Energy at Springlands Kindergarten
Where does energy come from? What types of energy are there? How is it used for? What Atua are associated with energy? These are just some of the energy concepts that the tamariki at Springlands Kindergarten have been learning about.
At the beginning of Term 1 the kaiako at Springlands Kindergarten volunteered to be the first to try out the new Energy kit that our Environmental Education team put together. The kits contains activities from the Enviroschools theme area Energy plus a few extras. Alongside the activities are resources that are needed to facilitate the activities.
After exploring with the kit and their own ideas and experimentations for majority of the term, the tamariki have blown the teachers away with the amount of knowledge they have gained.
Where does energy come from?
One of their favourite activities was looking at “where does energy come from?”
Understanding where energy comes from
To investigate this question and be able to “see” energy in motion they used the kit which contained objects such as, torches with batteries, hand winding torches, pinwheels, a water wheel, pretend food, a picture of the sun and a toy monster truck that works off batteries. These objects had the tamariki really curious and eager to see how they worked.
Exploring the battery torch and hand winding torch
They started by exploring the torches. When they turned them on the tamariki talked about how the batteries have a chemical in them that turns into energy which then makes the light shine. The winding torches quickly became a firm favourite! Tamariki discovered that by turning the handle with their hand they could create kinetic energy which powered the light. They were excited to see that their own movement could create the energy needed for the torch to work.
Exploring wind energy
Next the tamariki experimented with the pinwheels, using their breath to create wind and make them spin. This reminded them that wind carries energy too. They chatted about the wind and how Tāwhirimātea the atua of the winds and weather is connected. Some great ideas came up about if the wind is stronger will it create more energy? And “I’ll do it really lightly and it still goes around”.
They then explored the water wheel, pouring water over the top of it and watching as it turned around and around. This helped us see how moving water can create energy. They connected this to Tangaroa, the atua of the oceans and waters. The turning wheel showed how the flowing energy of water can make things move. This then invited the question of where does the energy go? Tamariki had a lot of ‘answers’ “It goes to the power lines”, “It goes into a big battery”, “It is used to make our lights work”.
The pretend food was next to be looked at. Tamariki took turns explaining what energy food gives us. Some of the ideas that came through were “It makes us run”, “If we eat healthy food we can jump high” and “It makes us grow big”. It was then asked “What atua helps us to get all of this?”. “Papatuanuku” was the answer and of course they were absolutely right, our earth mother provides the plants and food that nourish us.
Lastly the battery operated monster truck was set in the centre of the circle. This was a hit. Tamariki were able to see where the batteries go and then they were able to turn it on and it raced all over the show!
What a fun way to learn about how energy is created and where it comes from. It has also been empowering for tamariki to share their ideas and learn from one another. Through this exploration it has shown that the tamariki are becoming inquisitive scientists who are making connections between things in their world. Springlands Kindergarten plans to continue to investigate different sources of energy throughout the year.