At Snells Beach Kindergarten, lots of our children had been talking about fairy gardens. After lots of consulting with tamariki about what a fairy garden should have in it, we transformed our Wendy House into a fairy grotto. We also incorporated a small space with a canopy for enclosing yourself in as a relaxing or calming down space. This area has been very well used by both girls and boys, and lots of imaginary play has evolved through this area.

With the move to lockdown, one of the teachers created a fairy house and posted it on Storypark, suggesting that this could be a project for families to try out themselves. This sparked a discussion from parents about fairy gardens both in our local area and also the wider Auckland area for viewing post lockdown. Tamariki were also challenged by one of our teachers to collect natural materials and create crowns. Some amazing crowns have been created, some were even referred to as fairy crowns. We are looking forward to seeing where this interest will lead as we settle back into kindergarten life again.

Another project we have done was sparked with a child’s interest in concrete.

Who knew concrete could be so captivating? We were so very privileged to be taken on a journey of discovery and delight, as one of our tamariki shared and infected us all with the wonderful possibilities concrete and its accessories have to offer. It largely played out in the sandpit, often with an enthusiastic team mixing concrete and inventing creative ways of transporting it with shovels, chutes and showers of water! The term-long interest culminated in constructing a concrete road/race track, that required many of the skills, knowledge and vocabulary acquired by the sandpit crew. We were very lucky to have a dad lend a hand with the logistics and provide the wheel barrow. We were also serendipitously gifted a fantastic toy concrete mixer, amongst it all, complete with a rotating drum and extendable chute. That intrigued many a construction worker. We also transformed our Wendy House into a construction site and located many books, video clips and photos that sparked construction conversations a plenty.