The Energy kit contents
Teachers from the Marlborough Kindergarten Association immersed themselves in the topic of ‘Energy!’ at their teacher only day workshop at the beginning of the year.
This workshop was part of their ‘Energize Project’, looking at energy usage across their association, made possible through funding from Toimata Foundation and their partnership with Ministry for the Environment.
Enviroschools facilitators Ramona and Annie from Marlborough District Council’s Environmental Education team were part of the day, and shared their new Energy kit, available for teachers to borrow and use with tamariki.
The kit explores the key concepts of Energy – it’s different forms and how we use it, that it is everywhere and that it is continuously changing.
The kit focusses mainly on Enviroschools activities from the Energy! Theme Area resource, and includes all the resources needed to get hands-on and explore energy in its many different forms. An inventory of the kit can be found here.
The Energy workshop gave teachers an opportunity to unpack and try the activities, as well as book the kit in to borrow and use at their kindergarten.
Kaiako exploring the Energy kit activities
Energy at Springlands Kindergarten
Kaiako at Springlands Kindergarten volunteered to be the first to try out the new Energy kit that the Marlborough Enviroschools team put together.
Where does energy come from? What types of energy are there? How is it used for? What Atua are associated with energy?
These are just some of the energy concepts that tamariki at Springlands Kindergarten have been learning about. Teachers have been blown away by the amount of knowledge tamariki have gained through exploring the kit.
Where does energy come from?
This was one of the favourite activities for tamariki to explore.
To investigate this question and be able to “see” energy in motion they used the kit – which contained objects such as torches with batteries, hand winding torches, pinwheels, a water wheel, pretend food, a picture of the sun and a toy monster truck that works off batteries. These objects had tamariki really curious and eager to see how they worked.
Exploring the battery torch and hand winding torch
They started by exploring the torches. When they turned them on tamariki talked about how the batteries have a chemical in them that turns into energy which then makes the light shine. The winding torches quickly became a firm favourite! Tamariki discovered that by turning the handle with their hand they could create kinetic energy which powered the light. They were excited to see that their own movement could create the energy needed for the torch to work.
Next tamariki experimented with the pinwheels, using their breath to create wind and make them spin. This reminded them that wind carries energy too. They chatted about the wind and how Tāwhirimātea, the atua of the winds, and weather is connected. Some great ideas came up about if the wind is stronger will it create more energy? And “I’ll do it really lightly and it still goes around”.
Exploring wind energy
They then explored the water wheel, pouring water over the top of it and watching as it turned around and around. This helped us see how moving water can create energy. They connected this to Tangaroa, the atua of the oceans and waters. The turning wheel showed how the flowing energy of water can make things move. This then invited the question of where does the energy go? Tamariki had a lot of ‘answers’ “It goes to the power lines”, “It goes into a big battery”, “It is used to make our lights work”.
Exploring the water wheel
The pretend food was next to be looked at. Tamariki took turns explaining what energy food gives us. Some of the ideas that came through were “It makes us run”, “If we eat healthy food we can jump high” and “It makes us grow big”. It was then asked “What atua helps us to get all of this?”. “Papatūānuku” was the answer, our earth mother provides the plants and food that nourish us.
Lastly the battery operated monster truck was set in the centre of the circle. This was a hit. Tamariki were able to see where the batteries go and then they were able to turn it on and it raced all over the show!
What a fun way to learn about how energy is created and where it comes from. It has also been empowering for tamariki to share their ideas and learn from one another. Through this exploration it has shown that tamariki are becoming inquisitive scientists who are making connections between things in their world.
Springlands Kindergarten plans to continue to investigate different sources of energy throughout the year.
Story written by Ramona Millen, Enviroschools Marlborough Facilitator and kaiako at Springlands Kindergarten.
Banner photo: Tamariki at Springlands Kindergarten playing with the battery operated monster truck as part of the Energy exploration
