Blog

One of my early memories of teaching in nature was when I was working over at a YMCA camp on the Banks Peninsula in 1999. We were down at the beach and I was meant to be running an activity called coasteering. But the children were having so much fun making...

This is my first attempt at dissecting the Health and Safety Act. There is so much to digest so if you think I have got anything wrong or that I haven't considered something that is relevant, please let me know and I will happily update once researched further. I also...

It's hard to know where to start when describing a conference as amazing as the Natural Phenomena 2017. The conference is set in the Wild Woods near Whangarei where most participants pitch their tent and have a full immersion experience of nature and education of 3...

Donna Chisholm is both a teacher and an artist. With over 20 years in the Early Childhood arena, Donna has an interesting perspective...

I felt really inspired after watching the NaturePlay film that we hosted here in Christchurch and we had great feedback along the same lines. One of the parents who came along said the next day she removed her child from their preschool after watching the film! I...

We are happy to introduce Elly who is our guest blogger this month. Elly has been inspiring people to make sustainable...

At a meeting the other week a friend and I tabled an exciting idea we had. We suggested a pop up nature play space in the next school holidays – cool right? Well, the response wasn’t what either of us were expecting. It wasn’t a response of excitement like ‘that’s...

I took a leap earlier this week – I submitted a proposal that I am excited and passionate about but one that also makes me feel nervous because of the amount of work I would have to do to make it happen. I have always believed in dreaming big so this is no exception....

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was helping mum to prepare dinner and she had gone outside to get something from the garden. I had peeled the carrot and I had just started cutting the carrot into slices. The knife slipped and my finger got in the way. There was...

My memories of Easter as a child involved a lot of chocolate Easter eggs – terrible I know! I really want to help create some different kinds of memories for my children so I have been thinking about what we can do to achieve this. When I look online for ideas or...

I have been asked many times for ideas of what to do with children when it’s raining. My short answer is “Do what you do when it’s not raining”. This response has received a variety of responses back! It’s not meant to be sarcastic, I say it to get people thinking and...

We have had some really hot nor’west days this past week in Christchurch. I always drink a lot of water and trying to get my kids to drink lots of water on those hot days seems to be really easy. They recognise in their body that they need water to help them feel...

If you follow us on Facebook, you will have seen our live video of our Water Wall that we made last week. If not I am sharing the link as its much better to watch how it works and what we have done. You can also use the photos below to help figure out how you could...

This year I wanted to do some Christmas themed crafts with my kids using some natural products in the process. We took a trip to the beach and gathered some sticks, well I gathered the sticks and the kids dug holes and tried to bury them! At home we found a collection...

I am often that parent at the playground that has other parents gasping and running to save my children. It happened the other day when my 3-year-old was playing with another boy at the park. They had some toy cars that they were letting go down some ramps to see how...