The Eye on Nature Event is held annually in the Auckland Botanical Gardens. It is attended by primary aged children from South Auckland Schools. Eye on Nature is a movement that takes children and their families on an experiential journey through environmental themes each year, connecting them to nature. The aim is to “Inspire the kaitiaki in our tamariki.”
At Eye on Nature this year, LegaSea presented a short course focused on the Fish Care programme. Fish Care is an educational programme teaching the public on how to minimise their impact on the marine environment. The take home engagement package to accompany the educational learnings is a New Zealand version of the quintessential card game, Hi- Ika – Go Fish in Te Reo.
Bobby Stafford-Bush generously funded LegaSea 2000 Hi-Ika-Go Fish cards.
The objective is to give our tamariki an interactive game they can play with their whanau long after the Eye on Nature event has finished. The cards have 13 local species that are commonly found in our coastal waters, it has additional information on each card about the species. This allows for home based learning and engages many more people than just the child who attended.
LegaSea believes it is critical to teach the next generation of kiwi kids how to respect and care for the biodiversity of marine life within our shores. This education needs to start early in life and the best way to see the information retained and shared with others is in a fun and easy to understand context and one that the whole family can get involved in. Children can engage their parents and have a powerful impact on their behaviours.
LegaSea thank Bobby Stafford-Bush Foundation for assisting us to bring this card game to fruition. Without their support we wouldn’t have the space to keep creating and expanding on what we currently offer as education to the public.
Feedback from the event:
“You never know what is going to be the highlight for the children. In our case it was the LegaSea session with Simon and Pieter. The highlight for our children was holding the snapper and getting a pack of cards to play Go Fish.”
Deborah – Chapel Downs Primary School
“Within our city environment, surrounded by water, we have access to the sea but very rarely look at issues to do with fishing in primary education. We often look at pollution problems to do with the ocean, but Pieter and Simon really bought the fishing experience to life and encouraged people to question what good fishing practise is and what the outcome of our actions on the environment will be. I believe this practical, hands on, thought provoking workshop is valuable and would love to see them able to engage more with the community, particularly schools.
Chantelle Te Hira
