Totara Grove Playcentre

01/03/2026

It's Messy Play Week at Playcentre this week! Come for a visit and explore the benefits for your tamariki and you! We are open this morning and Wednesday morning

02/02/2026

Nau mai hoki mai – welcome back to Tōtara Grove Playcentre 🌱

Today we enjoyed a simple but engaging sensory activity using paper shreds. This kind of play supports fine motor skills, exploration and creativity — and it was a big hit with our tamariki!

10/12/2025

This week our tamariki enjoyed a special moment in our Playcentre garden as they helped harvest the vegetables they’ve been caring for over the past weeks. With curious hands and excited voices, they explored the garden beds, discovering ripe veggies ready to be picked.

This hands-on experience allowed our tamariki to learn about where kai comes from, develop their confidence, and practise teamwork as they worked alongside their friends. They proudly gathered the vegetables, sharing their discoveries and celebrating the results of their hard mahi.

It was a beautiful reminder of how capable our tamariki are when given opportunities to connect with nature and participate in real, meaningful tasks. We look forward to using our fresh harvest in upcoming Playcentre activities and shared kai times! 🌿🥕✨

03/11/2025

Yay for spring weather! 🌞 Our tamariki have been loving spending time outdoors and getting into the messy play again 🫟

10/09/2025

We are loving spending time in our food Forrest! Today we harvested some peas then enjoyed eating them for morning tea. Nothing as good as the crunch from ultra-fresh self grown veges! Plenty more peas left for more little garden lovers 😊

11/07/2025

10/06/2025

Food Forest Update 🍓🍊🌳

Our new Food Forest was planted over the last school holidays. Our Playcentre whānau had a blast planting together. It has been so wonderful to watch our forest grow!

Huge thanks to Whangarei District Council for the grant that made this possible, and to Permadynamics New Zealand for the design and installation.

If your family is keen to check out our Food Forest, come and visit our centre on Monday, Wednesday or Thursday mornings 8:30-12:30. We’d love to show you around!

08/05/2025

Happy Mother's day to the incredible mother's & motherers who are part our community. You give so much & we appreciate you. We celebrated our mum's by making them beautiful heart magnets at Playcentre today ❤️

30/04/2025

Today we enjoyed getting out our tools in the carpentry area and learning some new skills.