Budding artists trip to Tauranga Art Gallery

What a fantastic experience to be able to take children to the art gallery. We chose most of our children due to their enduring interest in art but this trip really would have been an inspiration to all children. Our first stop was at Lightwave gallery which is predominantly a gallery of sculpture using recycled metal at Mount Maunganui.

The mermaid sculpture captured everyone's attention due to her size and the magnificent waka filled with shells that she was displayed on. Children were surprised to learn that all those scales were made from spoons.

Lunch was a quick affair as the wonderful park at Mt Drury beckoned. Then it was off to the Tauranga Art Gallery.

 

  We were met by Melissa who took us on a guided tour of some exhibits that were of particular interest to children. 

Melissa then took us to the purpose-built art room for an art lesson using some tricky techniques of a real art teacher.

 

Wow! What an experience for our tamariki!

Giving back to our wonderful community

This week with the kindergarten van at our place we decided to conduct some visits into our local community as part of this term's focus. High on the list was a trip to Maureen Oliver's to help rake the leaves of the lovely space we utilize every year for our Christmas party and other social occasions.

Our new wheelbarrows and rakes were put to work at Mrs Oliver's Croeso I Hafod gardens.

The children worked very hard and loved the experience of helping out.

Our little wheelbarrows were dwarfed by Mrs Oliver's trailer which transported many more leaves to her huge compost. Here we are on the ride-on which towed the trailer.

Mrs Oliver had a special treat for the children after their hard work. Planting some daffodil bulbs for us to enjoy in the coming springtime.

A Trip to Royden Downs.

A Trip out Shopping

Check out our shoppers already to go!

 We have booked the van for the next two weeks so that we can take small groups of children out on trips within and beyond our community. Today we had to go and pick up hardware so off we went to Farmlands, Bunnings (Mount Maunganui), and Mitre 10.  Not only did we get rakes from Farmlands but they also shared out some lollies.  Thank you

Peter working at his desk.

Then it was to off to Bunnings....we need nails, a bolt, a spade, a outdoor broom and wheelbarrows. Alas they did not have children size wheelbarrows.
Peter came over to us and showed us how to draw Mickey Mouse.  As we went through check out they treated us to a lollipop and a Balloon!!  Thank you to Bunnings for making us feel so welcome.

Getting our Balloons

Show us your Balloons!

Shopping is very exhausting

We called into Mitre 10 on the way home to see if they had the wheelbarrows we needed.  We now have three new wheelbarrows.