Tamariki had a blast during the Tasman Mission event held on site at Whenua Iti Outdoors.
Primary Schools from around the district arrived on a sunny Friday morning to take part in a fun event organised by the Tasman District Council that coordinated various ‘stations’ where teams faced fun environmentally-themed challenges to tackle together. This is the second time the event has been held, and the positive response from schools & participants is making it a popular one.
The day was coordinated by a team from the council, who invited various environmental groups, local providers & individuals to dream up fun challenges at 17 different stations that were dotted around the WIO grounds. Teams then raced around the various activities where they gained points for completing the challenges within a certain timeframe. Do we do it quickly? Or do we try to gain maximum points? There was an element of strategy at each station too which made the race an even one and added a little competitive spice to the day!
Teams had a great variety of challenges thrown at them, including fixing a puncture on your bike with volunteers from TDC, an orienteering course with Whenua Iti, harakeke weaving with Tania and a pest trapping game with volunteers from Forest & Bird. The mix of fun & learning at each station was a highlight for everyone involved.
“It’s great to see the grounds being used by the community” says Mark Bruce-Miller, GM at WIO. “Particularly for an event such as the Tasman Mission that supports our tamariki to be active learners – we love that.”
A huge thanks to the agencies & individuals involved that provided stations on the day: Project Janzoon, Waste No More, Forest & Bird, Enviroschools, Tasman Bay Guardians, Richard de Hammel from Otago Marine Studies, Tania from Parklands School, NMDHB, Tasman District Council & Whenua Iti Outdoors.