At Play to Learn ngaa tamariki love delving deep and connecting to their natural world, our Papatuuaanuku, and our atua. Through experiences such as gardening, tamariki develop authentic connections that enrich and nourish their own kaakano, as well as learning how to being kaitiaki of their land and their surrounding environment. With the wonderful growth from our gardens, we are able to not only nourish ourselves but our worms too. With a solid knowledge basis, ngaa tamariki are able to select different kai from our gardens to maintain our worms. Ngaa tamariki chose a range of cabbage, spinach, and beetroot leaves, and were able to successfully lead our worm feeding. In return, our worms give us a wonderful nutrient-rich worm tea which we are able to mix back into our gardens and the cycle of growth continues.
Tuumeke to mahi tamariki ma!
The Māori value of kaitiakitanga establishes relationships between people as well as a persons’ relationship with the spiritual realm, and the environment. Kaitiakitanga has a strong focus on rights, responsibilities, relationships, and the role of kaitiaki (guardian) over the natural environment. An important aspect of this is reciprocity between the kaitiaki and the land. The kaitiaki cares for the land ensuring its sustainability and the resource sustains the kaitiaki (Miller, n.d).’’
