Taupō education providers “Go Green” for Greening Taupō Day 2023
Kids Greening Taupō encouraged local schools and ECE centres to celebrate the environment by “Going Green” for the week leading up to Greening Taupō Day. This year over 30 local schools and ECE centres gave it their all by participating in various environmental projects. Many of the projects were student-led and highlighted the leadership skills of our schools’ students. We are grateful for Contact Energy and Mitre 10 Mega Taupō for generously sponsoring and supporting our competition by providing the prizes that will assist the winning school or ECE centre in furthering their environmental initiatives.
Best Start - Abacus
We had an awesome Greening Taupo week at Abacus. We were able to get out in the garden between rainy days and also able to plant some new vegetable seeds in our mini glass house. Our tamariki also got to head to the Crown Park planting day on Friday and had an absolute blast down there even in the rain!
We also had a few competitions going. We had a “Best Dressed for Greening Taupō day” to win the Dropzone voucher and also “How You Care for Your Environment at Home” competition. This was a great time! We really had fun dressing up and seeing what our akonga got up to at home. We also had two raffles going which helped raise some money for Kids Greening Taupō. The prizes were the four trees we were given from Kids Greening Taupō. Nga mihi!
Children's Corner Duncan Street
Children’s Corner Duncan Street had a variety of activities for the week all focused on connecting their children to nature. They studied volcanoes, native birds, and Lake Taupō. They went bug hunting, picked up rubbish, and created art from nature. They even had the babies’ room connect to nature. Using the Kids Greening Taupō website for inspiration, they made nature paintings, investigated the insect world, explored ice with leaves frozen inside, and played with nature playdough.
country kidz
Country Kidz had an action packed week focusing on the environment.
Monday: Food for Thought- Children thought outside the plastic wrap and packed single-use waste free lunches. We fed our chickens, worms, and compost bins left over food scraps. Then fed our native plants worm wee we had been collecting.
Tuesday: Dress Up Day- Dress in Green or in a nature based theme. Spot prizes up for grab. We also collected kōwhai seeds to germinate and potted seedlings from a family farm.
Wednesday: Nature Arts and Crafts - We made our own bees wax wraps to use to continue our nude food lunches. Books about nature were read. Participating in the Huka Honey Hive Art competition, one of our own tamariki from Country Kidz was able to win the 5 and under category prize. We are so proud of her.
Thursday: Bug Hotel - We love our bugs and created a hotel for them out of old wooden pallets. We made sure to give them lots of holes to hide in. This helped to extend the ideas we learned about living with the land from an excursion we had to a local farm.
Friday: Greening Taupō Day- We were a group of keen green bees when we planted native trees at Crown Park and visited all the environmental stalls.
Hilltop School
Hilltop School recently participated in Greening Taupō Day, an annual event that aims to promote environmental awareness and sustainability in the community. As part of our school’s commitment to this cause, we have undertaken several initiatives to reduce our environmental impact and promote biodiversity.
One of our most significant projects has been the establishment of a school worm farm and compost bin. This initiative will allow us to divert organic waste from landfill and use it to fertilise our pollinator garden. Students will be actively involved in the maintenance of the worm farm and compost bin, learning about the importance of reducing waste and the benefits of composting.
In addition to this, we have also used tracking tunnels to identify rats in our garden. With the help of KGT (Kids Greening Taupō), we have built trap boxes and caught our first rat. This initiative has not only helped to protect our garden but has also taught students about the impact of introduced species on native wildlife.
As part of Greening Taupō Day, we also took part in the Huka Honey Hive art competition. Our students created some amazing artworks that showcased their understanding of New Zealand’s biodiversity. We were thrilled to win two main prizes in the competition.
As Greening Taupō Day was actually a staff only day at Hilltop, we began our teacher development day by supporting this event and planting some trees. Many of our students also came with their families and enjoyed this community event. Students were set the challenge to take selfies while planting trees and to send them to our school office. During the following assembly students photos were shared and prizes that were donated by KGT were presented.
