Phoenix House Hangi

Today the Phoenix House children showed off their culinary skills as they prepared vegetables and stuffing for our Hangi today for lunch. They helped to peel, chop and cut the vegetables as well as pulling apart the bread into small pieces for our stuffing. They each took turns for adding and mixing the ingredients together.

The children discussed at the table how they help their mums and dads at  home when making dinner and mentioned what their favourite meals  are at home to make and eat.

As the food was added to the 'Multi Kai Cooker and placed outside for the children to watch. As lunchtime approached the room filled with the smell of delicious food. We all sat down together and tried some of this mouth watering hangi. Some children even went up for seconds....and thirds! It went down an absolute treat!
This was a great learning experience for the children to be actively involved in and to taste food from a different culture and cooked in a unique way.

Phoenix House Zoo Corner

Check out our Phoenix House Zoo! - we have transformed our family play area into our very own zoo to foster the children's interest in zoo animals :)

Be sure to come read some of the stories and see some of the activities provided in our zoo enclosure!~

Matariki magnetic stories

During our mat-times we have incorporated more Te reo stories into our mat-time in celebration of Matariki.

Today we told the story of 'The 7 Star Fishes' where seven little fishes were warned by their mother not to swim to far out as a giant by the name of 'Tataraimaka was out fishing with an enormous black net which was woven by flax and that made magic!

To distracted by play the fishes had forgotten their mothers words and swam to far out and were caught in Tataraimaka's net. The little fishes cried and cried - Tane the god of light heard their cries and felt sorry for them. He took away Tataraimaka's net and hauled it up into the sky and the seven littles fishes were then turned into bright shining stars. Six of the seven stars are named Toheta, Toheti, Tapuanuku, Tupuarangi,  Ururangi and Waipuna-a-angi. But one star remains with no name. It has been left for all the children of the world. The story suggests that before you go to bed you put your name on this star, and this way you will be among friends when you are sleeping.

The Phoenix House children seemed to really enjoy this magnetic story and insisted that they were going to keep an eye out at night time for the seven bright shining stars at night time before bed :)

Zoo Masks

In continuation with the one of the current interests within the Phoenix house at the moment of 'Zoo Animals' we had decided to create our own animal masks. Children had the choice of creating a Lion, Zebra, Hippo,  Tiger, Rhino, Giraffe or a monkey.

Once they had coloured in their masks it was then fitted around their head with a piece of string.
Within minutes the Phoenix House started to sound like a zoo! The children got into character of the animal they had chosen and imitated their movements and sounds they would make.

A lot of children then continued to make another mask for their younger and older siblings. It is great to see that they are sharing this interest of theirs with their family and friends and continuing this play outside of Kindy.

What a fun filled day we have had today :) I wonder what other animal fun and adventures we will engage in next?

D.I.Y jewellery

In extension to our current interest within the Phoenix House at the moment of 'Construction' we set up a learning experience where the Phoenix House children were able to construct their own piece of jewellery by using different coloured straws and fishing wire. While some children decided to make  bracelets, others decided to make necklaces and some children decided to make both! :)

This activity required a lot of focus and attention as they threaded their coloured straws into the wire.  You conveyed patience, persistence and a great amount of creativity when choosing your colours and patterns with your colour sequences.

A lot of you also mentioned how you would like create another one for your brother, sister, mums or dads which was very thoughtful of you :)
We will be sure to re-visit this activity but perhaps using different materials that we can experiment with in terms of shape, size, and colour.

Creating our own Korowai Cloak

In celebration of the Maori new year- Matariki, the Phoenix House children have been taking part in a number of cultural activities.

Today we made our very own Phoenix House Korowai cloak. Each child was provided with their own feather template where they were able to decorate it with a variety of collage materials  where they could design and create their own pattern and designs.

The Korowai cloak was a garment made in early Maori times and was generally woven or made from traditional materials like flax and feathers. It is worn as a mantle of prestige and honor.

Once everyone had completed their feathers we combined these together onto a cloak which is now displayed in our bag room area. It is bright, beautiful and unique where it displays each child's individual style and creativity :)