Tō Mātou Peitatanga

Over the past few months, I have been working on a painting project with my 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds. It is a multifaceted learning and exploration project, with the four main goals being:

1) learning and using words and phrases in te reo Māori in an integrated and meaningful way

2) creating a collective "world" that we all have ownership in and care for together

3) increasing our knowledge of and connection to ngā atua Māori (guardians) and which parts of our world each one looks after

4) spending intentional time thinking about how we represent ideas and objects through painting

This is Mātou Peitatanga ō Te Ao Tūroa ō Te Rā (Our Painting of the Natural World during the day). We painted the background together, and then each child got to think of something from the natural world that he/she would like to add, and paint it in.

We then did the same thing for Te Pō (the night). We still stuck with the Natural World, however, I did encourage some children to pick kararehe (animals) that live on te pāmu (the farm) for the lefthand, darker land area, so we could include the atua (gardian) of agriculture.

We talked about each thing that we painted using as much te reo Māori as possible. For example, I would say, "Whiriwhirihia he tae." ("Choose a colour.") and the child would name the colour they wanted in te reo Māori. We talked about body parts and parts of plants using Māori vocabulary, and talked about who painted what exclusively in Māori. I role modeled using the dictionary to look up words I didn't know yet, until the children would say, "Do you know it, or should we get the dictionary?" This learning together was so meaningful and I believe helped the children to see the value in a growth mindset.

At some point, I will have to do a more in-depth post about each atua, but for the moment, I will simply share the pictures I took of the signs I made for each one. I displayed the signs around the peitatanga (paintings), with pictures of what each child painted clustered around the atua who would look after that particular part of the natural world.

Papatūānuku is also known as the Earth Mother. We sing Morena (good morning) to her each week when we go to the Botanic Gardens, and thank her for all the wonderful growing things she looks after.

Ranginui is the Sky Father, and he and Papatūānuku are the parents of all the other atua.

Tāne Mahuta looks after the trees and all the creatures who live in the forest. We have a particularly beautiful book about him creating and planting the first tree, and then creating birds and insects.

Tongaroa is many of the children's favourite, although they struggle to believe me when I say that even though he has long hair and a mermaid tail, he is still a boy.

Unsurprisingly, Rongomātāne's focus on peace makes him one of my favourite atua. He's also a great one to reference as we encourage the children to be careful and respectful of the plants in our garden at Whare Kea (my room at work).

As I mentioned in my post a few weeks ago, Tāwhirimātea is always a popular atua, as the wind makes itself known in Wellington, so he is often actively influencing our day.

There are more, equally wonderful atua Māori, but those are the ones that I could specifically and meaningful connect to our peitatanga, and that the children could see as having ownership in the things they chose to paint.

I have taken pictures of some of the labels I put around the peitatanga, clustered around the appropriate atua. You'll notice that they're cut off on one side. That is because in addition to the close-up of their painting and the words, I also included a picture of them in the process of painting it, so it was clear to the children who painted each thing, in case they didn't see. However, I can't post pictures of the children, so you just get the closeups and words. 

The words "I peita a (child) i tētahi (object)" mean "(Child) painted this (object)." Some of them have additional specifications, and some don't. I also had a glossary up on the wall for parents and other teachers to use, so that they could learn the words not only for what the children painted, but for the body parts, plant parts, landscapes, etc.

Sadie put lots of time and effort into this crocodile, which got fancier and more amazing each time she came back to add more detail.

(Cared for by Tongaroa)

James is a lot younger than Sadie, but he also put lots of effort into his shark, and was especially pleased with its long hiku (tail).

(Cared for by Tongaroa)

Xavier is currently very focused on how nature works, and after he painted his flower, he was determined to add pollen, so that the bees could come visit it.

(Cared for by Papatūānuku)

Sorry for the glare on Jake's cow. This was a really exciting creation for Jake, as he doesn't often spend time painting, and he was very proud to have made waewae (legs), whatu (eyes), and a hiku (tail).

(Cared for by Rongomātāne)

Maddy is one of our youngest children, and she chose to make a fish because her closest friend made one first, and they are the only two fish in te awa (the river), so I like to think that they play together.

(Cared for by Tongaroa)

Tūī are one of our favourite birds, as we often see and hear them when we visit the gardens. Ramiyah and I spent a long time examining pictures of tūī in books and thinking about what they look like before she carefully and intentionally painted this stunning specimen, of which she is so proud!

(Also, I have just noticed that I spelled her name wrong on the sign! How awful! I know what I'm doing first thing Monday morning!)

(Cared for by Tāne Māhuta)

As soon as I asked Elva what she wanted to add, she said, "A pūrerehua!" She knew exactly what it should look like and needed no guidance as she painted. Unfortunately, Jake leaned over on it and smeared one of the wings, but Elva was amazingly gracious about it.

(Cared for by Tāne Mahuta and Ranginui)

Lucy painted this bird with gorgeous big red korokoro (toes) smack in the middle of the rangi (sky), much to the consternation of several other children who were 100% sure that it was a penguin and therefore couldn't fly. Lucy insisted that it was not a penguin, and after some confirmation from me that whoever the artist is gets to decide what it is, they came to terms with it.

(Cared for by Tāne Mahuta and Ranginui)

I deeply enjoyed doing this project with my wonderful children, and am thrilled with the learning, empowerment, and ownership that it gave them. They have been dragging their parents over to the peitatanga and telling them about what they and their friends have painted. On several occasions, I have heard them using the Māori words and then translating for their parents. Bentley said, "Mum! That's my ika! My ika, Mum. Mum... it's a fish, okay?" I love hearing them speaking Māori and taking pride in that, even when they have to make allowances for their less informed parents. In fact, the parents have given me wonderful feedback that they're loving learning te reo Māori from their children, and are so excited for them to have a strong knowledge of and pride in their bicultural heritage. I'm so glad to be a part of it!