Overall, our participation in Greening Taupō Day has been a great success. It has allowed us to engage with our local community and promote environmental awareness among our students. Through our initiatives such as the worm farm, compost bin, and rat trapping, we have demonstrated our commitment to sustainability and biodiversity. We hope to continue these initiatives in the future and inspire others to do the same.
Kinloch kindergarten
Our week of Green at Central Kids Kinloch Kindergarten: We planted our vegetable and flower gardens with new plants so everything is ready for winter. Whānau donated compost for our gardens and wooden stakes so we could write what each plant and vegetable is. This has been a great literacy opportunity for tamariki as they are constantly asking, "What is this?” "What does this say?”.
We made bird feeders which are hanging up at Kindergarten and also, each tamaiti was able to take one home and share it with the wild birds around their own home.
We also had a day of dressing in green which was pretty fabulous. The prizes that were donated by Kids Greening Taupō and their wonderful sponsors were given to tamariki as spot prizes! The trees were especially treasured and we can't wait to see them grow around the community.
We also made some beautiful recycled paper creations but they are not quite finished yet.
Laughton kindergarten
Laughton Kindergarten wanted to connect to the tuakana at Mountview School located nearby through environmental activities. They enlisted the help of Kids Greening Taupō by having them bring their Student Leaders over to help the kindergarteners re-pot seedlings. This was a large project that would have been difficult to accomplish on their own. The Mountview Student Leaders were helpful in showing the kindergarteners how to fill their pots with soil and make a hole in the middle for the plant. They showed them how to gently place the plants in the soil and cover the roots. The kindergarteners caught on quickly and were soon independently taking on the mahi. In the end, over 50 plants were re-potted in the hour.
Laughton Kindergarten had a dress up day for Greening Day Taupō where lots of us came in wild and wacky green outfits. We decorated Kindergarten green, planted natives gifted to us by KGT, made green vegetable and chicken soup together and shared it for lunch. Some of our whānau went down and joined in the big planting event at Crown Park.
my treehut
My Treehut had a busy week of activities planned. They made a leaf bunting to decorate My Treehut to recognise the importance of our native forests. Ngahere walks with the Cubby in Waipahihi Botanical reserve connected the youngest tamariki to nature. My Treehut extended their activities to the community by completing rubbish pick ups in their local neighbourhood. Their Nature Learners went out as always to Whakaipo Bay where they spent the day exploring the ngahere, searching for bugs, and appreciating te taiao. They organised a special rubbish pick up at the lakefront with Shannon from TDC. Seed planting to help the tamariki understand the life cycle of plants. They learned about how to keep native animals safe by making a rat trap. They ended the week by dressing in green and coming along to Greening Taupō Day on Arbor day where they could participate in all the festivities of the day!
Taupō Family Playcentre
Some of our tamariki at Taupō Family Playcentre are very interested in our worm farm at the moment, so we have been collecting the worm wee and castings and are using them in our garden and some planting we will be doing.
We had a lot of fun exploring within nature while on an excursion into the gully next to our car park. We looked at lots of different types of fungus and insects, checked rat traps and did lots of climbing and running.
We have decided where to plant the 4 lovely trees Kids Greening Taupō have gifted us and we will get them in the ground soon after Greening Taupō Day.
Taupō Family Playcentre also set up a stand at the Greening Taupō Day event. This stand provided fun for all of the preschoolers with a green playdough activity. We also gave away packs of our homemade playdough.
St Patrick's Catholic School
Over 200 kids attended the Greening Taupō Day Event and had lots of fun planting in the pouring rain! We also had a whole school mufti day and classes worked on the art competition, thinking about the biodiversity of Aotearoa. Some children researched NZ birds based on Donovan Bixley’s book that was shared through all the classes. During the week each class selected a project to work on around the school and in our local gully, Brentwood Gully. They were busy collecting seedlings, releasing plants, working on school garden beds, replanting trees that had been destroyed down on the back field, caring for plants and trees in the bush walk, collecting rubbish, propagating plants, and using the KGT online resources online. Junior classes loved the nature scavenger hunt activities. It was a great week!
tauhara college
Tauhara College would like to thank Kids Greening Taupō for running a successful Greening Taupō Day and incorporating youth perspectives into it. Here are a few snapshots into how Tauhara ran our Greening Week :) We think it's the best one to date!!
