Local education providers take part in town-wide Greening Taupō Day 2022
Once again we were overwhelmed by the support of our local schools and ECE centres on Greening Taupō Day. Over 30 schools/centres took part in some way. Many entered our competition, taking on environmental initiatives or connecting to nature, fundraising for KGT, and dressing in green for the day. Others came along to our planting event to help plant trees and learn from the many conservation experts. A big thanks to the sponsors/judges- Contact Energy and Mitre 10 MEGA Taupō, and of course to all of those schools and ECE centres who took part. You were all amazing and we truly were blown away by the support that we received. Waipahihi School took out the win this year and won $1000 to spend on a restoration planting with KGT. Taupō Kids Community, Taupō Educational Preschool, and Taupō Children’s Corner all won vouchers to spend at Mitre 10 Mega Taupō. Congratulations!
Best Start - Abacus
Here are some photos from what we did on Greening Taupō day! The native trees that Kids Greeing Taupō donated were raffled off to whanau to raise money. We had colouring in, green dress up, wind chime making, green gloop and nature scavenger hunts. It was a fun day spreading awareness of the amazing work you guys do!
Best Start - Totara Street
We had an amazing enviro week at Best Start Totara Street! Jenni – Enviroschools facilitator –came along to make pinecone bird feeders with us. She shared a book on NZ’s birds that may eat the seed from them when hung in the garden! We had a produce sale where we had produce donated by Misfits garden and our staff brought in produce from home for families to buy for a koha to greening Taupō. We had a dress in green day that was a hit with some amazing outfits! We talked about the trees we had been donated, and tried to decide what these were called. We splashed in puddles in the playground, made our own dinosaur gardens with some old toys that were no longer used, and got everything we need to make a vertical garden sometime soon!
Children's Corner Duncan Street
Check out the photos of what we have been doing for Greening Taupō Day! Shannon from Taupō District Council came to help us set up our worm farms. She also taught us about earthworms and what is good for our compost bin. We set up our new compost bin too! We have cleared out a big space behind our buildings to become our restoration area. Previously it was used for storage and became a bit of a dumping ground. With some hard work and some funding from the Kids Greening Taupō Contact Energy Take Action Fund, we are transforming the space. With support from KGT coordinator, Heidi, we are creating a bug hotel and lizard habitat. We’re planting a fern garden and other native plants that provide food and habitat for native invertebrates and lizards. This area will become a special area for our older tamariki to go to connect with nature and to take part in environmental projects. We’re excited to see it develop this year. Our tamariki also dressed in green, raised money for Kids Greening Taupō, and attended the big Arbor Day planting event. They had lots of fun participating in the activities and planting trees.
Country Kidz
We had a wonderful wiki celebrating Greening Taupō Day - we had so much on and our tamariki were so engaged we also created a wall display with their art and plenty of photos so they could revisit their learning from this time.
Throughout the wiki we had everything from green playdough, to art with green paints and resources, we planted a huge number of plants, we built huts out of fallen branches, we embraced learning with loose parts from nature, we weaved with grandparent harakeke, we filled our spaces with bark, and we erected our new greenhouse to nurture our seedlings through Winter to plant out in Spring. We also concentrated our learning around caring for all the living things in our environment, including our bugs and insects. The worms were cared for and we learnt about using our worm juice for our new seedlings to feed those too! Then on Friday we took all our four year old tamariki to participate in the mass planting as Buzzy Bees - we wanted to show an appreciation for the work bees do in our world and use the dress-ups of bees to extend this learning and way of thinking!
Thank you Kids Greening Taupō for all the mahi you do in this area to ignite conversation and conservation of Papatuanuku - we love being part of it!
Hilltop School
On Friday the 3rd of June, a group of year 7 and 8 students attended 'Green Day', which was held at Crown Park, by Greening Taupo. Despite the terrible weather forecast, students were more than keen to help plant 4,500 native trees. There were also a large number of educational stalls, including Ruud Kleinpaste- 'The Bug Man' from Christchurch- who kindly shared his huhu grubs with us, Huka Honey Hive, D.O.C, and even disc golf and Kids Bike Taupo were there. A festival-like atmosphere was created with a live DJ and food stalls which were all free to volunteers. We look forward to participating in this event in future years.
