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Diwali Celebrations in the Nursery
At BestSart Hei Hei, we strive to create an environment where we value the different cultural taonga brought by the children in the centre. The end of the month of October was full of festive spirit in the nursery. With Diwali and Halloween on the same day, the under two’s took art as a way to celebrate these wonderful festivals.
The nursery tamariki enjoyed colouring the rangoli patterns with bright colours and unleashed their creativity in painting the salt dough candle holders. The Kaiako also used digital technology in telling children the story of Diwali and in explaining the true meaning of victory of good over evil through the right choices. The tamariki also got to taste the Indian sweet treats made by one of the Kaiako for this special occasion. Through this celebration and a variety of experiences associated with it, the tamariki learnt to be creative, express themselves through a variety of modes and media while working on their fine motor skills.
They enjoyed hearing stories coming from a different culture. Through the rangoli painting, the tamariki were able to notice and recognize different patterns and shapes which is one of the precursors of mathematical skills in early years.