All activities were student created and student led:
- Whanau Class were invited to 'Decorate your Window Green' Competition
- Plant Potting and Sale
- Green Bake Sale
- Environment Week quizzes for Whanau Classes
- Green Mufti Day and Gold Coin Donation for Kids Greening Taupō
Taupo intermediate
Taupō Intermediate School have been busy in and around our school for Greening Taupō Day. Five of the Kids Greening Taupō student leaders at our school met with the new principal to explain about Greening Taupō Day and they asked if they could organise a Green Day at school. They spoke at assembly and encouraged all of the students to take part and come dressed in green. The whole school watched the video of the 2022 event. This inspired lots of classes to attend this year’s event at Crown Park and also inspired some amazing green costumes, many of which were handmade creations.
Some classes answered the call for help and walked down to Crown Park in the days before the event to help Greening Taupo team to set up for their big Greening Taupo Day. They helped to unload some of the 1000s of native plants and place them in holes with vermicast or fertiliser, ready for planting.
We helped our native plants around the school to breathe again by pulling out some of the weeds and grasses around them. In Food Tech, we learnt about the issues caused by Food Waste, and ways in which we can help prevent this. We made Crispy Rice Paper Rolls as a delicious way of using up leftovers. We also had a Dress in Green Mufti Day, as a way of donating back to Greening Taupo, who do some amazing work for us!
Whilst the rest of the Taupō Intermediate school was busy preparing and getting ready for the community planting day for Greening Taupō Day, the Green Team Artists were also working hard and buzzing away with their creation since Week 2 of this term. They created an impressive montage piece, using 95% of natural materials found around the grass areas of the school. The montage is now completed, and we are working on assembling and erecting the piece in the staffroom.
Mr Somers and Room 4 organised a fantastic assembly to wrap up the week. Both students and staff strutted their stuff on the catwalk as we modelled our green costumes. Some teachers took it to another level and pulled off some dance moves that we haven’t seen since the 1980s. It was a great week of green themed activities and environmental projects!
Taupo primary school
Taupō Primary School made the most of the time they had at Greening Taupō Day. They boarded buses in the morning with wee little new entrants all the way up to the seniors. Arriving at Crown Park, they were so excited to participate in all the environmental activities. Though the rain cut short some of the students’ trip, the ones that persevered were rewarded with the joy of planting natives trees and being able to better their community.
The school made sure to celebrate all week though with many different projects. Rachel from Kids Greening Taupō was invited to help continue the student's’ learning about the history of Aotearoa’s native birds and native wetlands. The KGT student leaders showed their leadership skills during those lessons to help make them run smoothly. Bush school trips out to Whakaipo Bay helped cement the students’ learning in the real world.
The Taupō Primary student's’ art efforts were rewarded in the Greening Taupō Day art competition with Huka Honey Hive and Donovan Bixley.
The variety of gardens were carefully looked after. There were flowers to help bring colour to their school, vegetable gardens with produce to use for Garden to Table, and lizard gardens to provide habitats for Aotearoa’s native lizards. These students know that there is continuous work to keep the plantings healthy. They collected rubbish that had flown in from the cyclone and marking paths so the native bush can be enjoyed. So much amazing learning occurred for these students.
tawa early learning centre
At Tawa Early Learning Centre we:
Raked leaves and weeded around the centre grounds.
Cleared rubbish around the carpark, walkway and down Tawa Street.
Planted vegetables in our garden
Looked after our worm farm and used worm tea from the worm farm on our garden
Dressed in green for the week, collected donations from whanau, topped up by the Trust to $200. for KGT.
