Equipment

Te Ao Hou, March 1967, Page 41

Equipment Here too lies a great strength of the Maori people, because their traditional powers of observation and their awareness of the resources of nature are still retained. In equipping any play group for children—one that can be recommended for the growth of the child—inexpensive natural materials should be used. In addition to the sand, water and trees already mentioned, we can include the seashore, the mud, the clay, flax, the reeds, the flowers, the insects, the animals and the birds that are around them. Greater attention to all of these aspects of nature costs nothing but brings the greatest riches in terms of human development. Also, children are interested in the community that man has made for himself—in his trucks, his cars, his aeroplanes, his motorways, his tunnels, his bridges and his dams. Children respond whenever materials are available for them to play with. Their various activities are suggested by the kind of world in