world around us!

Sensory Play!🎨
Here in our Waimea (Toddler) ruma our tamariki love sensory play!
Sensory play encourages our curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving while allowing tamariki to learn at their own pace.
We love experiencing a different range of sensory play from sand, paint, gloop, slime to many more amazing activities. Sensory play is always a highlight for our tamariki and they are always so engaged and having fun!💛

Happy Mother’s Day! 💐 💮

To all the whaea, mums, step-mums, grandmas, nanas and mother figures in our lives - today is for you!

For the early starts, the big hugs, the long nights, and the endless love in so many different forms… we see it, and we appreciate it.

Sending love and aroha to you today.
We also hold space today, for those who may be missing someone, waiting for someone, or carrying their motherhood journey quietly. 💗 💜

Here in our Waiwhakaiho Rūma, small group time is a special part of our day where we come together as a learning community. We begin by gathering on the mat and sharing a karakia, creating a calm and respectful space before moving into our group activities.

After this, our tamariki break into smaller groups to take part in teacher-led experiences that are both fun and meaningful. These activities include memory games, puzzles, construction challenges, creative projects like making cars, and active games such as rippa tag. Each experience is thoughtfully planned to reflect our tamariki’s current interests while also supporting their learning and development.

Small group time provides rich opportunities for our tamariki to build important skills. They develop their communication and language as they share ideas and work alongside others. They strengthen their problem-solving and critical thinking through hands-on challenges and grow their confidence as they try new things and step outside their comfort zones. Through mahi tahi (working together), they learn about teamwork, turn-taking, and respecting different perspectives.

This time also allows for more intentional teaching, where kaiako can support individual learning and extend thinking.

We truly value small group time in Waiwhakaiho Rūma, and our Tamariki look forward to seeing what fun activity they will be doing!

In honour of ANZAC Day, our Waimea toddler room have been focusing on what it means to be kind to our friends and to give support to each other.

Our hive has been full of meaningful exploration this week, with tamariki engaging in ANZAC-inspired experiences such as painting a collaborative mural, imaginative play with army figures and lots of pukapuka with Anzac Ted being a special one that we shared in our Hive time. These experiences have supported conversations around care, respect, and working together which are all equally important values in our Waimea space. We finished the week off making delicious anzac biscuits that we shared together with a picnic afternoon tea.

Connections thrive and flourish when we are having fun!

Our wonderful Kaiako take pride in the connections that they build through respectful and reciprocal relationships and interactions with even our smallest pēpi ❤️

Our tamariki love to connect with and show aroha to one another through the interactions they see role modelled by their kaiako! We make connections as e hoa and learn to read social cues ❤️

We feel so lucky to nurture sibling connections throughout our centre, whether it be visits at the fence or inviting our siblings over for a play! We love to have fun and foster those home connections too ❤️

Connection is so important to us here at Busy Bees as we wholeheartedly support each tamaiti with their sense of belonging and finding their place in the world!

Today is a great day to celebrate another of our wonderful kaiako here at Busy Bees New Plymouth 🐝

Mia ❤️ one of our infant kaiako superstars 🌟

Mia is the most genuine, kind, caring and heart led kaiako! With the most beautiful relationships with our tamariki and whanau Mia really shines in her calm and nurturing way of being. Respect is at the core of every interaction and so many of us are in awe of the patience and love which Mia undoubtedly shows each and every day!

We are so lucky to have such a special kaiako with a big heart ❤️

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“He aroha whakato, he aroha p**a mai”

“If kindness is sown, then kindness you shall receive”

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Kia ora koutou, we have a very exciting Open Day coming up on Thursday 12th February, 4:00–6:00pm 🎉
This is a great opportunity for whānau who are interested in joining our centre to come along and see how awesome our centre is.

If you know you’ll be attending, please comment below so we can plan accordingly.
Ngā mihi nui everyone, and enjoy the long weekend 🙌🏼