In 2021 I was part of the Kids Greening Taupo student leadership team. There was a competition that required us to create a sign for a pile of rotting logs that we found in Spa Park. Some people thought the logs should be removed but some other people felt that this was a home for our invertebrates and that we should create a sign so that people would see this pile and respect it as a living space for bugs and creatures.
Patrick, Hana and I (fellow student leaders) worked together. Hana and I merged our designs while Patrick wrote to the Taupo District Council to ask for our design to be put onto signage to be displayed at Spa Park.
We have our own sign to put up at Hilltop School when we have created our own Bug Hotel. Watch this space!
We are excited that people will now see our sign and know how important this space is while they are enjoying their time at Spa Park. Look out for it when you are there!
By Lizzy Hamilton, Year 8 student
Kiwi Steps
Kaitiakitanga – care and protection of the environment and ourselves. This is one of Kiwi Steps Preschool’s underlying principles and this was re-enacted when we celebrated Greening Taupō last week. “Our tamariki learn in, through and with te Taiao (the environment) all day, every day and this is how we teach the importance of caring for Papatuanuku, themselves and each other.” “So taking part in the Greening Taupō campaign seemed like the natural thing to do,” said Centre Manager Maggie Trueman. Kiwi Steps has a wonderful range of vegetables gardens, fruit trees and vines, and native trees that the tamariki have helped to plant and take care of. “There is nothing more satisfying then eating what your hands have grown.”
Lake Taupō Christian School
Lake Taupō Christian School held a green mufti day on the Thursday and raised $107 for Kids Greening Taupō. All of the classes did different clean up projects both on school grounds and around the gullies on Crown Park as well as around the edge of Crown Park. This is the area that the school has been kaitiaki of for a number off years. Over the years they have planted native trees in the gully, weeded around them, and done rubbish pick ups. It was exciting to have this year’s big Arbor Day planting event in their area and the whole school went along and participated in Greening Taupō Day planting on Friday.
Laughton Kindergarten
Gina attended the Greening Taupō Day Arbor Day planting event with a group of parents and tamariki who absolutely loved it.
Back at Kindergarten we played with green duplo, green magnetic shapes, green puzzles, green playdough, learnt about predators and native species, planted trees and flowers, weeded our gardens, drew pictures in green, painted our faces green, dressed up green, and collected a koha for Greening Taupo!
Such a great day, well done to all of the Kids Greening Taupō and Greening Taupō team for the mahi!
My Treehut & The Cubby
Greening Taupō Day at My Treehut and The Cubby was an absolute hit. A day of dressing up in green and our own little swing on it ‘anything made with natural resources’ while being kaitiaki for our Earth Mother, Papatūānuku. A small roopu of tamariki spent their morning planting at the Arbor event, while the others stayed back caring for and tidying our ngahere at My Treehut and The Cubby. We all engaged in planting new vegetable crops for the coming season and checking in on our compost and wriggly worm friends. We can’t forget the yummy green cake we had for morning tea and our delicious vegetable soup for lunch as we had a ‘meat free’ day to celebrate the amazing produce available! We love doing our bit in Taupō’s conservation journey and every day is a day for kaitiakitanga at My Treehut and The Cubby!
Northwood Kindergarten
On green day we dressed up in green to celebrate Kid's Greening Day. We had a family donate some huge logs from their farm for the tamariki go bug hunting. We learnt about different bugs, where they live and how to protect and care for them. We sang some songs about nature and bugs. We planted the trees that were donated to us by Kid's Greening Taupō in our ngahere. The tamariki loved planting and we were looking forward to the planting in the Brentwood Gully the following week.
St Patrick's Catholic School
St Patricks Catholic School Taupō dressed in green for Greening Taupō Day and fundraised for Kids Greening Taupō. Each class took on an area of the school to clean up and look after for the day. The year 7-8 classes are in the process of designing a traditional rongoa garden. They have been researching the native plants that were used traditionally by Māori for medicines and other uses. The plans for this garden are coming together, the plants have been ordered, and it will be planted next term. The Kids Greening Taupō student leaders from St Patrick’s Catholic School worked with coordinator, Rachel, and with Brent Aitken from Taupō District Council to organise a third restoration planting in the Brentwood Gully, which took place in the week following Greening Taupō Day. This gully is used regularly by the school. Each class from the school walked down to the gully and planted some trees. The local ECE centres, Taupō Children’s Corner and Northwood Kindergarten joined in too.
