Greening Taupō Day School & ECE Competition
Our Taupō school and Early Education Centre community truly embraced Greening Taupō Day with a fantastic range of activities! We have loved to see all the photos of them ‘Painting the Town Green’, dressing-up and getting into the spirit of the day. Education providers who signed up for the Greening Taupō Day School and ECE Competition all received entry prize packs of vouchers to use at community businesses Taupō Mini Golf, The Cave, AC Baths and The Dropzone. Packs also included a book from Donovan Bixley, a wooden bee craft from Huka Honey Hive, three plants from Tūaropaki Nursery and a bag of vermicast from MyNoke. Intermediate and College students had a chance to win AJ Hackett Bungy and Swing vouchers while ECE centres had Kona Kones ice-cream vouchers.
All entrants had another chance to win large prizes for how they showed the spirit of the event at their school or centre.
The winning school or centre receives a restoration planting worth up to $1000 with Kids Greening Taupō, courtesy of Contact Energy, while Mitre 10 Mega Taupō have generously donated $500 and $200 vouchers for the runners-up.
Here is a little snapshot of the activities each school or centre in our Greening Taupō Day competition got up to:
BestStart Abacus showed amazing commitment to all things green for the week leading up to Greening Taupō Day, from eco-friendly art projects, a green dress-up day and an impressive raffle of green goodies. Hilltop School had a large number of students participate in the planting event, while fundraising back at school with their green dress-up day. Student leaders also organised a rubbish pick-up competition and juniors were out connecting with nature through scavenger hunts.
Laughton Kindergarten tamariki were engaged in very creative activities like recycled art and harakeke weaving, while BestStart Motutaiko celebrated in style with a green-themed disco and planted seedlings. Marotiri School also held their own planting with locally sourced trees in their own native bush area, while having a green-themed dress up parade and competition.
MyTreehut had a whole week focused on environmental education with ngahere walks, pest/waste management, and planting activities. The staff even had their own weeding session at their Kids Greening Taupō planting site. Taupō Primary celebrated with a green dress-up day and ‘greening’ their own school with gardening and planting sessions, while BestStart Te Heuheu Street Kindy explored nature through art and play. Several classes at St Patrick’s School participated in environmental activities such as gardening, planting seedlings, collecting native plants, inspecting previous plantings in the gully close by, and planning garden revitalisations.
Tauhara Primary and Children’s Corner Lakewood Drive also joined in with green-themed activities and tree planting. Kinloch Kindergarten cared for their garden, made bird feeders and held a green dress-up competition, and Waipāhīhī-a-Tia School got the day started with a 'Walking School Bus,' held a green parade, and nature activities, including tree plantings and environmental competitions. Tirohanga School focused on caring for their school environment by investigating their waste management at school and their community environment, by attending the planting event.
Taupō Intermediate helped to prepare the Greening Taupō Day site the day before the event. They laid out plants in their holes with a fertiliser tablet ready for the planters the next day. They also held a dress in green day at school and had seven classes walk down to enjoy the event. Country Kidz had a different green -themed competition each day of the week where children could win a prize from their entry pack. Activities included green lunches, a raffle, a colouring-in competition, nature scavenger hunts and a green dress up day.
Tawa Early Learning Centre raked leaves and weeded the centre grounds while emphasising the importance of caring for Papatūānuku. More bird feeders were made for the garden, and rubbish was cleared from the carpark, walkways, and nearby streets. Vegetables were planted, and their bug hotel was tidied up. They looked after their worm farm, and used the worm tea on the garden. To support Kids Greening Taupō, they dressed in green all week, collected donations, and baked a green-themed cake for morning tea. Wairakei Primary held a dress in green day where at their assembly it looked like a green forest, they also did fun activities such as jump roping in their green outfits.
Tauhara College presented a different environmental activity each day of the week to their student body. One day they dressed in green, the next they had games like ‘Shoot the Predator’ and guess the amount of green jelly beans in the jar. One day they dressed their class windows in green and also had a green themed bake sale to fundraise for Greening Taupō Day.
