Whale Riders

Using our imagination and constructing with the connecting straws was how our adventure began.

The longer they made their straws the more connections some of the children made to fishing lines.  Then we started having discussions about fish and if they had caught one before and if they did how big was it.

One of the children wanted to catch a whale.   So into the sandpit we went, where we all worked together to build a ginormous whale complete with spout.

Funnily enough, after we molded our whale out of the sand, they all wanted a turn to ride it.

Then using the IPAD we watched some tamariki/children, singing the Tohorā

 Nui song, complete with actions which we then practised and sang afterwards.

We made sure to keep our whales skin wet and to keep any buckets of water out of the whales spout so it could breathe.

We even read a lovely story about a Whale and a Snapper,  which told the tale of a small, brave, snapper helping an enormous whale when it became caught in a large fishing net.

The moral of the story was that even if you are small, you can do little things to help those who are bigger than you.  You just need to be willing to try.