Articles

For the last five years, we have been celebrating Harvest Festival at Little Earth Kapiti as summer draws to an end. The Harvest Festival is one of the highlight of the season. We invite parents and families to join us for lunch. We all come together and enjoy the bounty of our gardens. Families are also encouraged to bring a plate of food that they have concocted from their own garden harvest.

Our  Harvest Festival is celebration for our community to acknowledge the bounties that Papatūānuku provides us with through our gardens. It is also an acknowledgement of the importance of concrete and rich sensorial experiences and natural opportunities we learn in our outdoor environment,  which is a vital element of the Montessori philosophy. It promotes the whole child – body, mind, and soul. Our tamariki show a lot of joy, hardwork, dedication, learning, and aroha in growing our garden.

Growing food is such an enjoyable and great learning experience for us as a community. We learn about healthy eating and at the same time develop our knowledge about the world around us and  grow our love for nature as we tend to our gardens.

 “When the child goes out, it is the world itself that offers itself to him. Let us take the child out to show him real things instead of making objects which represent ideas and closing them up in cupboards.”

– Dr. Maria Montessori