At Daisies, we go on weekly excursions to Khandallah Park and other wilderness spaces - known as Nature Explore. Nature Explores are tamaiti (child) led and focused. Kaiako (teachers) value and listen to what tamariki (children) want to do on these excursions, consulting with them and putting a plan into action.
Daisies place strong emphasis on our tamariki becoming life-long learners. Nature Explore helps children to build the foundations to become lifelong learners and caretakers in the natural world. Kaiako encourage tamariki to hypothesise, question, wonder and explore connections between people, places, and things.
Khandallah Park
“This park is part of one of the largest areas of continuous native forest in the city. It features 9 km of walking tracks in 60 ha of bush.”
Absolutely Positively Wellington City Council
On Nature Explore, kaiako and tamariki have four goals linked to scientific inquiry, spatial concepts, developing confidence and encouraging love and responsibility for Te Taiao (the natural world). These goals help to promote empowered, competent, and resilient tamariki.
The natural world is full of learning potential. At Daisies we’ve found tamariki love to learn about birds, plants, insects, stream life and land formations, as well as building their on their gross motor, fine motor and risk assessment skills to name a few! Some of our older tamariki in Te Pihinga even climb to the top of Tarikākā maunga (Mount Kaukau), which is a wonderful challenge!. This is something that our tamariki build up to through going on various Nature Explore’s.
Kaiako and the Daisies leadership team prioritise time and resources for Nature Explore, as it is an experience both tamariki and kaiako cherish. We also invite whānau (family) to join us on these excursions as we recognise the importance that whānau has on impacting tamariki learning.
