Youngsters from around the region enjoyed four hours of fun activities last Saturday at Te Awamutu Museum’s Tui & Tama Eco Expo.
Smart Water’s Sirri Smith, left, with some of the Neilson family. They are, Michelle, Erika, Amelia, mum Laura with baby Kasper, and at front Paris, Henry and Anna. Photo: Viv Posselt
The Ecology Expo was the third held as part of the museum’s Tui & Tama Kids Club, said museum director Anne Blyth, and was again held to mark Children’s Day on March 1.
All have been held in the Rickit Road premises leased by Waipā District Council as a temporary space for Te Awamutu Museum Education and Research Centre while work is completed on the new Te Ara Wai Museum.
Predator-Free Te Awamutu volunteer Hilary Nobes kept busy attaching twine to the grille doors of the predator traps. She has been involved in trapping rats along a designated corridor in Te Awamutu. Photo: Viv Posselt
The leased space has allowed the museum to continue delivering its education programmes after a seismic assessment in late 2022 resulted in the closure of the museum’s Roche Street premises in Te Awamutu.
The free eco-expo is intended to help young people engage with community groups working around the region on supporting the survival of native plants and animals. Among those taking part were Maungatautari Sanctuary Mountain, Smart Water, Waste Management, NZ Landcare Trust, Predator-Free Te Awamutu and Predator-Free Pirongia, and the Kakepuku Mountain Conservation Society.
Several other groups and individuals also offered family-friendly activities, among them an erosion table operated by Waipā District Council events co-ordinator Joe Poultney, and a Branch and Loom weaving session with Hamilton-based group, the ReCreators.
Making a Predator-Free Te Awamutu trap to take home are, from left, Satieva Barham, 6, her nan Phillipa Barham, and Paterangi School teacher Tania Hall. Photo: Viv Posselt
Waipā District Council events co-ordinator Joe Poultney set up an erosion table to demonstrate how water erosion impacts differently sized sediment particles. Photo: Viv Posselt
Spreading the predator-free message with giveaway predator boxes and traps are NZ Landcare Trust project co-ordinator Bexie Towle, centre, flanked by Waipā District Council biodiversity planner Olivia Adamson and Predator-Free Pirongia volunteer Faith Lyons. Photo: Viv Posselt
Four-year-old Emilia Andrews working on her ‘branch and loom’, watched by mum Wendy Andrews and helped by Re-Creators’ Esther Gathambo. The Hamilton-based social enterprise promotes upcycling through workshops, then sells the items through their online store. Photo: Viv Posselt
