https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU2112/S00136/sunflowers-bring-joy-and-smiles-despite-covid-lockdowns.htm
|
| ||
Sunflowers Bring Joy And Smiles Despite COVID Lockdowns |
||
Despite battling COVID lockdowns and restrictions, joy and smiles have been apparent on the faces of children in 236 kindergartens nationwide thanks to sunflowers grown in the Daltons Sunflowers in Kindergartens Project.
<img
src="https://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/2112/f0a93f8dab4e06daf239.jpeg"
width="541" height="720">
Jed and Brooke with Sunflowers
Over the past four months, 11,694 kindy children have begun their journey as the next generation of gardeners, learning about gardening through competing to grow the tallest sunflower and widest sunflower head in their region.
The Project
launched in August, the day before the nationwide Covid
lockdown was announced which meant some regions have spent
the vast majority or the entire duration of the Project in
lockdown. Teachers had to adapt and get creative and have
gone above and beyond to keep sunflowers alive and children
engaged in the Project.
Today we can proudly
reveal the winners below.
The goal of the biennial Project is to create a platform for children to learn about gardening in a practical way. They develop skills and a basic understanding of plants, through sowing seeds and growing seedlings, planting them out and daily care of their plants. Teachers also integrated aspects of the Project into their learning curriculum.
Teachers found the many Project work sheets and activities a vital resource when children were in lockdown and learning from home. Some regional restrictions also forced children to grow from home and in recognition of this a special award category was created, the Tallest Homegrown Sunflower, which was open nationally to participating kindergarten children who grew sunflowers at home.
Daltons General Manager, Colin Parker, says; “A massive congratulations to all of our 2021 winners! We want to thank our project partners and the 11 participating kindergarten associations. A big thank you to all the teachers who got behind the Project, despite the many challenges they faced pretty much from day one! We have been blown away at how they adapted, with some teachers making up individual packs for children to grow plants at home or taking seedlings to their own homes and caring for them until they were able to get back into their kindergartens. Through all of this they have kept children engaged and supported them to develop a love of gardening, which is what the Project is all about!”
Winners have been selected from each of the eleven regions (Auckland, Nelson Tasman, Marlborough, Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Taranaki, Tauranga, Waikato, Central Kindergartens and Northland) to reflect the diverse growing conditions throughout the country. The children grew King Seeds ‘Skyscraper’ sunflowers – which can grow over 4 metres tall.
All the regional winners will receive a prize from Daltons, The Warehouse and new project partner GARDENA for the Tallest Sunflower and Widest Sunflower head. All participating kindergartens were entered into a nationwide draw and a Best Photo Award to win prize packs for their kindergarten.
This year, the tallest sunflower nationwide came in at 2.74 metres and was cultivated by Oratia Kindergarten, Auckland Kindergarten association.
Teacher, Pip Stevens at Oratia Kindergarten, commented; “Growing our beautiful Dalton's Sunflowers from seed has once again been such an awesome introduction for our wonderful Tamariki to taking on the role of kaitiaki of their natural environment. We were all so excited to win even after lockdown delayed us from getting them into our shared garden, fortunately our teacher aide, Nicola, was able to keep them alive till we returned to kindergarten. Thank you, Daltons, for providing this wonderful, engaging, and enjoyable experience.”
· Tallest Homegrown Sunflower - Tilly Hellström, 4yrs, from Witherlea Kindergarten, Marlborough Kindergarten Association, 240cm
· Overall best photo - Birchwood Kindergarten, Nelson Tasman Kindergartens Association with their photo of Jed and Brooke, both 3yrs
· National Prize Draw - Koru Kindergarten in Stratford
OFFICIAL REGIONAL
WINNERS:
Daltons Tallest Sunflower
Plant Winners:
Daltons Widest Sunflower Head Winners (measurement is of the face only – not including petals):
About the
Project
Daltons provided a free starter pack
with everything the kindergartens needed to grow and learn
about sunflowers.
Each kindergarten nominated their own 'Daltons Best Little Gardener' who was rewarded with a special certificate and prize. Every child who took part also received their own participation certificate as a special memento.
This year Daltons will also run the ‘Late Bloomers Awards’ to acknowledge kindergartens who have participated amidst a backdrop of ongoing lockdowns or have experienced particularly bad weather. These winners will be announced in February once all sunflowers have bloomed.
Home Page | Culture | Previous Story | Next Story
Copyright (c) Scoop Media