Fancy Nancy is a popular story we love to share at Kindergarten, so it seemed like a fun idea to have a "Fancy Nancy" party so we would all have the opportunity to dress up and share "fancy" food.

The girls were busy, getting ready for the big day.... jewellery to make,

                 clothes to sew,

          and food to prepare.

This all came culminated in a wonderful morning of celebration.  It was great to have family dress-up and come and join us for morning tea.

Off to Damin's house.

At Nayland Kindergarten we value the way that many whanau open up their homes for us to come enjoy and explore. These visits support children to make connections between home and kindergarten, the opportunity to practice respecting and caring for others treasures and a way to deepen the friendships that are happening at kindergarten.  Of course there is the added addition of parents having the opportunity to get to know other parents and caregivers too, which helps build a sense of community and whakawhanaungatanga.
This week Damin and his whanau invited us to their place.  Thanks so much Mikayla and Damin for the invitation.  We all had a great time exploring your whare and sharing yummy food and wonderful toys too.

"Lets bike to the park"

There had been lots of bike ridingg happening at kindergarten, so when Hadrian suggested "Let's bike to the Park", I thought what a great idea!

When the day arrived, with great excitement everyone got ready; backpacks, shoes and helmet.  Then off we set, past Broadgreen Intermediate, turning down and onto the Railway Reserve, we peddled for several blocks until we reached the Park.  After all that exercise we were hungry and thirsty, so sat together and had our morning kai.

Then it was time to explore! There was a fun dirt track that wound around the park, and up and down the hills.  Everyone did a great job of going in the same direction, and waiting at the top of the hill for their turn to go down.  There was so much energy amongst the group, the boys just kept on riding..... although some tried running it too!  

The morning flew by, and all too soon it was time to head back to kindergarten.

At kindergarten we love the opportunity to head out and explore our wider community, and supporting the children"s interests and passions.  On the bike ride back, there was talk of where  we could ride to next, with the BMX track was a popular choice... we will have to see what we can organise!

It's a nice day for a white wedding.

On of our student teachers got married at Easter Weekend and because we love any opportunity to celebrate here at Nayland Kindergarten we held a celebration morning tea for her.  The girls particularly liked being able to dress up in fancy dresses and have glitter sprinkled though their hair and they also loved the opportunity to escort Abby up the make shift aisle.  Congratulations Abby and John.  We wish you all the best for your future together .

Super Hero Saturday.

SuperHero Saturday.

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No it’ s a bunch of  Super heroes. 

Kindergarten was transformed on Saturday morning when it was taken over by a group of super heroes.  It was wonderful to watch the children show their special heroes around kindergarten, and  be able to  have plenty of  time to enjoy playing together.  We were delighted that so many children and their special heroes could make it to kindergarten.  We trust you all enjoyed yourselves and we look forward to sharing more times like this together.  We know the boys were very excited to be planning this morning and equally excited to be sharing their favourite kindergarten spaces and places with their important people. Tino pai koutou mahi - great work everyone.  

Nā ngā kaiako - from the teachers.

Inspiration for Sculpture

With the completion of our newly landscaped garden area, we have decided to create a sculpture to place n the corner of the stoned area.  With this in mind, we went out into our local community to inspire us, and learn more about sculpture.

We found sculptures made of wood, bronze, metal, ceramic and stone.  Through observation and talking to people in the community who knew about the sculptural artworks, we learnt that the sculptures often told a stories of people, places, and time.

Our next step, is for kaiako, tamariki and whanau, to work together and decide on the story of 'our place' and how we will re-create this within our sculpture.

Our Garden Makeover

Over the last several months we have talked with the children and whanau about what we could do in  the grass area, where the grass just won't grow!

A plan was formed, we wanted water and mud, and the teachers wanted the area to be natural and easily maintained.  With the support of local businesses, Fulton Hogan, Hirepool, and Delta, the materials for the makeover were sourced.

On Saturday a group of willing helpers spent the morning rotary hoeing, digging, carting and creating, and our beautiful new area emerged.

Thanks to everyone who helped on this project.  Already the space is being enjoyed and explored by the children.

Lets go swimming

The temperatures in Nelson this year have been extreme and the thought of going swim was very appealing.  To take under 5yr olds swimming has its challenges but anything is possible so we made it happen.
Kori the Penguin and to come to talk to the children about water safety in pools, beaches and boats first and then we made sure we had all the safety issues sorted and we were off to swim at Nayland Pool.  With 10 children and 12 adults we had a blast and it was great to see the developing water confidence.

Dinosaur Land

One child's interest is the inspiration for dinosaur land to be created at kindergarten.   We went in search of all our dinosaurs and discovered we had about 30 which we matched up and this created lots of discussion about meat eaters and plant eaters and who were the most ferocious.
There were many opportunities for tamariki to explore possible areas for dinosaurs to roam and then we discovered a dinosaur grave which caused great excitement.

Using some old netting, shade cloth, plastic tablecloths and nails it all happened.  We sources foliage from the garden and reels from the sandpits.  Our goal is always to reuse, recycle and redesign!!

It has a life of its own...

If you had wondered is the muddy play had run its cycle the answer is no... children are bringing their togs to ensure that it is happens again and again and again.  Children and whanau have found a way to make it happen more often with less muddy muddy clothing to deal with.  Children are taking responsibility for bringing their togs and changes of clothes so that all the MUDDY PLAY can happen.

It is interesting to know that the girls initiated this and were soon followed by the boys.  Our girls rock!

Creatively collaging...

The wonderful collage contributions by our whanau and the teachers enviro school focus on sustainability have meant that children have a wide selection of natural, recycles and reusable items of to select for their artwork masterpieces.

An idea from a child about stick figures has created lots of interest and this week teachers and children designed a puppet show with our puppets using unfinished paintings and many of the resources donated.