Stepping Stones Preschool

07/09/2026

Happy 5th Birthday to our awesome friend Tamati! 🥳🎈

We hope you have had the most amazing day celebrating with us all! We’ve had lots of fun, plenty of laughter, and of course… delicious cupcakes! 🧁😋

Thank you for sharing your yummy cupcakes with us all — they were absolutely delicious! 💕🧁

Have the best 5th birthday, Tamati! 🎂🎉💙

03/09/2026

📚💛 A HUGE thank you to the wonderful team at Whangārei Library! 💛📚

We are so grateful for the amazing job you have done revamping the Liliput Library that sits right outside our centre! 🥰

Our tamariki absolutely love popping outside to see what exciting books are waiting for us to discover. 📖✨ There is always something new and interesting to explore, and it has quickly become a special part of our centre adventures.

What a wonderful way to connect our tamariki with books, literacy and our wider community. We love being able to share this little space with our whānau and community and encourage a lifelong love of reading. ❤️

Thank you, Whangārei Library, for helping make our little library so special! 📚🌿✨

31/08/2026

This week we are exploring E and E is for… EVERYTHING! 💛

Our tamariki have been using a wide range of fun and engaging resources to discover all things E-related. From exploring new words and sounds to getting hands-on with our activities, the children have been loving every opportunity to learn, play and investigate. 🐘🥚🌎

We can’t wait to see what other exciting E adventures we can get up to as we continue our letter-of-the-week journey! 💫

E is for exploring, engaging and ENJOYING our learning

31/08/2026

28/08/2026

🍩 D is for Delicious Donuts! 🍩

To wrap up our learning of the letter D, our tamariki got busy in the kitchen making some delicious donuts!

What a fantastic week we have had exploring the letter D and discovering so many words that begin with this letter. From dinosaurs, diggers, doctors, dentists, and dump trucks to our very own delicious donuts, our tamariki have embraced every opportunity to learn through play, exploration, and hands-on experiences.

Making donuts was the perfect way to celebrate all of our learning. The tamariki enjoyed helping with the preparation, watching the ingredients come together, and of course, tasting the finished product!

We are so proud of the enthusiasm, curiosity, and growing literacy skills our tamariki have shown throughout our letter D journey. We can't wait to see what exciting discoveries await us as we continue exploring the alphabet together! 🌟

27/08/2026

🌟 D is for Dinosaurs, Diggers, Dump Trucks, Dominoes, Dentists and Doctors! 🌟

This week, as we continue our exciting journey through the alphabet, we discovered the letter D! Our tamariki have had lots of fun exploring and identifying words that begin with this special letter.

From roaring dinosaurs and busy diggers to powerful dump trucks, our learning has been filled with imagination, conversation, and discovery. We also talked about dentists and doctors, learning about the important roles they play in helping us stay healthy. Along the way, we enjoyed playing with dominoes, strengthening our thinking, matching, and turn-taking skills.

It has been wonderful to see our tamariki making connections between letters, sounds, and the world around them. We can't wait to see what exciting discoveries the next letter will bring! 🔤✨

26/08/2026

This week our tamariki have shown teamwork at its finest! 😊

Over the last week, the tamariki have been thrilled to have the swing back in our environment. Together, they have worked hard to understand and follow the kaupapa around using the swing safely, and it has been wonderful to hear them taking the lead by gently reminding their friends of the rules.

Throughout their play, the tamariki have been developing and demonstrating important skills such as teamwork, negotiation, leadership, communication, and turn-taking. They have been working together to solve problems, support one another, and ensure everyone has a chance to participate.

Most importantly, they have been challenging their bodies, building confidence, and having lots of fun while learning valuable social skills along the way. We are so proud of the way our tamariki are showing respect, responsibility, and care for each other every day! 🌟

24/08/2026

✨ Garden to Table Learning ✨

This morning our tamariki revisited their Garden to Table interest and spent time harvesting fresh spring onions from our preschool garden. 🌱

After gathering our harvest, we headed into the kitchen where the tamariki got creative helping to prepare some delicious spring onion, corn, and cheese fritters. 🧅🌽🧀

Experiences like these provide wonderful opportunities for children to connect with where their food comes from, develop practical life skills, and work together as a team. There was great excitement as they mixed the ingredients, watched the fritters cook, and of course, enjoyed tasting their creations!

What a fantastic way to celebrate the fruits (and vegetables!) of our hard work in the garden. Well done, tamariki! 💚

21/08/2026

💚 Farewell, Emily! 💚

Today we said a very special goodbye to our amazing student teacher, Emily, as she completes her final practicum with us and reaches the end of her Bachelor of Teaching journey! 🎓✨

Thank you, Emily, for sharing such a special part of your teaching journey with our tamariki and kaiako. We have loved watching your confidence and teaching skills grow, and we are so grateful for all the fun, laughter, learning and beautiful moments you have shared with us. 🌿💕

During her time with us, Emily especially enjoyed singing one of our tamariki favourite songs, “Five Green and Speckled Frogs” 🐸🎶. So, to make her farewell extra special, Emily gifted the tamariki some beautiful speckled frogs that she had made for them! What a thoughtful and special gift to remember her by. 🐸💚

Thank you, Emily, for everything you have brought to Stepping Stones Preschool. We wish you all the very best as you begin this exciting new chapter as a qualified early childhood teacher. We know you are going to be amazing! 🌟

Ka kite anō, Emily! 💕🐸

20/08/2026

What an amazing learning experience we have been sharing together as our tamariki continue to explore their growing interest in literacy! 📚💛

This week we have been focusing on emotional literacy and learning to recognise, understand, and express our feelings. The tamariki began by drawing around their bodies and choosing an emotion they wanted to explore. In their own words, they then described what colour represented that emotion and explained why they had chosen it.

We had some wonderful conversations as the tamariki shared how their chosen emotion made them feel and discussed strategies they could use to help change or manage those feelings when needed. It was incredible to hear their thoughtful ideas and see their growing understanding of themselves and others.

Experiences like these help build confidence, empathy, communication skills, and emotional awareness—important foundations for lifelong learning and wellbeing.

🌈 Emotional literacy at its finest! We are so proud of the thoughtful discussions and reflections our tamariki shared this week. 💕