Some of our Tamariki have been showing an interest in Taniwha since we introduced the song 'I saw a Taniwha'. I had been thinking about how to extended this interest so set up the art table with pictures that Harry and I had googled. This inspired some amazing pictures and encouraged lots of discussions about whether Taniwha are real or not, where they live etc. So then I began to wonder how to extend this further. I came across a post on Mairtowns blog about challenging tamariki to create 3D pictures and I immediately thought that our tamariki could give this a go. I contacted Christine from Mairtown to ask for some advice about how she went about creating these works and shared with her how inspirational her posts are to me. Then I was ready to give it a go, once I mentioned the idea I suddenly had a table full of eager tamariki ready to get started.
This activity was a real challenge and required tamariki to work on their pictures for most of the day as it was a lengthy process. 

I really enjoyed working on this activity with our tamariki, watching their pictures develop, seeing how proud they were of their creations, sharing ideas and techniques with each other and the discussions that formed around what a Taniwha might be and seeing the many different ways they interpreted it. Once I managed to display the art work it was so rewarding to see the tamariki proudly showing their whanau their achievements. Click here to view email from Mairtown

• TRACY SMITHWednesday at 6:15pm

  These 3d pictures are so cool .It is a real task and a challenge for the kids but so so good for them to see the process through to the end even if it takes a day or two, and the excitement Toni has had to show me her picture shows she has really enjoyed the challenge. You teachers are always finding such cool things to extend our childrens learning. Keep up the great work teachers............... you all rock.
  And great job Toni you make me so proud the way you make something from nothing and can use your creativity and imagination to make some amazing things on a daily basis even at home as well as kindy.

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  Cassandra JarvieThursday at 3:06pm

  Thanks for your feedback Tracy, its great to get feedback from a parents perspective.