Together at Home
Here we are—a nation of parents, grandparents and children all in the same boat, together at home. He waka eke noa. Every day of the lock-down we will post a story or video that can be shared among your family. The first few are below, and with them some talking points to fill our days at home together. Mauri ora.
Goat Island
The creatures of New Zealand’s oldest marine reserve are safe from humans, but that doesn’t mean life is easy. They are under constant attack from marauding dolphins, diving cormorants, and the sharks and the marlin that live beyond the boundaries of the reserve.
Sun 29: Goat Island
A Sunday inside is not a Sunday wasted... he's some stuff for families to do, Together at Home...
Sat 28: The longest walk
Last October, Chris and Jorinde Rapsey and their two children set off from Cape Reinga to walk Te Araroa, the 3000-kilometre track that runs the length of New Zealand. They lived outdoors for five months and walked an average of 20 kilometres a day. For nine-year-old Elizabeth and six-year-old Johnny, it was an immersive education—a form of learning increasingly absent from the lives of young New Zealanders, even as international research affirms the importance of children spending time in nature.
Sat 28: The lost art of long walking
The first weekend in a new world, locked-down, but no less awesome.
Kids respond: Colourful kākāpō
More responses from students of life to the kākāpō colouring challenge!
Fri 27: Kākāpō
In a land renowned for its unusual birds, the kākāpō—a giant flightless nocturnal parrot with a bizarre breeding system—has to be one of the strangest.
Fri 27: Giant parrots!
We're here to help families... every day of the lock-down.
Kids respond: Clay starfish
Responses from kids to the clay starfish challenge.
Thu 26: Rakiura/Stewart Island video
Little Blue Penguins run the gauntlet to escape great white sharks—but they’re not the only species flirting with death on New Zealand’s famous Stewart Island.
Thu 26: Let's go to Rakiura/Stewart Island!
Watch the video, chat with our talking points, and make clay starfish and yummy crackers!
Wed 25: Lizards anonymous
Many of our skinks and geckos are so new to science that they don’t even have names. Much of what we do know about our lizards is thanks to an amateur herpetologist from Invercargill with no academic training.
Kids respond: Lizards lizards
Our smallest lock-downers respond to Day 2 with pictures and poems.
Wed 25: Let's talk about lizards
For those of you not flat out like a lizard drinking, here are some things to discuss and activities to keep you busy.
Tue 24: Rarest of the rare
Rowi are a species of kiwi so critically restricted in distribution that they were almost done for. But a last-ditch effort has changed the fortunes of the most imperilled kiwi in the world.
Kids respond: Cool Kiwis
Kiwi kids respond to the Day 1 challenge
Tue 24: Talking points
If you're scratching in the undergrowth for some morsels for the family, try these.
