Rainbows

see  www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/stpatrick/rainbowstreamer/

www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/rainbow/

2012 is the Chinese Year of the Dragon
www.activityvillage.co.uk/handprint_dragon.htm

Water Play: Term 1 is a great opportunity to enjoy the outdoors

On the water theme we also enjoyed making boats

and we enjoyed reading books such as
Who Sank the Boat By Pamela Allen
I found a version on Youtube:

Under the Sea By Anna Milbourne, Illustrated by Cathy Shimmen and many others

Thanks to a Ministry of Education grant we were able among other things to get some puzzles and books,

and some outdoor play equipment

Mainly Music

We love our mainly music sessions each week

Our roll is full at the moment. But we are happy for you to visit and be added to our waiting list.

A big thanks to Vicki, Margaret and Sue and all the team that make Playgroup such a wonderful, rich, fun time with our children:-)

After my husband, David Burge, who pastored the Takanini Community Church died in 2010, I asked God’s help to find the new work that He had prepared before hand for me to do, that He would delight in (Eph 2:10). Previously, I had been a helper to Dave with a number of things in his pastoral ministry and many of those things were now lost to me. I still felt the calling that God had given both of us when we had come to Takanini Church 12 years previously. I also felt a certain burden to carry on the vision that David had to reach out with the love of Christ into our local community and also to facilitate every member ministry within the church.

God did abundantly more than I imagined.

I read about a ministry called mainly music – a music and movement group for preschoolers and their parents. I do not have any music talent but I did have a preschooler. However, I knew someone who did have the gifts necessary. I approached Vicki my sister in law about whether she would consider doing the music part of the programme. We visited a mainly music group at another church and was very blessed by the leaders advice and support. Takanini Church’s elders were very supportive and committed to pray regularly for us. Vicki homeschools her children and wondered how it would work. It worked wonderfully, Vicki’s daughter  Rebekah 12 year is an important part of our team now. She joins in with Vicki doing all the actions during the music sessions and her younger brother Luke gives out and collects the props ( shakers, claves etc).  I asked Sue, another church member if she would consider helping us with serving the morning coffee and cake. Mark provides home made baking for us. So we had a beginning.

The group started very small, some weeks there was only 4 preschoolers. That gave us some time to get used to how to run things
I felt one of the barriers to people coming to the group was the time frame we were open was too narrow. I really wanted to extend the hours: small children nap at different times and I didn’t want that if a child slept a little later they would not come that week. But I did not feel that we could do that without help: more prayer  I asked Margaret if she would help us. Margaret also a homeschool mother, who is also a registered teacher brought a pile full of wonderful ideas and energy. She enabled us to extend our hours and with this we were able to become a Ministry of Education registered playgroup (which provided some funding for play and learning resources). Her homeschooled children come too and make a positive contribution to the playgroup, they help set up the toys stations and help with packing up,  they will help a preschooler with a craft while a mother attends to her baby. Margaret was able to prepare themes for each playgroup session so that we meet the Ministry of Education criteria to follow the National preschool curriculum.but soon we were longing and praying for more people. We did advertising, put out signs, but still we continued with very low numbers. The elders encouraged us to keep going, keep praying and to be patient. A “chance” meeting with a Christian community nurse who cares for new babies in the area, who had cared for my youngest daughter, resulted in her taking some of our advertising materials and giving it directly to mothers in the area We had one community lady a Great Aunty who came with her grand nephew started inviting some of her extended family.

Our roll of 25 children is now full and we have a waiting list. So if you visit us on Wednesday mornings you will find about 15-20 children with their caregivers ( mothers, grandmothers, aunts) from the local community coming to play and learn with their preschoolers. For 30 mins as part of that time we have the mainly music session. We celebrate Easter, Christmas, mother’s day and father’s day as part of our programme including their meanings for us as Christians. We recently celebrated Easter as a playgroup and was able to share some of the message of God’s love and invite all to attend our church Easter services.

Easter 2012 (pdf document)

We are thankful that none of our Advent Christian brothers or sisters has been affected by the terrible disaster in Japan. Please be in prayer for the people of Japan as they recover from this terrible event. Anyone wishing to contribute to the relief effort can send your donations to ACGC and mark your gift “Japan Earthquake Relief”. We will forward any money received to World Vision.”