This term some of the Takaroa students have been working on designing and decorating a penguin sculpture that we received as part of the Christchurch wide 'Pop up Penguin' programme.

The penguin sculpture arrived at the beginning of term 3 and has lived in a quiet corner of the staff room. Students enjoyed meeting the penguin, whispering hello as they gently stroked its wings and patted its head. 

The Design Process for the sculpture started with deciding to use the Touchstone Species as the overall theme for the penguin. Then there was a brainstorm session to gather, draw and note down the students ideas. It was decided that the penguin should be a 'little blue' as they are regular visitors to Te Whakaraupō. 

The students went on to create their own designs and drawings over the next few weeks. During this stage there was a competition whereby students could suggest names for the penguin. The names were compiled and students given the opportunity to vote on their top three choices. There were some very inventive suggestions with the name 'River' winning the most votes in the end.

The decorating stage involved small groups of students taking turns to apply white and various shades of blue paint to the sculpture. Meanwhile another group of students were busy cutting out the students creative designs. These were glued to the front. The final touches were some detail painting around the head and feet (thanks so much Helen and Hannah!). Now the penguin just needs to be varnished and it will be picked up next term ready to be put out on the penguin trail.

All 65 of the decorated penguins will be displayed across Christchurch on a public art trail in November/ December. We will let you know more about how to visit our penguin and go on the penguin trail next term. In 2021 River will come back home to stay at Lyttelton Primary.  

The Takaroa students have shown such creativity and enthusiasm for the project and here's what they had to say about it: 

Amelia N - I loved drawing the designs to go on the penguin and painting it.

Parker - My favourite bit was looking at the amazing work.

Addie - I liked colouring in and cutting out the designs. And Leo and Ellie also liked drawing and cutting out the designs.

Mika liked painting the penguin blue and Paahi and Desmo enjoyed the painting too.

Hettie - I liked painting it and I thought the designs looked quite cool. And I thought it looked quite cute!

Hannah - It was really fun using the paintbrush and finding where the designs go.

Ed - The bit I liked was voting for the name.