Here is a colouring book aimed at Years 1-6 depending. It focuses on raupō as the taonga/ treasure from which our name comes.

Here is a resource about Te Pātaka a Rākaihautū, that connects to the digital book, Te Kete a Rākaihautū. It has prinatble resources built in.

Here's a worksheet about mōkihi aimed at Years 3-5. Here's a more challenging version for Years 6-8.

Here's a mix n' match of animals and plants that were important to our local mahinga kai.

Here's a printable colour-in sheet about the Ōpāwaho.

Here's a printable colour-in sheet about the native animals around Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū/ Banks Peninisula, from the Friends of Banks Peninsula group.

Here is a paper-craft pātaka for our Banks Peninsula kura, to help your tamariki know the meaning of the name Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū.

Here is a printable paper-craft mōkihi that your ākonga can colour in and assemble. Here is what it looks like when finished. 

Doc has awesome colouring sheets for some of our taonga species such as the long-finned eel/ tuna and the kērēru, plus osme 3-D models you can make. See here.

You are probably already aware that QuiverVision offers colour-ins that become animated through their app - they have a number of native animals, which are relevant to Te Wai Pounamu as a whole, plus a pūkeko one that is relevant for our local area. and is free if you subscribe.

If you can source these two colouring books by Dave Gunson, NZ Birds and NZ animals, each page offers a simple explanation of the native biord/ animal that can then springboard into some research about them for ākonga tied to NZ history - how has the bird/ animal been affected by the arrival of humans? What does this bird/ animal mean to tangata whenua? How can we help protect thesr taonga species?

Another resource on our main bird species, with more detailed information on each page, is this beautiful colouring book by a New Zealand artist that gives really good profiles of each bird. well worth getting if our native manu are part of your cultural narrative.

Te Kura has provided some awesome resources on harakeke - why it was a taonga, how it was used and its history, plus some printable activities suitable from probably Year 6 upwards. 

Here are some online games about our local history you can use with your classes.

A simple Kahoot about some of our natural history. 

Here's a Quizlet set on our local rākau, ika and manu that you can use to play Quizlet Live. 

Another idea - get your ākonga to make their own board games based on your local history - for example, the players might have to answer a question about the local area correctly to move forward, or, they might have to land on certain squares to collect various types of kai from each mahinga kai. Here's a blog with some ideas. 

NZ On Screen

There is an amazing collection of resources on NZ On Screen. 

One gem (big mihi to Sarah and Ellis from CHS for raising this) is the series Colonial House, which was filmed at Ferrymead, and its follow-on, Pioneer House.  These two series look at the lives of European settlers, how they made a living, etc.  

NAIA

NAIA is a Kāi Tahu group producing videos on tīpuna Kāi Tahu/ Kāi tahu ancestors, and Kāi Tahu pūrākau/ stories passed down. Find their series here or subscribe to their YouTube channel here.

Newspaper Challenge/ Wero Nūpepa

Each group gets two old newspapers and one roll of tape. They get a set time to construct as accurate a mōkihi as they can. Some might choose to roll individual pages into tubes to simulate the gathered bunches of raupō.

Chalk Challenge/ Wero Tioka

Groups each get an assigned area outside and some chalk. Their challenge is to do the best reconstruction of the Ōtakaro as it once was, with as many important types of kai/ transport vessels as they can think of.

Kāi Tahu had made available through Kiwa Productions an amazing set of interactive storybooks you can download onto iPads for free. Our ECEs have already had these shared with them, but our primary schools could use them again when ākonga are old enough to read them for themselves.  There's also another one on Tamatea Pōkai Whenua. Note - some of the books have a button on the home screen to switch between Te Reo Māori and English - show this to your ākonga or they might get a bit stuck.

Here is a list of pukapuka you can get out from the library or try to source for your school library, that include Kāi Tahu pūrākau/ stories passed down over generations.

Remember that the MoE's Down the Back of the Chair has a number of books and journals you can order for free, on a massive range of relevant topics.

