Environment
BUILT FOR EXPLORATION
Indoor
Our warm indoor spaces provide a harmonious atmosphere where children are guided in and out of organised activities and free play, honouring their play as meaningful work. These activities include songs, puppet stories, drawing, painting, crafts, games as well as the preparation and sharing of food.
Our tamariki come to appreciate this rhythm, which allows them to relax and flourish. There are spaces provided for circle time full of movement, and open-ended, natural play materials that foster the child’s natural sense of imagination.
Outdoor
Our outdoor space is a large landscaped area that offers a variety of nature-oriented activities. This includes a space for animals, a vegetable garden, and natural climbing structures. It honours the spirit of the seasons with planting, tasting and harvesting in the garden, picking flowers, growing bean-pole tepees and sunflowers, outdoor games and crafts, feeding the pigs, and lots of water play.
Being on a farm helps us provide a nurturing, supportive place for children to grow, learn and blossom. We have acres of natural spaces to explore; spaces that offer a wide range of opportunities for physical discovery, inspiration and creativity.
Field Trips & Visitors
Field trips are a regular part of what we do at Oromahoe Kindergarten, and are something that both children and teachers look forward to.
On Mondays, children have the opportunity to walk to the
neighbouring cheese factory and get cheese, quark and yoghurt for the weekly menu. We also visit some of the friendly animals that live in a nearby paddock (pigs and goats) and bring them leftovers from our meals.
If the weather allows, the children are also taken on excursions around the neighbouring farm where they discover different animals, native flora and fauna, and explore the wonders of Papatūānuku– from the smallest bugs to the tallest trees.
The community plays a part in our trips too. Every year, we visit the historic Waitangi Treaty Grounds. We have in the past also been blessed to be invited to a Kauri Sanctuary where our children planted native trees, we went on an outing on the iconic sailboat Tucker Thompson and we celebrate our annual Harvest Festival at our local Marae.
Once a year, we aim to participate in ‘Keeping NZ Beautiful’ where the children help clean Kerikeri Park. We also receive visitors – from Sparky the Kiwi to Saint Nicholas and the friendly residents of the Kerikeri Retirement Village.