Mairtown Kindergarten: Our Garden Project - Growing our skills and knowledge

At Mairtown Kindergarten "the enviro-schools kaupapa guides our teaching, and we uphold Papatūānuku as an important kaiako; in nature herself the possibilities to learn and grow have no limits. We value and utilise the expertise within our wider community regularly in our teachings. Respect for each other, our environment, our community and resources are both encouraged and promoted, and our teaching team sensitively scaffold and role-model these expectations" (Mairtown Philosophy, 2020).

In March we decided to create a mud kitchen space where our vegetable garden was situated, with the intention of creating a new garden space or spaces. As a team we began brain storming ideas on where we could create a new vegetable garden within our outside environment.

After some research we decided on creating movable garden beds using old wine barrels, with drain holes added and wheels attached to the base. Once our barrels were sourced, and modified thanks to our amazing maintenance team, we lined them and began to fill them with our dirt. We reused the soil from our old vegetable garden and added some new potting mix.

"Gardens and children need the same things - patience, love and someone who will never give up on them." -Nicolette Sowder

"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature." - Alfred Austin

It was now time to add some vegetable plants. We had fun researching with the tamariki, discovering what vegetable plants we could plant for the month and then had even more fun planting them. We also sourced information from whānau who shared their passion for gardening.

The tamariki took turns watering and taking care of our vegetable plants, checking for bugs and new growth. This soon became a daily ritual. During this process the tamariki began to develop a real sense of ownership and a passion for looking after the environment.

One of the kaupapa of te Tiriti o Waitangi is kaitiakitanga, meaning protection, guardianship and and preservation. It is a way of respecting and caring for the environment, based on a traditional Māori worldview.

"Kaiako support mokopuna to engage respectfully with, and to have aroha for, Papatūānuku. They encourage an understanding of kaitiakitanga and the responsibilities of being a kaitiaki by, for example, caring for rivers, native forest, and birds" (Te Whāriki, page 33).

Kaitiakitanga is based on traditional Māori views and incorporates a strong connection between spirituality, people, and the natural world. Māori believe that the tangata whenua/people of the land, have a responsibility towards the protection or guardianship of Papatūānuku. The basic meaning of ‘tiaki’ is to guard, but depending on the context in which it is used, it also means to preserve, keep, conserve, nurture, protect and watch over. The prefix ‘kai’ with the verb ‘tiaki’ denotes the agent of the action of ‘tiaki’. Therefore, a kaitiaki is a guardian, keeper, preserver, conservator or protector. The addition of ‘tanga’ denotes preservation, conservation and protection."

https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/2544-understanding-kaitiakitanga

In September we decided to register for 'Keep New Zealand Beautiful' week. During this week tamariki went on an excursion, cleaning up our local streets. We then sorted the rubbish into categories. This experience supported tamariki, whānau, and kaiako to develop the attitudes and dispositions to think and act as kaitiaki within our community.

Tamariki were then recognised for all their hard work with a certificate. The underlying intention is to build on an awareness of respect for Papatūānuku and how we can take care to nurture and preserve our natural environment.

"Respect is shown for Māori views of the world, the natural environment, and the child's connection through time to whenua, atua Māori and tipuna."

(Ministry of Education, p.31, 2017).

During this garden project we also took the opportunity to plant seeds using a variety of repurposed resources such as cardboard egg trays and milk bottles, creating little green houses. This in itself was a great science experiment. During this process we realised that the clear milk bottles worked best allowing enough light to grow our seeds into seedlings.

Wilson (2012) outlines how the early childhood years are fundamental in developing “environmental attitudes and a commitment to caring for the Earth” (p. 87).

"The child learns through active exploration of the environment" (Te Whariki, 2017, p. 48).

Throughout this process tamariki are learning where food comes from. It helps them connect with nature and supports wonder, curiosity, patience, fine motor skills, thinking and communication skills, while also providing opportunities to work with and alongside others.

"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments," -Janet Kilburn Phillips

Gardening in early childhood also teaches tamariki from a very young age about the environment. Tamariki also learn responsibility, love of nature, discovery, reasoning, cooperation, creativity, understanding, and even about nutrition from growing a garden in their early childhood program.

https://littlesproutslearning.co/benefits-of-gardening-in-early-childhood-settings/

After a few months our plants were then ready to harvest. This experience offered our tamariki more skills to acquire and knowledge to learn. We used our vegetables to stock our pataka kai for whānau and our community, used our kale in cooking activities, making smoothies and kale chips and we also used some of our celery and kale in our Matariki feast.

Here is just some of the kai our whānau made at home with the celery we grew in our gardens at Mairtown Kindergarten.

It was now time to replant and the process began again.

We were lucky to receive a box of little gardens from our local New World in Regent, Whangarei.

"Tell me and I'll forget. Teach me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll learn." - Benjamin Franklin

Now with all our seedlings sprouting we are now finding alternative spaces to expand and create more vegetable gardens.

Our end of year gift for whānau which began last year is 'potatoes in a bucket'. We have been busy getting these ready and tamariki have been able to use their skills and knowledge learnt over our many gardening projects throughout this time. Planted with aroha and manaaki we hope that this small offering brings a sense of kotahitanga.