EMILY NORMAN
Three spidermen, a couple of batmen, and a handful of fairies, princesses and pirates sat quietly as they listened to Wairarapa author Maxine Hemi read to them last week.
It was book week for Makoura Community Early Childhood Centre, and Hemi had brought with her the book, Tangi ana te Pere, a riveting tale about a missing autoharp.
As Hemi read the book, written in Maori, she offered up translations for the children, and walked them through the colourful illustrations on the pages.
In this picture book, teacher Nanny Hineari, plays an autoharp, which children at the school enjoy singing along to.
But, one day, the harp goes missing.
Only a fantail saw elves taking the harp from class, and it leads Nanny to the elves’ glade where they are practising for a bush band competition.
The elves’ band sounds terrible, so Nanny gives fantail some music to take to them secretly.
The elves win the competition and quietly return the harp. The children are delighted, and only Nanny and fantail know what really happened.
*Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world.
It helps them develop language and listening skills and prepares them to understand the written word.
Books and stories are a very important part of life in any early childhood centre.
Celebrating Book Week with the centre whanau, visitors and a dress up day is a great opportunity to engage the children’s attention and imaginations in a way that is relevant to them.
Role playing and dressing up are key interests for many children in early childhood.