Stepping Stones
We had a fun-filled week of experiences at Stepping Stones. Our little ones planted some new vegetables in our planter boxes which we are very excited to see grow and then eat them when they are ready. We drew things that we thought we could find in trees, we did leaf art, made our own bird feeders, had a green dress up day which included Green Cupcakes, and attended the Greening Taupō Planting day at Crown Park.
Tauhara Primary School
Tauhara Primary tamariki were lucky to all be able to participate in Greening Taupo day. The big event was literally on our doorstep! The whole school attended the welcome and then class by class we participated in the planting and other activities. We also dressed in green and raised money to help Greening Taupo with their restoration projects and Kids Greening Taupō with their work in schools like ours. Thanks for a fabulous day!
Tauhara College
Tauhara College had an awesome Greening Taupō Day with the planting site right on our back doorstep. There were approximately 12 classes that came over and got into some mahi with planting. The students also had loads of fun exploring the wide range of activities and chatting with the conservation experts. We also held a green mufti day that got the school painted in a sea of green in support of Greening Taupō. Thanks to everyone who got involved from Tauhara College and thank you to those who organised the day, it was amazing!
Taupō Kids Community
On Monday we had Shannon from the Council who ran a session about how things get washed up in our lake.
On Wednesday it was Green dress up day.
On Friday some of the children went on a trip to Crown park for Greening Taupō Day.
In between, we have had lots of nature based activities and experiences happening. From baking green bread, to planting, to feeding our worms, gardening, leaf pictures and leaf rubbings, making bird feeders, crafting hedgehogs and acorn people, scavenger hunts, bug hunts, educational videos from your website, claiming our guardianship medals, tree and leaf paintings, using natural resources in all of our art experiences this week, colouring in competitions, green play dough, green collage, all green resources and a wall display dedicated to all things Green and our tamariki demonstrating this. We also had a Green hamper, where all the staff donated several items for families to purchase raffle tickets. We managed to raise a whopping total of $250 for Kids Greening Taupō!
Taupō Educational Preschool
At Taupō Preschool we:
Prepared spaces for our donated trees
Added more worms to the worm farm
Collected leaves into a black bag to make leaf mulch
Cleared rubbish around the carpark and walkway
Planted vegetables in our garden
Used worm tea from our worm farm on our garden
Had two fundraising days where we all dressed in green and collected donations. $74 collected from whanau, Preschool Trust donated $126.
Made a green cake for morning tea
Made green playdough, green water, face painting
Did leaf rubbings
Arranged a rubbish audit with Taupō District Council
Talked to the children about being kaitiaki of Papatuanuku
Participated in the Kids Greening Taupō planting day
We have returned to Crown Park to check the area we planted and we will continue to tend the plants in the future.
Taupō Family Playcentre
Taupō Family Playcentre tamariki loved helping plant trees at this year’s Greening Taupō Day! And sliding down the big dirt pile (of course!), and investigating what some of the other community groups and businesses do in the conversation space, including taste-testing The Honey Hive’s delicious honey. Thanks again for the opportunity for our centre whanau to take part in this day, and to reinforce the importance of nature and conservation with our tamariki in a fun, hands-on way.
Taupō Intermediate
I had a lot of fun at Greening Taupo Day, and I planted lots of plants with my friends. I was hoping to see my old school but then my friend told me that they weren't coming till later. I had some soup and some buns and they were really yummy. Then we learnt about some pests and how to work the traps and if we wanted to join then we could. Room 12 and the Green Team from my school TIS went in the first block, then room 11 and room 25 went in the second block and it was fun. The first step for planting the trees was to find one that has not been planted then we had to put the plant tablet in the hole that had been dug for the trees. The next step was to take the plant out of its pot by stepping on the pot. Then we would tickle the roots so they could grow easier and so the roots were loose. Then we could put the plant in the hole and use the excess dirt to fill in the hole. The next step was to step on the dirt to make it nice and snug for the plant to grow. The last step was to pull the tip of the plant to see is it was tight. If it was it is good to go and if it was not, you would have to step on it a bit more and add more dirt.
