This blog provides an excellent opportunity not only for us to share with you, but for you to share with each other.
- How do you use our museum as a learning resource? What do you find to be best practice? Why are museum and gallery experiences important for your tamariki?
This story comes from Marian Ayres Hill, Owner/Director/Teacher of Premier Preschool:
On Friday 31st January we caught the bus from Johnsonville to visit Storyplace at Te Papa and celebrate Hairy Maclary’s 30th anniversary.
The children are always very excited about catching the bus, and there was a lot of chatter and many comments about all the things we saw on the way, including: trucks; other green buses [Newlands Coaches]; McDonalds; trains at the Johnsonville Station; the mall; lots of cars; the sea; the ferry; the Stadium; lots of yellow Go Wellington buses; motor bikes parked along Lambton Quay; people lined up outside Kirkcaldies waiting for the sale; and big BIG buildings!
When we got off the bus in Courtney Place we walked through the Reading Cinema Complex to get to Te Papa. The bus was late collecting us, so we had to walk very fast which was quite tiring for some of the children, but eventually we made it and were met by Kimberley who was our host at StoryPlace.
She welcomed us to StoryPlace, and during the introduction Finn helped her clear Hairy Maclary’s letterbox. Inside the envelopes were pictures of Hairy Maclary friends, which the children recognised.
Inside Storyplace, we had a lot of fun playing with the dress ups, exploring different scenarios from Hairy Maclary stories, and making dog collars.
We participated in the obstacle course (from the story Hairy Maclary’s bone) and listened to a story called Rumpus at the Vet.
We sang a song which had us going round and round and round, had fun meeting the dogs from the stories.
Another highlight of our trip to Te Papa was the Hairy Maclary Hunt.
We did this after our visit to StoryPlace, and ended up going all over Te Papa looking for museum objects. These reminded Hairy Maclary of his friends, and he left clues with his picture on them for us to find! We found Hairy Maclary and his friends in the oddest of places!!!
We returned to Preschool tired, happy and full of adventures to share about our time at Storyplace.
Thank you for sharing your story Premier Preschool! Sounds like you had quite an adventure! We hope to see you back at StoryPlace again soon!
I am so glad you found the Hairy Maclary Hunt so much fun! Did you know we had 10,000 visitors engage with this activity over its 3 week duration!
If you have a story you would like to share, please contact me on rebecca.browne@tepapa.govt.nz