Fern Garden Preschool and Childcare Centre

On this day, our tamariki had an entertaining moment where they pretended to be a band group. Some tamariki initiated playing the guitar while others sang. The highlight of the event was that most of the band members wore their special hats.

Through this playful experience, our tamariki demonstrated rich and meaningful learning across several areas. Their imaginative play showed creative expression as they transformed everyday objects into instruments and costumes, bringing their own ideas to life. Collaborating as a ‘band’ reflected growing social skills such as negotiating roles, taking turns, and working together toward a shared goal.

🌿🖼️ Our Friday Hīkoi to the Tauranga Art Gallery allowed tamariki to actively engage with local art and culture. They explored exhibitions, interacted with artworks, and discovered interactive musical installations and ‘Wonder Boxes’ which fostered curiosity and creativity. This group visual art experience supported their development in areas such as communication, working theories and social skills, while strengthening connections to the world around them. Through this experience, tamariki developed essential life skills, including listening, turn-taking, and teamwork, and gained confidence interacting with their wider community 🖼️🌿

Today tamariki explored our water-mixing station, carefully scooping, pouring, and combining coloured water to discover what new colours they could create. As they experimented, they were developing early scientific thinking, problem-solving skills, and an understanding of cause and effect. They shared ideas, tested their theories, and observed the changes happening right before their eyes. 🌈 🌈 🌈

💛 Face painting with regular water is one of the very creative child-led activities that happen frequently at Fern Garden. Yesterday, our small group of Fernlings who were visiting the preschool found a paint brush and bowl before beginning their own face painting fun 🩵 When others joined in, the beautiful tuakana-teina relationships that bloom between Preschool and Fernling tamariki are highlighted 💚

🌿🌈 Over the last week, our preschool tamariki have been working on a collaborative recycling art mural, transforming a recycled cardboard box into a vibrant masterpiece. The kauri kids started by using hot glue guns to stick recycling items onto a large board, creating a textured base. Next, all the tamariki took turns painted the board with a white undercoat, followed by a rainbow of colours, bringing their recycling mural to life. This visual art group experience helps to develop their fine motor skills, creativity, and problem-solving abilities as they worked together through each stage. Through this hands-on experience, tamariki practiced turn taking, mahi tahi and pride in their creations. The finished mural is a stunning testament to their hard mahi and artistic vision 🌈🌿

🌈❤️☃️ Our preschool tamariki enjoyed a fun and creative salt art experience, drawing āniwaniwa (rainbows), ngākau (hearts) and many other imaginative pictures.

This hands-on activity supported the children's creativity, fine motor development, hand-eye coordination, concentration, and self-expression. As tamariki shared their ideas and discussed their artwork with friends, they also strengthened their communication and social skills.

This learning experience aligns with Te Whāriki's Mana Reo and Mana Aotūroa strands, encouraging children to express themselves creatively while exploring different materials and artistic techniques. 🎨✨🌈

Exploring Our Sensory Walk
This week we added something new and exciting to our sensory walk — a tyre! Our tamariki worked together to roll the tyre all the way down towards the bridge until they could move it no further. After some problem solving and teamwork, they decided to wedge it sideways onto the bridge.
This simple addition sparked so much curiosity and creativity. The tamariki eagerly explored all the different ways they could interact with the tyre. They took turns climbing through it, over it, and even sitting inside it. There was lots of laughter, encouragement, and excitement as they challenged themselves and shared ideas with one another.
Through this experience, our tamariki were developing their gross motor skills, balance, coordination, and confidence. They also demonstrated wonderful mahi tahi (teamwork) as they waited patiently for turns and supported each other during their play.
Most importantly, everyone had so much fun exploring together, and we captured some amazing photos of these joyful moments of discovery and adventure.

On Friday, our Out the Gate hīkoi took us down to the estuary at Kulim Park to explore the sea life hiding beneath the rocks and in the shallow rock pools. Tamariki were thrilled to discover crabs, shells, and even a tiny fish!

These real-world experiences spark curiosity and support children to develop their working theories about the natural world. Through observing, questioning, and sharing ideas, tamariki were building their understanding of local ecosystems while connecting with nature in a meaningful way. 🌿🦀🐟

This week, our tamariki enjoyed a blissful autumn experience when the leaves of our tree outside were shaken down. They were super excited to feel the leaves falling softly onto them, to hear the satisfying crunch beneath their feet, and to smell the rich, earthy scent of the season as they crushed the crispy leaves on the ground. 🍂

🌿📚 Our preschool tamariki were delighted to receive a special visit from the Tauranga Library team on Tuesday, who shared engaging pukapuka and waiata in te reo Māori. This interactive session supported the children's imagination, social interactions, gross motor skills, listening skills, and language development. Exposure to bilingual language experiences like this also enhances cognitive flexibility and cultural awareness, benefiting young children's language skills. We extend our sincere thanks to Tauranga Library for providing this enriching experience for our tamariki 📚🌿