Our three year old tamariki from our Future Fern Senior Room at Kids Count Marne have been showing lots of interest in imaginative, building and construction play.  Some benefits to imaginative, building and construction play are: It improves fine motor manipulation and strength; It enhances spatial awareness; It encourages thinking and r...

 Visiting our Clendon Library for story time. Our children love getting out of the centre and enjoying new experience's. Listening to stories and singing action songs.

To introduce Easter for the third year in a row we have our Living eggs. they arrived Monday 12th of March. We got 11 eggs and by Wednesday they had all hatched. The children absolutely love having these here and watching the chicken life cycle unfold and our centre based parents secretly enjoy keeping an eye on them and watching the...

I am excited to share an incredibly easy summer activity that packs a punch! .….Ice sensory play! I know this isn't an original idea, as many others have played with coloured ice.  However, it's always a hit with the kids in the Rising Stars room.  Kids like this for a reason, and it's always a part of our summer fun! Some benefits t...

Our transition to school programme is back in full swing and the children are having a lot of fun learning and preparing themselves for big school. The focus letters for this months has been S and D and they are able to tell you a lot of words beginning with those letters and they can also share how nice freshly made doughnuts are. they are also le...

 We are back into our gymnastics for the term, which is now called fundamental movement, it's so great to see the children getting active and loving it. Some new children are getting to attend as some of our older big children have moved onto so our younger children will be attending more regularly which they have been enjoying. This is great ...

I can't believe we've already come to the end of February; this year is already going to quickly. Through the month of February our focus was messy and water play. We had so much fun, exploring every possible messy play activit and the children were going home with wet clothes in their bag on a daily basis. I think all and all we have a great messy...

Toilet Training Readiness Sometimes parents/whanau are unsure about when to start toilet teaching or "potty training." Not all children are ready at the same age, so it's important to watch your child for signs of readiness, such as stopping an activity for a few seconds or clutching his or her nappy. Instead of using age as a readiness indicator, ...

Kia ora Whanau, Hope the start of the new year is going well and you are all safe and happy. For this month we are focusing on construction, water and messy play along with safety in the water. Here are a few photos of our tamariki doing just that. There are also a photo of a few of our tamariki helping set up the beds for sleep time. 

Whaea Rae comes into our space for half an hour to do kapa haka with our tamariki every Wednesday.It is a time our children look forward to – they LOVE kapa haka!!!! Having kapa haka as a regular weekly event has shown us the benefits it has on all our tamariki and in particularly our Māori ākonga. It increases knowledge of our Māori language, cult...

This week we had a korero together about 'Te Tiriti o Waitangi'. We decided to start our new year off with a 'treaty' for our Hi-5 room. We all came up with rules that will keep us safe and happy in our environment. Just like when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and some of the Maori chie...

Water play is hugely popular with the Rising Stars children and there is much more to water play than just splashing! Water play can have many important benefits for a child's development, in a number of different areas. The benefits of water play will also be very helpful to a child. Here are just some reasons why every child needs to play with wa...

On hot days, it's such a great way to cool off but there is much more to water play! Water Play provides hours of rich and valuable early childhood experiences to develop children's creativity and imagination. Lately the children in the Rising stars room have been enjoying exploring and experimenting with water. We acknowledge that the environment ...

Kia ora whanau Happy new year hope your Xmas and new year went well.Just a little bit about myself my name is Jills Lauder and I am the new head kaiako in the FFS room I am fully trained and registered I was born in Auckland and raised in GI. I then moved to West Auckland when I was 20 so I have lived in West Auckland for around 20 years. I am marr...

December has been a fabulous festive season for the tamariki and teachers too as together we have been celebrating through a variety of Christmas activities while also incorporating the theme of a Luau Christmas. Tamariki have been enjoying dressing up in Hawaiian outfits, being Maui and Moana while also reading a Moana book. Lots of creative maste...

Kia ora, Talofa lava, malo lelei, Namaste and greeting whanau, over the past month our days are getting hotter and outdoor exploration has been on our tamariki minds!Playing outside gives your child the chance to explore the natural environment and have adventures. They can play favourite games, test her physical limits, express themselves and stre...

​This year we had a carnival to celebrate Christmas, we celebrated this over 2 Fridays. We organised for a food caravan to come for the day, we had a massive jumpy castle and a popcorn and candyfloss machine (better late than never), a ferris wheel and merry go round and our own talented face painter. Santa turned up on the day on a motor bike and ...

​With all the hot weather lately the children have been having lots of water play. They just cant seem to get enough of it. They all enjoy being wet and being in water. We have made a water slide with the mats, had the pool out, filled the water troof with different coloured water and bubbles, had colours in the water trays and children had dropper...

Kia ora koutou from the Hi-5 Room We have been talking about healthy lunches.At mat times we have talked what is good for our bodies and what is not.In November we decided that we will make our sandwiches with healthy kai.Michelle brought eggs from her chickens at home.We had tomato, lettuce, cucumber, mashed eggs and tuna as a selection to choose ...

Hi everyone, Wow where has all that time gone? We know that it's a while since we have updated you all on our fabulous Kelvin Road Centre. The centre is busy as always, with the sounds of happy voices while our tamariki are learning, laughing and having fun. With the end of the school year approaching us, and the promise of warm Summer, Christmas h...