For older ākonga, here are some non-fiction readings - a superb PDF presentation of the importance of tuna, suitable for advanced readers at Year 8-10, 

Ākonga can practice writing their own opinion/ argument if you look at the restoration of bilingual place names with them. Places such as Te Ihutai or Ōpāwaho appear as The Avon-Heathcote Estuary or the Heathcote River on Google Maps. Get them to write a letter or speech saying whether they think the names should be bilingual or not. 

Christchurch City Libraries has a good website to read on local Te Tiriti signings, with reading recommendations linked in.   

Make a model/ hangā tētahi tauira

Make a papier-mâché model of a sgnificant landmark you have studied - Rapanui, te awa o Ōtaakaro, Te Kuru, etc. Or make one out of modeling clay or kinetic sand (ākonga from Te Iringa o Kahukura shown left, making Ōnawe Pā).

Design a symbol

Look at the symbols on our new bus exteriors. Look at what each one means and how they relate to mahinga kai. Then, have ākonga design their own symbol for something that isn't included, such as raupō.

Species Identification

Go to a site where the native flora/ fauna is similar to what we once had in our area and do a survey identifying some of the native plants and animals present. Tuahiwi Education have excellent resource packs for Ōrua Paeroa, Ōtūkaikino and Tūtaepatu that include species identification cards you can use. 

Flotation Experiment

This will require some preparation in advance. Gather raupō, harakeke and a number of other materials of your choice (e.g. wood, cork, cardboard). Dry the raupō and harakeke for two weeks. There are tikanga required for the gathering of harakeke - a karakia should be performed (here's an example on Page 2), never cut te pēpi (te rito, the inner shoot)/ te māmā me te pāpā (ngā awhi rito, the leaves either side of the inner shoot). In other words, avoid the three inner leaves of the plant as it may damage it (see here for more), and wash your hands well after handling, as the sap can give you an upset stomach. Also, do not use kitchen implements - harakeke is tapu and food is noa, they should not mix. There are also tikanga around the harvesting of raupō, particularly when you harvest, to avoid disturbing nesting birds. Talk to an expert in raranga/ weaving before harvesting harakeke or raupō.

The experiment - have a tank/ large bowl of water and float each material. Observe which floats best. Check them regularly over the course of a week. Raupō mōkihi were temporary vessels as over time the raupō became waterlogged and started to sink. Discuss why people would have still used this material, even though it was temporary. Consider its abundance, its proximity to the waterways people were travelling on and the ease of harvesting it.

To left: Picture of raupō taken on a trip to Tūtaepatu Lagoon. 

Native Forests

Our podocarp forests on the Canterbury Plains and tōtara/ kahikatea forests on Horomaka were crucial food sources for Māori, but early fires by Māori cleared a lot of the Canterbury Plains and early European settlers felled huge tracts of Canterbury and Banks Peninsula, both for wood to build the growing city of Christchurch and to make way for farming. 

Use the image to the left - get ākonga to estimate how much of Banks Peninsula was covered in forest in each year, as a percentage. Then make a line graph showing that percentage change over time.

Look at this article on our declining tree canopy cover for context (maybe read it out loud to ākonga or rewrite it in a simplified form). Then use this site on our tree cover and graph the data to show it is an ongoing problem. 

Native birds survey

Kā Whakatekateka o Waitaha once had large areas of podocarp forest. Huge tracts still remained in 1848, when H.T.Kemp made his dubious purchase of Canterbury on behalf of the Crown. The Deans family were one of those affected, as Kemp's Purchase included a large area of forest they had leased from local Māori. In the end, the Deans reached an agreement where they kept a large chunk of the podocarp forest, which they choose to retain, but the rest of it was quickly clear felled by settlers.

Do a trip to Riccarton Bush and observe bird numbers - how many birds can ākonga see in an hour? Graph these bird numbers. If possible, separate by native/ introduced/ uncertain. Then go to another area of Riccarton which is now cleared but once was forest (e.g. an open area of Hagley Park) and repeat this process. What differences can they see in their graphs? How might our area be different if we still had that forest?

The Canterbury Museum can assist you with visits to Riccarton Bush. 

