The Taranaki Pioneer Village was filled with smiling children during the school holidays thanks to the school programmes.
"We have had an incredible turn-out," says events and education co-ordinator Lelia-Maree Bunyan. Lelia says classes were busy over the two weeks, "and everyone seemed to be having a fantastic time".
The village had themed programmes for each week and week one was based around the village.
"We used items from the past and linked back to pieces of history we have at the village." Lelia says each day included a lesson about pioneer times. "I tried to teach the children in a fun way about what people did in those times and how they got around."
Week two was all about dinosaurs, something that "the children were particularly enthusiastic about". Youngsters learned about the life cycles of dinosaurs, created their own mini dinosaur displays and learned how to "grow a dinosaur" in a plant pot. "We had lots of the same children coming back each day to complete the whole dinosaur programme."