ZOOM, BEEP, SCREECH, AND HONK!

This may sound like your typical morning traffic in Auckland, but in fact it is the hustle and bustle at Oranga Kindergarten!

Each morning, our mat area would be transformed into a mini city. There would be ramps, travelling and curving in all sorts of places. There would be bridges, so high, that even our harbour bridge would look miniscule in comparison. Our tamariki, would spend countless hours, modifying the city, in order to make their cars go even FASTER than we can imagine possible. FAST was always the goal, and if they can make it go FASTER, then they would! This would involve elevating ramps or connecting ramps to create a faster lane to ZOOM through. Tunnels was another way to compete with each other, and many cheering the cars on as they sped down the ramp and disappear into the dark tunnel, to been seen only in the space of 3 seconds and counting.

This interest has stemmed all the way since last term in 2025, and in the new year, it still has strongly lingered on. This natural emerging interest has supported our tamariki to not only work together but also draw out many strengths in each other. At times, this would bring out our older children rangatira (leadership) but also hone on manaakitanga (care) for each other. The teamwork seems effortless, when there is so much fun and joy to be shared around. There were plenty of encouragement, support and aroha.

Everyone was always welcomed to join or participate at their own accord, and the play continued all day.

As an extension of our tamariki interest, a retired builder, near our local community offered to help. He helped, in the kindest and most loving way, which is through his own time. He spent many hours, weeks and months working on designing, cutting and building wooden cars for our tamariki. They are not only lovingly made with aroha but upcycled wood that would have gone into our landfill. He also used canola oil to varnish the cars to ensure our tamariki safety. He has gifted these wooden vehicles to our tamariki, instilling continued play, learning, hope and inspire to dream as BIG as they wish.