Precious Rain
4th April 2013
Today brought the long awaited and absolutely needed RAIN. We have had water restrictions for several
weeks because our district has been suffering with lower rainfall levels than
normal. In fact we have had official
drought conditions. So today’s steady
fall of rain was exciting for a lot of people.
At kindergarten children have been learning about how precious
water is and the many impacts of not having any. There have been many discussions about water
and it uses and at kindergarten we have done our best to conserve water usage
by reusing water from our drink cups and hand washing water for the plants,
recycling the swimming pool and water trough water for the gardens and grass. We
also have not refilled our pool or had any type of water play in the sandpit or
water trough since restrictions were put in place. All these practices have emphasized the
consequences of drought conditions and reinforced the water – life cycle and
its importance locally, nationally and globally to our being.
Today early in the morning as the rain came down and we were
setting up for the day, I placed an ice-cream container under a down pipe that doesn't connect to anywhere and was surprised when in a matter of minutes it
was full. I poured it into the water
trough. As tamariki arrived they saw me
and continued to empty the water as it filled.
After morning Kotahitanga and
small group time Corbin and Calista were very interested and keen to fill the
water trough with the container, at one time we counted 14 litres of water had
gone into the trough in less than half an hour.
The children relished in the opportunity to play in the little amount of
water we had gathered and I think appreciated it a little more!
The next exciting opportunity the rain created was the chance
to wear and try out the new rain capes that were sponsored by farmlands. Everybody who wanted to be outside playing
had to have a raincoat on. Some were
totally prepared and had brought their own raincoats from home like Joshua and
Danika and when I offered one of the new rain capes they both declined saying
they had their own! Everyone else was quick to put them on and
test them out in the real rain – we had had a few dry runs! What a success and we played in the rain most
of the morning and kept dry. Danika and
Jaymee were happy to have the capes on and work under the shelter at the
carpentry table. While Lilly and Will
got trolleys out and played at the water trough with Corbin who spent a long
time enjoying having water to play with.
Joshua went to work hammering the whare in his raincoat and Calista and
Will checked that rain capes didn't inhibit stilt walking.
At Anne West kindergarten we have a huge
commitment to conservation, sustainability and being environmentally mindful
from several cultural perspectives. Part of our commitment is to teach
young children to nurture and value their environment, and to develop this
respect and understanding they need to build a relationship with the natural
world. To do this children need to be able to play outside in all
weathers which means being out in the rain as well as the sun. We certainly did this today! The children today gathered their water for
play and looked after this precious resource.
Siobhan Soutar.