Made a green cake for morning tea
Made green playdough, green water, face painting
Talked to the children about being kaitiaki of Papatuanuku
Participated in the Kids Greening Taupo planting day
We have returned to Crown Park to mulch some of the plants, and we will continue to do this. .
te heuheu st best start
June 29
Today Te Heuheu Street Best Start decided to recycle some of our coloured scrap paper and turn it into compostable seeds balls. We soaked the paper for an hour in water until it was soft. We squeezed out the excess water and we started ripping it into small pieces. Once that was done, we added our special seeds that bees love and made them into seed balls. We need to leave them to dry for a few days and we will have seed balls that can beautify any environment.
May 30
Sensory Herb Play dough
Today I brought in some fresh herbs from home so we could add it to our play dough for a sensory experience. I set up a tray with mint, parsley and thyme. I set the table up with plain play dough, a wooden roller and scissors to cut up the herbs. There were lots of great smells as everyone cut the herbs into their playdough. Great activity to use our sense of smell with and there were lots of amazing creations as well.
May 31
Today's activities consisted of collecting our autumn leaves that have fallen in kindy and adding it to our worm farm. We have had our Hungry Bin for a few years now and has helped a lot to add nutrient rich soil to our existing garden. I gave our tamariki a bucket and they worked together to collect as many leaves as they could. We also put our food scraps into the bin to feed the worms.
I also took out our celery out of the garden and decided to teach a few of our tamariki how we can regrow celery off cuts so they can produce more celery to eat. They washed the soil away from the roots and placed them in a small container with fresh water. We put them in a warm place to see how well they will grow. These are a couple of sustainable practise that we have embedded into our practice.
June 1st
Recently we have been looking into making a Rongoa garden in our centre and one of those plants is the Kawakawa. I printed off some Kawakawa leaves so our tamariki could colour them in and then we used the hole punches to recreate the holes like the caterpillars make in them. We talked about the shape of the leaf which looks like a heart. We also took a look at an organisation called Trees That Count, which donates native trees to the community. There was a lot of great information on their website that we will use in our future sustainable development.
Waipāhīhī Kindergarten
Everyone was very excited as we boarded the bus ready to go and support Greening Taupo at their planting day. Once we arrived, we spent time looking at some stalls, a favourite being nerf gun shooting at Contact Energy. Once we had a kai and the rain had eased off, we went to plant. This was great fun as we dug holes, planted and mulched away. We all knew what we needed to do after all the support we get from Heidi on our regular ngahere trips. It was so good to be able to transfer this knowledge and support our community. A big thank you to Greening Taupo for organising this amazing experience, we loved it.
Waipāhīhī Primary
Immersed in all things green once again! Waipāhīhī-a-Tia School embraces all things sustainable and June 2nd was no exception. In addition, to the regular Bush School visit, the school celebrated in mass with a whole school parade. Children gave a gold coin and went into the draw for one of 3 prizes kindly donated by KGT.
Classes got cracking with art and nature creative projects, observed and tasted pink oyster mushrooms (donated by a local business) and continued their daily sustainable chores like recycling, composting and checking worm farms.
Further afield, senior ambassadors and KGT Leaders actively set up and ran a station at Crown Park. They brewed bush tea using Kawakawa, Bottle Brush, Pine Needle and Bay Leaves. A mountain of logs were energetically bashed to bits in the hunt for big fat huhu grubs and other curious creatures. Bugs on display meant the busy crowds could get up and personal with stick insects, weta, slugs and more!
Trees were planted, mulch was spread and fun was had. Greening Taupō Day has got us all excited about our upcoming Enviro Fest!
Wairakei Primary School
Wairakei Primary School had a fantastic Dress in Green Day to raise money for Kids Greening Taupō. They also had their annual Arbor Day, Tree for Every Child Planting Day. Every child and staff member who is new to the school planted a native tree. Some students took part in the art competition and Carys and Sophie won their category with this awesome masterpiece! Congratulations!
