Kaitiakitanga

Kaitiakitanga

Traditionally, Māori believe there is a deep kinship between humans and the natural world. This connection is expressed through kaitiakitanga – a way of managing the environment.

This term as part of our inquiry about the environment we have been looking at becoming superheroes of our environment. 

We had Matt visit from the SPCA to tell us about how they are Kaitiaki or guardians of animals and how we can be guardians of animals too. We have also spent time with the bush builders who showed us how to care for our local environment.

We created super hero badges that show what we are Kaitiaki of: 

Some chose animals:

Others chose the environment:

Then we posed as superheroes to complete our transformation into Kaitiaki:

But it wouldn't be complete without our super hero/Kaitiaki capes. We have started screen printing and will be decorating them later this week. 

Our next step is to think about what we can do as Kaitiaki in our local environment. We can't wait to see where we go next.