As part of our Matariki celebrations, we have been looking at the night sky and the significance of the 7 stars. Our little ones love to explore using their senses, and so a special black sand provocation was set up to encourage them to have turns creating stars in the sand! 😍

As they did this, discussions were had about the 7 stars of Matariki and their names. Our tamariki were familiar with this, as we had just learnt a song called the “Matariki Macarena” which uses the names of the stars, also known as the 7 sisters of Matariki.

After a while, imaginations took over and we began seeing our little ones using the sand to practice their early writing skills as well as to draw different things. We have been talking about our feelings a lot during our group times and so some of our little ones even used this as an opportunity to draw different facial expressions and play a guessing game amongst peers to see who knew which emotion was being expressed. 👍

Using black sand in a white plate was a different sensory rich experience for our little ones. They enjoyed seeing the stark comparison of the black sand against the white plate and using their fingers to create different pictures and patterns. This is a simple and easy-to-do learning experience that can be replicated at home as well, so be sure to have a go! 😊