Tiny Nation Educator - Taupō - Emma

About Me

I've lived in Taupo for about 15 years, though I was born and raised in Auckland. While I have a diploma in beauty therapy and worked in the field for many years, my true passion has always been early childhood education. I’ve worked as a relief teacher in early childhood centres and currently lead the 2-5 year olds ministry at our church, organising crafts, play, morning tea, and stories.

I’m also a mum to my daughter and baby boy, and stepmum to two wonderful children. After having my son, I decided to fully pursue my passion for early childhood, with a special focus on the first 1000 days of life. I love watching children explore the world with wonder and excitement

My Philosophy

I really enjoy reading up and learning about the first 1000 day’s of a child’s life and how to best nurture children and give them the best start possible. I believe helping children feel safe, secure and loved is so important as it sets them up to be able to flourish. Getting out in nature is so good for them and to play and explore and have fun. I think imaginative play is so wonderful, there’s something about the simple things in life that can be the most fun and enjoyable. Water play, sand play, searching for bugs, collecting leaves and other natural materials.
Music is another thing I love to bring into the day. Learning songs and having a dance seems to always be a hit. I enjoy watching the children remember the actions and or words to the songs. It brings such joy and excitement. Reading stories is something I love to do, and the Tamariki seem to always be quite engaged. I find when I get down with them and play they seem the happiest so I try to do as much playing with them as I can.

My Environment

We live on a fully fenced section next to a gully. We have a lovely out look of trees and get to enjoy the bird life. We get a lot of excitement most days from the tamariki with the airplanes and helicopters flying over our home. We have a sunny, peaceful home and spend a lot of time outside when it’s nice. We go to play group on a Tuesday morning, sometimes toddler time at the library on a Wednesday morning and our favourite Mainly Music on a Thursday morning. We sometimes go to one of our local parks for a swing or a slide. I provide, lots of books, colouring, crafts, and different sorts of toys and like to regularly change the toys up. I go to the toy library every couple weeks.