Busy Bees Te Rapa

🌱🌸 He wā whakatō – A time for planting! 🌸🌱

Our tamariki in the Babies Room have been busy preparing our garden for spring! 🪴💦 Using shovels to dig and pour water to soften and prepare the soil, the tamariki enjoyed getting hands-on and helping to get our garden ready for planting beautiful flowers. 🌼🌷

This experience also connects beautifully with Te Reo Māori Week, giving our tamariki opportunities to learn and use simple kupu Māori as we explore the natural world together.

🌱 Kupu hou (new words):
🪴 Kākano – seed
🌸 Puāwai – flower
💧 Wai – water
🌿 Rākau – plant/tree
🌎 Whenua – land

Through gardening, our tamariki are developing their fine and gross motor skills, confidence, curiosity, and a sense of manaakitanga (care and respect) for our environment. 💚

He iti te kākano, ka tupu hei rākau. 🌱
From a small seed, a great tree can grow.

We can’t wait to watch our flowers grow alongside our tamariki! 🌸💚

🌿✨ Ka tīmata tō tātou Wiki o Te Reo Māori! ✨🌿

What a wonderful way to kick off Māori Language Week in our Preschool Room! 💚

Our tamariki went on a creative learning journey exploring one of our local taonga, Te Awa o Waikato (the Waikato River). The river was brought to life right in our room through a thoughtfully created learning space, sparking curiosity, imagination, and lots of wonderful conversations.

They also discovered some of the freshwater creatures that call the Waikato River home, learned about the fascinating Taniwha, and explored the story and significance of Tangaroa, atua of the sea and waterways.

We are excited to continue celebrating te reo Māori, our local environment, and the stories of Aotearoa throughout the week!

🌿 He taonga te reo Māori, Māori language is a treasure. 🌿

🌼💛 A Heartfelt Thank You to Our Whānau 💛🌼

Following our Daffodil Day celebration on 28 August, we would like to say a huge thank you to all our wonderful whānau who generously contributed donations to support people affected by cancer.

Thanks to your kindness and generosity, Busy Bees Te Rapa collected the donations and visited the Cancer Society in Frankton to personally hand over the amount raised. It was a meaningful opportunity for us to come together as a community and show our support for cancer survivors and those affected by cancer.

We are incredibly grateful for the kindness shown by our whānau. Every contribution, big or small, helped us make a positive difference.

Te Whāriki Connection – Contribution | Mana Tangata
This experience reflects Mana Tangata – Contribution, as tamariki and whānau are encouraged to participate, contribute and show care for others in their community. Through Daffodil Day, our tamariki were supported to develop an understanding of manaakitanga (caring for others), kindness, generosity and whanaungatanga (relationships and connection). 🤍

Thank you, whānau, for helping us teach our tamariki that kindness and caring can make a difference.

Our Preschool Learning Through Fun

This week they enjoyed building their science vocabulary, practising letter tracing, and discovering the fascinating parts of a plant. Through play, exploration, and hands-on experiences, our tamariki were able to learn, share ideas, and build their confidence.

It was wonderful to see their curiosity and enthusiasm shine as they explored and learned together!

He ako te ako - learning is a journey we take together. 💚

🚗🚲⛵ Transport Adventures in Puāwai Room! ⛵🚂✈️

Our tamariki have been enjoying exploring the wonderful world of transport! 🌈✨ They had lots of fun learning how to make their own paper boats, folding and creating.

It has been beautiful to see their curiosity, imagination and excitement as they explore how people and things travel from one place to another. 💛🌏

Learning through play, creating and exploring together! 🌟

🔤✨ Word Bingo Fun in Kowhai Rūma! ✨🔤

Our Kowhai preschool tamariki had a fantastic time exploring words through a fun and engaging Word Bingo activity today! 🎉

As they listened carefully and searched for the matching words, they strengthened their listening skills, word recognition, and confidence in early literacy. It was wonderful to see their excitement as they called out “Bingo!” and celebrated their learning together 🥳

Activities like this support our tamariki in building strong foundations for reading and communication, all while having fun with their friends.

Ka pai, Kowhai Rūma! 💛

💛🌼 Daffodil Day Celebration in Our Babies Room 🌼💛

What a beautiful week of learning, exploring, and giving in our Babies Room! 💛

Throughout the week, our tamariki enjoyed a range of yellow-themed experiences to celebrate Daffodil Day. From exploring a yellow sensory tray, reading colourful stories, creating beautiful yellow flower collages, painting with yellow colours, and even enjoying the exciting experience of painting on ice – there was so much fun, creativity, and sensory exploration! 🎨🌼🧊

On Daffodil Day, we were also incredibly grateful for the kindness and generosity of our tamariki and whānau who contributed gold coin donations. 💛 Every contribution was a wonderful way of showing aroha, kindness, and support for an important cause.

A big thank you to our wonderful whānau for being part of this meaningful celebration. Together, we created a week filled with learning, love, kindness, and lots of yellow! 🌼💛

🌼💛 Kōwhai Room Celebrates Daffodil Day 💛🌼

Today in our Kōwhai Preschool Room, we came together to celebrate Daffodil Day — a special time to show love and support for people in our community who are unwell.

During mat time, we talked about why Daffodil Day is important. The tamariki shared their thoughts about caring for others, showing kindness, and letting our sick friends know that we are thinking of them and we share our gold coin too 💛

To express our learning, the children got creative by making beautiful daffodil paintings and collages, filling our room with bright yellow reminders of hope and care. 🎨🌼

We also celebrated Yellow Day, wearing yellow and surrounding ourselves with this cheerful colour that represents positivity, strength, and support.

We are so proud of our tamariki for showing empathy, kindness, and understanding towards others. 💛

🌸✨ Celebrated Raksha Bandhan & Friendship Day! 🤝💛

Our toddlers had a wonderful time participating in the preparations for Raksha Bandhan and Friendship Day. They enjoyed getting creative by making colourful rakhis, friendship bands and helping with the preparation of delicious ladoos. 🪢🍬

Through this experience, the children explored different colours, textures, and materials while developing their fine-motor skills, creativity, confidence, and sense of belonging. They also experienced the joy of celebrating friendship, caring, sharing, and togetherness. 💕🌈