Mairtown Kindergarten - Daltons Sunflowers in Kindergartens Project

Our kindergarten has recently participated in 'Daltons Sunflowers in Kindergartens', a nationwide project which encourages tamariki in becoming our next generation of gardeners. 

https://www.daltons.co.nz/sunflowers-kindergartens

On August 21st 2023 we started by planting our sunflower seeds, with each tamaiti carefully taking a biodegradable pot, filling it with soil then sowing their own special sunflower seed. These were then labeled and placed inside in a warm spot. Planting our sunflower seeds individually was a meaningful hands-on experience, that encouraged a sense of responsibility and care towards our living environment.

 

Over the coming weeks/months, we continued our effort by watering the seedlings. Once they had reached 10-15cm in height, it was time to transplant our seedlings into buckets and our garden bed barrels outside, to determine which would produce the tallest sunflower. Tamariki monitored the growth of their sunflowers, discussing their observations, measuring and documenting the changes they had noticed. This monitoring enhanced their numeracy development and scientific understanding.

Despite facing difficulties including cats, pests, insects, and variable weather conditions, it was heartwarming to witness our sunflowers grow to stand tall and proud. Although not all the sunflowers prevailed over their challenges, the tamariki united to tend to the surviving plants, sharing the responsibility of their care.

Throughout this time, we continued to measure our sunflowers' growth and on the 11th December 2023, the conclusion of the competition period, our tallest sunflower had reached 149cm, surpassing the height of all of our tamariki!

Partaking in this project has undeniably been a rich and fulfilling learning experience for our tamariki. It has fostered a diverse range of skills and understandings, that they can continue to nurture and build on both at kindergarten and in the community with whānau.

Their involvement in nurturing our sunflowers embodies the principles of Te Whāriki, emphasizing empowerment and holistic development. As tamariki worked collaboratively to care for the sunflowers, they practiced social competence and responsibility, demonstrating the goal of contributing. In overcoming the various natural challenges, they learned resilience and problem-solving, key aspects of developing exploration, which is another fundamental goal of the framework.

       

The project also lent itself to a context of learning that is authentically steeped in the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand. The care for Papatūānuku, the Earth mother, is a concept deeply interwoven in Te Ao Māori, and this project offered a practical application of these values. The success for tamariki in growing the tallest sunflower to a towering 149cm, much to their delight, also represents a significant achievement in developing knowledge of their physical world. It provided a measurable demonstration of their effectiveness in sustaining life, a tribute to the learning outcome of wellbeing in the Te Whāriki framework.

The fact that the tallest sunflower exceeded the height of all our tamariki has offered a tangible and remarkable standard against which to understand growth – both of the plants and themselves. This learning experience incorporated meaningful mathematics, with the tamariki engaging in measuring and comparing height, giving them a concrete grasp of numerical concepts.

When we returned back to kindergarten this year, after our Summer break, all our sunflowers had died and had begun to dry out. This provided tamariki with another learning experience, extracting the sunflower seeds from the sunflower heads. It was a great opportunity to talk about sustainability and the life cycle of the sunflowers as we made plans to store and later utilise the seeds that we harvested. Together, we prepared them for safe storage to ensure they will be ready for replanting later this year. We are told that these saved seeds will produce even bigger plants and flowers than the plants which produced them. We look forward to discovering if this turns out to be the case!

Through this empowering experience, tamariki are supported to become life-long change-makers. It is a process of co-creation between people and all of the elements and energies around us. Caring for our place and the whole planet becomes a living curriculum where skills and competencies are gained through experience and mahi within meaningful community settings (Enviroschools.org.nz).

We are excited to continue our gardening journey here at Mairtown Kindergarten, watch this space!