Autahi and Tautoru visit to Taputeranga Marine Reserve

In both Autahi and Tautoru, we have recently been using Atua as the foundation for our Inquiry. Exploring the realms of different atua has given us rich opportunities to learn about the natural world around us and perhaps view that world in a different way. 

This week, our visit to Taputeranga Marine Reserve was full of great learning about Tangaroa and the children of Tangaroa, the creatures that inhabit our ocean habitats. The Marine Education Centre at Taputeranga is devoted to the sea life of our local coastline so we were learning about creatures that we can find around Worser Bay, too.

Here is a selection of photos from our trip to give a flavour of what we saw. Doctor Victor encouraged us to be explorers, find out new things, and ask lots of questions - and we did!

Visiting the Bait House

Here, we had the chance to get hands-on with some sea stars, anemones, kina, crabs and other creatures.

Doctor Victor showed us how to use our hands like scoops to very gently pick up the animals so that we could take a closer look at them without harming them.

A cushion star and a big sea star.

This beauty is a snake star. We had to be extra-careful when picking it up to make sure we were supporting its body and legs from underneath.

Rockpooling

We also had to chance to explore the rock pools beside the Bait House. Look what we found!

How cute is this little crab?

And how lucky are we to get to spend time learning together and having fun in this beautiful spot?