During the recent Taranaki Arts Festival the children were lucky to be able to experience the Exxopolis, an amazing inflatable structure, at Brooklands Park.  It was like being inside a sculpture with music!

Sometimes we pretended that we were swimming under the water or sliding like a snake into the next area. Other times we would lie down on our backs and look up at the amazing patterns. After this experience we had our afternoon tea at the Brooklands Zoo and checked out the animals and the playground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-IZKGenpXQ

Before Joshua went to school, we took the opportunity to ask his Dad, Todd, if he could run a rugby skills session at the New Plymouth Old Boys Rugby Club.  The session combined well with our focus, this term, on increasing the children’s physical skills and it was something we could do within our community.

We caught the City Council bus from the Kindergarten to the Brooklands Road end of the grounds.  After a quick play in the playground we ran over to where Todd had set up the training field.  Todd showed us how to score a try and how to kick the ball then pick it up and score a try.  What we all loved best was the tackle bag practice.  We also tried changing direction quickly by doing an obstacle course.  We did a Haka before we played our game and after we finished we showed the children how to shake the hands of their opponents.  Joshua and Alice each had a turn at being referee.

During ‘Half Time’, we had some lunch in the clubrooms before playing an exhibition match for the parents who had come to pick up their children.

Over the next few weeks we will be doing more ball skills activities at Kindergarten.  Let’s see how good we can get!