Worm farms and compost are screaming successes at West Kindergarten.
Wairarapa PHO awarded the Masterton kindergarten with a Heart Foundation healthy heart honour on Thursday that was celebrated with a healthy morning tea shared by parents, children and teachers.
Activities including worm farming, gardening, cooking, recycling rubbish and negotiating obstacle courses led
to the prize, which is only the second to be achieved in Wairarapa.
The award recognises a commitment to supporting nutrition and physical activity with policy, curriculum links and action.
Kath Tomlinson, of Wairarapa PHO, says it's great to support such an easy-to-implement programme.
"A number of Wairarapa early childhood centres have been encouraged by the PHO and Wairarapa Public Health to participate in this programme. "Cole Street Early Learning Centre achieved their award in February."
West Kindergarten teacher Jenny Hansen says being involved in the programme has made the children more aware of healthy eating and physical activity.
"We all sit together at lunchtime and children police their own lunchboxes, talking about what is and isn't healthy and saying don't take a photo of this, it's not healthy.
"Rather than just teach with glossy information and pictures we got the children involved in practical activities such as gardening, cooking and composting so that they could understand where food comes from and how to prepare and dispose of leftovers."
She said purchasing a worm compost system and a kilogram of tiger worms got the children really excited.
"The children just loved feeding the tiger worms their fresh vegetable and fruit scraps.
"Some children were so enthusiastic they would save up their food scraps from home and bring them in each day."
A funding grant worth $500 meant the kindergarten could extend its garden and they also intend to buy a popcorn maker and blender.
"Cooking sessions at kindergarten have been really enjoyed by the children.
"They made pita bread pizzas and some tried foods such as mushrooms and olives for the first time."
Heart Foundation regional heart health manager Brian Adams said the effort by West Kindergarten using fun and creativity to foster healthy eating and active movement is very commendable.