NOTE - by visiting Pūtaringamotu and then journeying back to our area, you are replicating a journey often made by Kāi Tahu in the past. People would travel to Pūtaringamotu to harvest kai then return to Rapaki - an important resting spot on this journey was Matuku-Takotako, in Sherwood lane on the Cashmere foothills (drawmn form the Cultural Narrative Ōpāwaho Schools Cluster Report). 

Tō koutou rohe

Research your own area. Find out the meaning of street names around your school or ECE here.

Mahinga kai

Have ākonga pick a native species that was once an important source of kai in our area (tuna, pātiki, kanakana, inaka, pārera, etc) and investigate it with focusing questions such as:

• what state is this species in today? Endangered, threatened, plentiful?

• what has affected the species (deforestation, predators, etc)?

• are people still allowed to hunt/ fish for this species? If so, are there limits on who can do this or how much they can take?

• what could we do to help this species?

Our main tuna (long finned eel) is a taonga species that chronically threatened by commercial fishing, which has had a massive impact on the way of life for many of our mana whenua. Manaaki Tuna is an organisation seeking to protect our tuna that provides education resources.

Whaka Īnaka is another project that seeks to protect a taonga species. It is a joint project between Ngāi Tahu, the University of Canterbury and other groups seeking to see what we can do to improve our whitebait population. 

Mahinga kai 2

Get ākonga to work in groups to choose one kai or method for gathering/ preserving kai from the Ngāi Tahu Mahinga Kai webseries. Get them to make a slide for a class slideshow about their chosen kaupapa/ topic. Here's an example from secondary school ākonga.

Ingoa Wahi

Have ākonga research aspects of the place names of significance in your area. For example, Te Heru o Kahukura - have ākonga research heru. What were they usually made of? How were they traditionally decorated? how are they still used today? How are they similar to selu/ helu, Pasifika head combs? This form of hair decoration is one brought by the Polynesian voyagers to Aotearoa but it was adapted to suit the materials available here. Note - Canterbury Museum has a beautiful collection of selu but they are not on permanent display. If you contact them they may be able to arrange a viewing for you with the Pasifika curator. 

Ngāi Tahu

Use this website to be informed about the pepeha of our hapū (hugely valuable if you have Kāi Tahu ākonga who are trying to construct their own pepeha) and to get contact details. It also has a superb collection of books and other resources.  He rauemī tino pai tēnei!

This website was constructed by Ngāi Tahu to help support kaiako in their teaching and has a huge wealth of resources on this such as mahika kai.

NZ Conservation Trust

If you have looked into the status of some of our native species, you can contact the NZ Conservation Trust to come in and do a presentation on how our native fauna have become  endangered. They bring in taxidermied stoats, etc, so ākonga can see what these threats look like and they also bring in a live tuatara!! Some Te Iringa o Kahukura ākonga are pictured left, meeting a tuatara.

Trees for Canterbury

Take part in a local planting day or just help fundraise for Trees for Canterbury, to help restore the native flora we have lost.

Tūhaitara Trust

Tūhaitara Trust can run a visit for you to Tūtaepatu Lagoon, which is out near Woodend. This invaluable reserve lets ākonga see what our rivers and swamps were once like. The lagoon's banks are covered with raupō and harakeke and the pathways are lined with aruhe/ bracken fern. They can run a wide range of activities, from weaving/ raranga to conservation - planting or maintaining native trees, and they explain mahinga kai really well. There is a resource pack available for this site on the Tuahiwi Education page.

Haerenga ako/ Learning journeys

Visit our local wāhi hira/ significant places - more resources to come.

You can contact Tuahiwi Education to arrange a site visit to Kaiapoi Pā, plus they provide a huge range of guides to other significant sites. Check out their education page.

Head out to Ihutai to explore where the Ōpāwaho meets the sea. There are some amazing resources already prepared by the Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust that you can use onsite to make the most of your visit. 

This 'i-hikoi' by the University of Otago gives ideas for history to talk about if you were to visit the Botanic Gardens/ city centre.