We seriously value all the positive aspects of being outdoors! Immersing ourselves in nature is so important to our Whanau. The learning and fun that happens when out and about beyond our gates is, spontaneous, genuine, memorable and child led. Life long learning, experiences and skills happen when we are out, and this aspect of our programme is something the Little Pipi team is so proud to offer. These experiences change up our week, calm our souls, connect us to our treasured planet and allow us freedom to explore and learn at our own pace.

 

As well as our many spontaneous trips beyond our gate we offer two weekly programmes;

 

Beach Programme

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Our child led beach programme happens one morning a week with a group of our oldest preschool children. Some things we learn about when involved in this programme are

• Flora and fauna (plants and living creatures) that call our beach their home.

• Beach safety.

• We learn to be imaginative and creative with the many different elements we are exposed to.

• We learn respect for the living and natural worlds as we make discoveries.

• Through communication we learn about different working theories and ideas.

• Comradeship, team work and mate ship as every week we head out with the same group of mates ready to learn and explore something new.

• And most importantly we have the time and freedom to learn and explore at our own pace, and off course we have an absolute blast doing it.

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Community Garden Project

 

Our community Garden project happens one morning a week with a group of our pre-schoolers.

But also spontaneously with all age groups!  Even our youngest Little Pipi's get to experience getting out and about.

Through this project children are exposed to growing their plants from seeds, they are apart of every aspect of growing edible food. We then harvest this and use it as part of our garden to table philosophy.

Getting down to our garden is so freeing and peaceful, there is ample space to explore once the Mahi is done and of course there are so many different plants around to pick from to reward us for all our hard work. Our favorites are the fruit trees, raspberry bushes and grape vines.

Our garden is also grown for the community to use, and all our excess produce gets added to our Kai Table at the centre. The whole process is so rewarding.

Being able to learn through our community allows us to embed life long values such as compassion, empathy and kindness which are all things we actively promote in our daily centre lives.