Last week, Enid and I had an opportunity to present at the “Nurture by Nature” conference in Rotorua, New Zealand.  The conference was well-attended by early childhood educators from across New Zealand and several from Australia.  There were approximately 500 participants! 

In keeping with local customs, Enid and I delivered our presentation bare footed!  We were pleased to present to a large audience of about 60+ people during one of the break out sessions on Day 2 of the conference.

New Zealand is well ahead of Canada in terms of adapting the European forest preschool model to their southern hemisphere context.  In New Zealand, Kindergarten refers to programming that takes place before a child begins primary school on their 5th birthday.  It was exciting to hear about the successes New Zealand is experiencing with “Bush Kindy”.