Waimataitai Kindergarten recently had many active ‘hunters’, firstly looking for dinosaur teeth (white stones), before this play evolved into hunting for gold and other treasure.

Play was led by tamariki that have been viewing programmes on T.V about hunting for gold. Mathematical thinking was encouraged as scales were introduced into play for the weighing of their finds. Tamariki also built a ‘sluice’ to wash the soil off their taonga.

Tamariki showed lots of creativity and collaborative play as they shared ideas and problem solved, as they worked through trial and error, while building on prior knowledge, developing new knowledge, and expressing their working theories.