A couple of months ago we called for whānau reviewers. With 7 tamariki under 7 we knew the Paku whānau would be pīwari perfect to trial Rua-Series 2. Ōtautahi powerhouse māmā Olivia Paku sent us this tino atāhua report on their experience of our pukapuka.
Above: The Paku whānau enjoying Reo Pēpi pukapuka!
Olivia Paku: What a pleasure to recieve Reo Pēpi – Rua in the post! A delightful package to receive.
Initially I left the books on the bench in the kitchen at my home and waited to see what the reactions were going to be with these flash new books on display – primarily waiting for the children to come over pick them up and have a look but to my surprise it was the adults in my whare who showed interest in wanting to read them first before the children! Some wanting to know how easy/hard the reo would be (and if they would be able to read it to the kids) and second - learning new words!
Once our tamariki got hold of them there was definite division! The boys enjoyed Ngā Tae as it had all the insects in the book and their mission after reading the book was to go out into the garden and try find all the insects in the book to confirm they were the same colour as the pictures!
For our younger girls (2-3 years) they enjoyed Te Kaute as they are right at that age where at kindy/kohanga they are starting/learning to count.
Miss six loved Nga Āhua as she found it most enjoyable to copy the pictures out of the book and also cut the shapes out of her scrap booking materials.
Even our youngest whānau member (4 months) enjoyed looking at the pictures whilst at the change table or being read to by other whānau members. Never to young to start learning our reo.
So there were favourites amongst all different ages which lead into creative activities/ideas which kept them entertained during the school holidays! Thank you!
Our kōkō of the whānau also enjoyed learning both individually and with the kids as they helped him and vice versa – was nice to hear our tamariki encouraging their kōkō and laughing when he got it terribly wrong but his goal for 2017 is to start to learn te reo and what better way than with these books and his mokopuna to help.
Absolutely wonderful books, thoroughly enjoyed at all ages. Kia pai tō mahi korua! Ka wani ke! Mauri ora!