‘Fantastic response’ as Tiny Town reopens at Splash Planet in Hastings

A group of Karamū High School students got a first-hand look at their creativity in action last week when they paid a special visit to Splash Planet to see the real-world results of their redesigned miniature buildings at Tiny Town.

There’s a new clock, bakery, ice cream shop and events centre in town – Tiny Town, that is.

The Hastings clock tower, Toitoi, Rush Munro’s and the Lilac Bakery are just some of the local Hastings landmarks that are featured in the refreshed playground area of Splash Planet.

The redesign is the work of a group of Year 10 design and visual communication students at Karamū High School as part of a school project in collaboration with the Hastings District Council to upgrade the popular dry section of the water park, formerly known as Noddy Town.

The council’s aquatics manager, Tom Page, said the new playground was already proving popular with visitors.

“Tiny Town has been getting a fantastic response from families,” he said.

“It’s wonderful to see kids exploring the space and recognising local icons, and knowing these designs came straight from young people in our community makes it even more special.”

The school’s head of design and visual communication, Maiken Calkoen, said the project gave students a valuable opportunity to work on a real-world design brief.

“The students spent three to four weeks on this project, creating digital and physical models along with many sketches, and until now, we’ve only caught glimpses of the results through the fence. It was great to see them all up close,” she said.

Catering for children aged under 7, the enclosed area has also had a splash-pad added, plus new toilet blocks which service this area and the mini-golf course, jungle adventures playground and the jungle jeeps.

Noddy Town was originally part of Fantasyland in Windsor Park.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.