Our Little Forests: Imagining, Creating and Exploring!

The table was alive with possibility. Smooth river rocks gathered from the garden sat alongside curling twigs, pressed leaves, and shiny pebbles - each one waiting to become something. At the centre of it all, generous mounds of playdough in earthy tones caught the morning light. The room hummed quietly with that particular kind of focus that only arrives when tamariki are truly captivated. Here on Cameron Road, in the heart of Tauranga, something small and wonderful was beginning to take shape - a forest, imagined and built by tiny, capable hands. 😊

With no instructions and no right answers, the tamariki dove in wholeheartedly. Twigs became towering trees, pressed deep into dough bases. Pebbles lined winding pathways. Leaves were carefully layered like a canopy overhead. One tamaiti held up a smooth rock and announced with complete certainty, "This one is the mountain - the animals sleep here." Others gathered close, nodding seriously, and began building around it. The laughter was quiet and conspiratorial, the focus delicious. Our kaiako moved gently alongside, listening, wondering aloud, and celebrating every new idea that emerged.

This beautiful loose parts play is rich with learning that weaves right through our Preschool Pillars programme. The tamariki were practising creative problem-solving, spatial thinking, and oral language - all essential building blocks for school readiness. In the spirit of our Growing Great Character programme, we also noticed real moments of courage to try new ideas and kindness as children shared materials and built together. Te Whariki's strands of Exploration (Mana Aotūroa) and Communication (Mana Reo) were alive in every muddy fingerprint and whispered story shared across that table.

These are the moments we treasure most - when learning looks like joy and creativity flows freely. The forests our tamariki built today tell us so much about who they are: imaginative, curious, collaborative, and wonderfully themselves. We warmly invite our whanau to ask your tamaiti about their forest - who lives there, what the mountain is for, which path the animals take home. Their answers will delight you. We feel so privileged to walk alongside your children in this place of ako every single day. 😍