Big Heart Day is a wonderful opportunity for our early learning community to come together and celebrate the importance of keeping our hearts healthy.
Our focus this year was on fun, movement, and simple messages that build lifelong habits.
By weaving playful activities into the day, we helped tamariki understand that our hearts are precious and worth looking after. We filled the day with plenty of movement and hands‑on learning.
Some of our oldest tamariki began by feeling their own heartbeats and noticing how they change depending on how active they’ve been- an easy but powerful way to help children understand how their bodies work. In the preschool room, the children loved joining in with superhero yoga, trying out different stretches and poses that made their hearts beat faster while building strength and confidence.
Our under 2's explored a pretend play kai setup, touching, sorting, and talking about different foods that help keep our hearts healthy. This simple play experience helped them learn that what we eat fuels our bodies. To finish off the day, everyone enjoyed a small fruit‑smoothie tasting, packed with colourful, nourishing ingredients—a fun way to explore heart‑healthy foods before afternoon kai.
Our Big Heart Day celebration is ultimately about connection: tamariki, kaiako, and whānau learning together, moving together, and celebrating together. By creating positive experiences around activity and healthy eating, we plant seeds that support lifelong wellbeing.