Over the past four months, 12,800 budding preschool gardeners from around the country have been learning about gardening by growing their own sunflowers as part of the 2015 Daltons Sunflowers in Kindergartens Project.
In its third year, the nationwide gardening initiative provides kindergarten children with the opportunity to develop hands on gardening skills and learn about the lifecycle of plants. This year kindergartens across 10 regions took part.
In the Waikato, 1617 children from kindergartens in the Waikato Kindergarten Association were involved in the project.
Te Rapa Early Learning Centre was named as the winner of the coveted tallest sunflower award for the region. They grew the tallest sunflower recorded in the three-year history of the project, measuring 3.12 metres. The centre also awarded Aiveen Burrough as the winner of Daltons 'best little gardener' award.
"Through active participation all 36 of our tamariki were involved in the amazing life cycle of a sunflower and its journey to become the tallest sunflower ever grown in the Daltons competition," head teacher Margaret Collins said.