Our BestStart Delta Ave community embraced three cultures in June, celebrating Samoan Language Week, Philippine Independence Day, and Matariki. Through stories, songs, crafts, and shared kai, tamariki connected with traditions from Aotearoa, Samoa, and the Philippines.
June was a busy but exciting month for BestStart Delta Ave, with three back-to-back celebrations.
We kicked off with Samoan Language Week. The centre was filled with vibrant colours as our tamariki explored and strung flowers to make beautiful necklaces. They also played with the colours of the Samoan flag and created their own versions of it.
To culminate the week, we enjoyed some Samoan donuts, which the children helped prepare, and invited one of our Samoan parents to share a cultural dance and sing pese (songs), while also teaching the children “If You’re Happy And You Know It” in Samoan.
Next, we celebrated the 127th Philippine Independence Day. Our tamariki explored Filipino culture by creating flags using different art methods and materials.
Our Filipino parents joined the celebrations by reading the story The Thirsty Swallow, singing a nursery rhyme about a crab that cannot be caught, and sharing fun facts about the Philippine flag. The older tamariki also got to play a traditional Filipino street game called tumbang preso.
For lunch, everyone enjoyed picadillo — a Filipino dish loaded with vegetables and meat.
To finish the month, we celebrated Matariki, where tamariki engaged in activities honouring this important time of reflection and new beginnings.
Our pēpi and toddlers stamped and painted stars, while the preschoolers weaved paper and worked hard peeling and cutting vegetables to make a hearty vegetable soup, which the whole centre shared.
And, of course, no celebration is complete without songs. By this time, our tamariki already knew the Matariki song by heart. To conclude the celebrations, one of our Māori parents visited to read a story and sing waiata with the children.
What a beautiful coming together of all three cultures!