Little Steps Early Childhood Education Centre visits Taranaki farming business

Teacher Andi Bellamy with the pupils, from left: Lillyana Schlotjes, 4, Taonga Morgan, 3, Ivor Hinton, 4, Abigail Fordham, 4, Charles Laundon, 3, and Lincoln Schlotjes, 3.

Little Steps Early Childhood Education Centre pupils gained first-hand experience with tractors and machines when they visited a local Taranaki business.

The teacher in charge of the visit, Neil Bosson, says the centre’s focus is community, and visiting their friends at Field Torque Taranaki was a perfect way to learn outside of the classroom.

“At Little Steps we want to be involved with our community. As well as learning outside of the classroom we also followed the interest of some of our pupils who like tractors and farming.”

He says hands-on learning experience makes a difference.

“It gets the children involved and helps them learn. Learning by doing is one of the best way for pupils to learn.”

Ivor Hinton, 4, says his favourite part was tightening nuts and bolts.

He says the staff at Field Torque were very accommodating of their visit, setting up fun, hands-on activities for the pupils.

“We’re very appreciative of what they’ve done for the pupils. The children were so excited for their visit.”

Ivor Hinton, 4, says his favourite part of the day was the game they played, using tools to tighten up nuts and bolts.

“We had a race to see who was the fastest.”

Ivor says he and his classmates also received a goodie bag.

“There was a lot of cool stuff in there. I really liked the goodie bag.”

Lillyana Schlotjes, 4, had fun looking at the different things at Field Torque Taranaki.

Lillyana Schlotjes, 4, says her favourite part of the trip was looking at all the tractors in the storeroom.

“We were even able to go on the little yellow tractor they had. That was a lot of fun. The people there also showed us what big tractors can do.”