A Sea of 4-year olds

Last Thursday, Lindisfarne Kindergarten (Invercargill) visited the museum. It was part of a big day out in Otautau in which they also visited Allan Stearne's magical train collection and the guns at the War Memorial.

At first they were split into two groups and accompanied by parents. One group was looking at the trains while the other group learned about Ngai Tahu at the museum. Then they switched. As we squeezed perhaps 14 to 15 students into our little display rooms, it seemed like I was looking at a sea of 4-year olds - the youngest group we've ever had and certainly the most challenging for me to try to explain things in a way they would understand.

One very inquisitive boy latched onto a photograph of a man holding a big tuna (eel) in our mahika kai display. He had 101 questions about that tuna which we tried to answer. After it seemed his questions knew no end, we decided we should keep moving with the talk. But it was really neat to see such inquisitive minds engaging with our display.

We really enjoyed their visit, and it was heartening to see teachers and parents so committed to the early education of these youngsters. We hope to visit them at their place soon and learn about their world.

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