Over the last few weeks, our Tamariki have been exploring Matariki – the Maori New Year and we have been learning about important activities that happen during this time. Harvesting crops is an important part of this and during the year, we had planted kumara in our garden!

Since our little ones are avid gardeners, we decided to look at our kumara plant and see if we had any crops to harvest. Using a special gardening tool, they each took turns, digging up the dirt around the kumara plant to uncover what was hiding underneath. On the way, they spotted a wriggly friend in the garden and because our little ones love insects and bugs, they spent some time observing the worm and discussing how worms help the garden to grow.

We explored the leaves of the kumara plant and what it looked like from above. As the digging got deeper, little ones spotted something. “What is it?”, they questioned and after moving a bit more dirt, they could see part of a kumara!! WOW!!!

As they dug out the little vegetables, they saw little roots attached to one long slender kumara. Many of our tamariki were motivated and inspired to keep digging for more and soon the next kumara was found.

This continued for quite some time, with more and more kumara being unearthed. Each time a discovery was made, our little ones were amazed and compared the size and shape to previous kumara that had been found.

Gathering and displaying their kumara harvest on the table, they then spent time counting the kumara and having discussions about what kumara tastes like and what they could do with it. They then explored the cuttings of the kumara plant - one of our wonderful kaiako suggested that they put them in water so that the roots could continue to grow and be replanted again. This brought more conversations about how plants grow and what plants our little ones have growing at home.

We decided to boil some of our kumara and enjoy it for afternoon tea, while the rest of the kumara were shared amongst our tamariki and taken home. That evening, some of our families enjoyed fresh kumara from our Buckle My Shoe garden, whilst some of our little ones became so attached to their produce, that they did not want to cook them. 😃

Te whariki the early childhood curriculum states that “children learn through active exploration of the environment”. What better way to learn about “garden to table” and the freshness of vegetables than to be part of the process from start to finish. At Buckle My Shoe, understanding nutrition is important to us as our little ones need the right food to fuel their brain and body.

Once our kumara cuttings are ready, we cannot wait to replant them, nurture them and when the time is ready – harvest them so that our pukus (tummies) can enjoy another crop of fresh kumara! 😊