By Naomi Seymour, year 7, Taupo Intermediate School
Greening day 2022 was really fun with Lexus, Matthew, Adam, and I. The first thing we did when we got there was get a tree and plant it in a hole as you see me doing above. After that we went to see what food there was Adam, Matthew, Lexus found a hut and we got a Sausage sizzle. Next we talked to this guy about stoats, weasels and possums he gave us a lolly for good listening. Then we went to see some worm eggs and a giant RAT that had a Epro jacket? Weird. Then we had to leave which was a bummer. I think we needed more time. But it was a fun morning.
By Kade Ward, Year 7 Taupo Intermediate
Taupō Primary
Waipāhīhī Kindergarten
What a fantastic day we had at the annual Kids Greening Taupō planting day. It was a bit of a drizzly day so we got prepared in our raincoats and boarded the bus to Crown Park. There were crowds of children from many different schools there to help plant native trees. After a karakia and a demonstration on how to plant the rakau/trees we were left to it. In pairs with our super helpful parent helpers we got busy planting trees and mulching them in. After a great effort we took a well earned break and enjoyed a free sausage and piece of fruit then had a stroll around the many educational stalls and demonstrations that were there. There were bugs to look at and learn about, traps and pest control experts, emergency vehicles, bird displays and many other things to look at. We were all very proud of ourselves for planting the trees to make our town even more beautiful and it was great to support the fabulous Kids Greening Taupō crew who do such wonderful work for our community. We were thankful that the rain stayed away and then when our mahi was done and we were back inside the rain arrived to water our trees. We will be able to watch our rakau/trees grow and know that we helped to plant them.
Taupō nui a Tia College
Taupō nui a Tia College had a teachers only day on Greening Taupō Day, but despite this a class turned up to help mulch the site. They worked hard and enjoyed their sausage reward afterwards! The student leaders also turned up to volunteer and help out with the day. One of them, Tori, even made a display about the history of the student leadership teams.
Waipāhīhī Primary
Waipahihi staff and students became a sea of green in a parade, at Bush School, and at Crown Park. Learning in nature and collaborating with local environmental organisations is part of our normal gig here, so Greening Taupō Day was made special with the whole town doing these things too and with some amazing prizes from KGT for our tamariki.
All 400 children were actively involved in the day either in the whole school parade, special activities such as the art competition, fun at Bush School or at Crown Park with Ruud. Even our walking bus was a green parade through the neighbourhood! We raised money for Kids Greening Taupō and connected with our local environment through our bush school activities in the neighbouring gully.
Kids Greening Taupo student leaders from Waipahihi School organised a special bug hunting stand at the Greening Taupō Day event with Ruud Kleinpaste, who has been working with our school. This activity was enjoyed by everyone who came on the day and was one of the highlights of the event. We had met with Ruud via zoom prior to the day to plan our stand, and each of the student leaders organised part of it. Some collected leaf litter, others brought in rotten logs, some contacted the Community Gardens, Botanical Reserve, Sanctuary Mountain, and Mynoke for resources and support. We showcased a range of different habitats for bugs that help decompose natural resources. People could look through native leaf litter, introduced leaf litter, rotting logs, compost etc to find bugs. Ruud was there to help identify the invertebrates and share information about them.
We are also working on plans for our rongoa garden, which will be planted on our school grounds next term. We will plant native plants that were traditionally used for healing, as well as plants that provide habitat and food for bugs, birds and lizards.
Thank you KGT for organising such fantastic prizes such as our new library book, trees, AC Bath passes to name a few. These were gratefully received. We are also looking forward to planting the rongoa garden that we have planned next term with support from Kids Greening Taupō.
Here are a few snippets from how we promoted KGT last Friday. Thank you for your mahi in our school and our town.
Green Day- Bush School Rotation Activities
Bush School: Team Wai 11am-12pm
Wairakei Primary School
Wairakei Primary School had their camp week in Greening Taupō week. All Year 5 and 6 students participated in ‘camp’ activities right here in Taupō, exploring their local environment and connecting with nature at the lake, in the forest, and in the school gully. Year 5 students took part in a range of activities on school grounds, including hut building in the school gully. Year 6 students went to Whakaipo Bay, Opepe, and Kinloch. They went kayaking and mountain biking, did archery and hut building, went on bush walks and more. They also had a dress in green day and raised money for Kids Greening Taupō.
Ngā mihi nui Taupō schools/ECE centres for your involvement in our Greening Taupō Day celebrations!
