Holiday educational activities about wai (water)
Learning the Māori kupu (words) for water (wai)
Here’s a fun, educational activity your tamariki can do over the Christmas holidays.
Steps:
- Ask your tamariki whether they know the names / kupu of any of the rivers or streams around Motueka, and where they most like to swim on these.
- Use this map to look at the main swimming spots on the Motueka River and ask which ones they like best – https://motuekacatchment.org.nz/map/. You could choose one or more new spots to go and check out over the holidays.
- You could then ask your tamariki whether they know any Māori kupu / words relating to wai / water or waterbodies. Give some examples, such as “awa” meaning river or “roto” meaning lake.
- Indicate that there are many Māori words relating to rivers, streams, lakes and the different types of water in them. Ask if they’d like to learn some more kupu to add to the ones they already know.
- Get your children to make the table below into cue cards. Your children could draw pictures instead of the english words! The Māori kupu should be on one side, with the picture or english translation on the back.
- You could use the cue cards to test each other on the kupu.
- You could then suggest that your tamariki draws a picture with these water bodies and types of water, then names them with the Māori kupu that relate to them, or you could go and find these around the catchment and take photos.
Competition time!
Email dana@catchmentcollective.org.nz with either:
- photos or videos of your cue cards and your tamariki using them
- drawings by your tamariki of water bodies with Māori kupu naming them
- photos of you and your children enjoying any of the swimming spots along the Motueka River over the holidays; or
- photos of the different water bodies and types of wai around the catchment
Every person who emails us with any of the above will receive a prize consisting of some wildflower seedlings that your children can scatter. All entries will also go into the draw to win some yummy prizes!
| Repo | Wetland |
| Awa | River, stream, creek |
| Roto | Lake |
| Puna | Spring (where water wells up from the ground) |
| Roma | Current |
|
ākau |
Bank of a river or stream |
|
pūruatanga
|
Confluence / junction of two rivers or streams (where they join) |
| waiora | The purest form of water – a source of wellbeing and life used for cleansing from sickness and to create positive energy. This water can become waitapu. |
| wai māori | Water that runs freely and has no particular sacred associations. Ordinary water. |
| wai horoi | Water that is used to bathe in or to wash clothes. |
| wai inu/wai unu | Water that is used only for drinking. Drinking water is not taken from a source used for washing unless there is no alternative, when it should be taken at a time when washing or bathing is not permitted. |
| waikino | Water that has been corrupted or altered to such an extent that it can cause harm or water that conceals hidden danger. |
| wai makariri | Cold water, mainly cold freshwater. |
| wai piro | Slow-moving water such as in repo (swamps). These waters provide many resources such as rongoā (medicine), dyes for weaving harakeke, tuna (eels) and homes for many living organisms. |
| waimate | Water t hat has lost its mauri or life force. It is ‘dead’, damaged or polluted with no ability to sustain life. It can contaminate other living or spiritual things. |
| waitai | The sea, surf or tide. Used to distinguish seawater from freshwater. |
| waitapu | Water with a tapu imposed upon it. Water used for special ritual practices – tohi and pure – baptism and purification ceremonies. Water that has a sanction against most activities – also known as a rāhui. |
| waipuke | Flood or floodwater. |