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Taniwha Whāngaimokopuna
Taniwha Whāngaimokopuna Our Preschool room planning is around oral language so this tied in nicely with Māori language week. Joe our puppet friend shared the exploits of one of the earliest taniwha Whāngaimokopuna who changed the course of the Manawatu river. The story of Whāngaimokopuna has been passed down by Rangitāne descents for generations and even though is Spoken in terms of tradition and mythology many of the stories passed down are regarded as real.
Joe told us about oral traditions and how special stories are passed down through generations of people. This was a good learning opportunity for our tamariki. We learnt about our local area and the connection to local iwi. We heard words and geographical place names like Taikoria, Tamaki River, Rangitāna pa, Motuiti people, Raikapua and more. After Joe finished the story of our local taniwha we decided to make our own Whāngaimokopuna.
We made individual taniwha then all joined together to create a big Whāngaimokopuna. It was a great joint effort from tamariki to colour his face then cut his legs and body out. We stuffed him with newspaper and added his head. He now has his own Manawatu river to swim down.