New places, new inspiration
We’ve had lots of fun, discoveries and important learning lately!
Take a look at some of our highlights from the term gone by :)
The kids love their gardens at St Thomas More. So much so, they’ve decided they want more!
So we did some research into what cool gardens are around in our community to get some design ideas. It didn’t take us long to find that there is actually some really cool things happening in our community. So off we went to get some awesome design ideas of our own.
The whole Kina class excitedly went over to visit their local kindergarten’s gardens. Here they met the wonderful Whaea Rosie who told us all about the fantastic Arataki Kindergarten’s gardens! What an amazing host she was.
The kids absolutely adored exploring the gardens and I swear they could’ve spent hours in there! They eagerly took photos of nearly every square inch of the area, taking note of the interesting variety of plants, how they were grown to maximise space and how they could adapt what they were seeing into the St Thomas More landscape.
let the kereru know Arataki is where it’s at!
I think the all the vibrant colours & creativity really captured the kids imaginations. The chickens certainly played their part in spiking excitement levels too!
Once they arrived back in class, they were overflowing with inspiration! We captured this in a whole class brainstorming session and then decided on an area which they’d like to develop. This decision was carefully considered, based on a number of important garden criteria. Through looking at these criteria, discussion and consultation with others in the school, they decided upon the area right outside their classroom!
Here the kids could watch the garden as it grows & develops, and connect with it everyday on their way into class. Nature’s wonderful therapy could be enjoyed through their classroom windows! A co-construction of Kina & Pipi’s ultimate outdoor area was underway.
With so much learning about garden design, it’s going to be great to see what happens in this space. The next steps will be to work with a professional designer to get their ideas put into an attractive design - hopefully convincing the decision makers to make it happen!
Keep up the great work kids.
Yours in growing,
Matua Jake