Magical Margaret Mahy

On Thursday the 20th of May Tumu Hub went to the Margaret Mahy Playground. First I looked at the traditional Maori mats. They were really interesting because lots of work was put into them with bricks. Each mat has a different story and meaning behind it. Then we went down to the river to feed the tuna. We fed them in smaller groups so it wasn’t crowded. We had to wait until the waka wasn’t there and then we could feed them. When it came to my turn I grabbed a spoon and reached down to feed the tuna. There was only one Tuna down at the river and it was swimming really low so it couldn’t see the food on top of the water. 

After we had finished, we went on the Waka. We grabbed a paddle and practised the commands and we sang E Minaka Ana. After doing a lap of the river we did a race. We were ahead but they turned around early so they won but really we would have. After the waka we went down to Victoria Square. There we looked at the pou and maori designs all around and we had a snack. We did a quick drawing of the pou so we could remember what it looked like and we went to the next rotation. 

The next rotation was looking at Margaret Mahy Playground and it’s story. We looked at the carvings in the path and everything they mean. Then we got paper and a crayon and we traced over carvings in the path by holding the crayon on it’s side and rubbing over it. After that we gathered as a group and had a talk about the day and how we could thank the parents for their help. We also thanked the teachers for organizing this trip. To say a big thank you to the parents and teachers we sang E Minaka Ana and Mila spoke on behalf of the hub. Then we went back to school after a wonderful day at Magret Mahy Playground.

My favourite part of the trip was going on the waka because I liked paddling and it was fun being able to go on a waka because I haven’t ever been on one before. I liked singing E Minaka Ana and saying HE HA as we paddled.

Something I learnt was that some of the playground is actually shaped as a certain thing like the climbing frame is one of the boats that the first settlers came in and the hill with the slide coming down is the port hills.  

The thing I found the most interesting was that the playground is shaped to look like things from the past like big ships and port hills. I think it is interesting because people wouldn’t always think that is what it really is and when kids play they already have boats and hills to play on.

This trip has helped me with my PBL because I found out more about the playground and what it means and also heaps more about maori patterns and how things were made. I also found things out about tuna and mats around christchurch. The trip was really interesting and the things I found out were really cool. I loved this trip.

What did you find the most interesting about what I have learned on this trip?