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Fun Matariki Activities for Preschoolers
Matariki marks the Māori New Year and is the perfect moment to spend time with your family and engage in fun activities with your children. We have selected a few Matariki activities for preschoolers to help you celebrate and teach your little ones about Māori New Year.
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Teaching children from an early age about different cultures enables them to learn more about their origins and identity and to understand the diversity of the world around them.
Matariki has become a unique way to celebrate Maori culture and to unite all New Zealanders in a feast of people, culture, language, and history.
Matariki marks the Māori New Year and is the perfect moment to spend time with your family and engage in fun activities with your children.
We have selected a few Matariki activities for preschoolers to help you celebrate and teach your little ones about Māori New Year.
What is Matariki?
Matariki is the Māori name for the small group, also known as the constellation “Pleiades,” that appears in the night sky before dawn.
New Zeeland celebrates the Māori New Year when this cluster of stars is visible. The name Matariki, translated to English, means the “eyes of the god” (mata ariki) or “little eyes” (mata riki) and is connected to several legends in the Māori culture.
Matariki activities for preschoolers
Matariki Activities for Preschoolers
Make wall-hanging stars
This activity is an excellent opportunity to put your preschooler’s little hands to work to create a craft at the centre of Matariki legends: stars.
Materials you need:
- 3 pieces of driftwood, about the same size
- 1 sheet of felt, A4 size
- 1 special pencil to draw on felt
- Scissors
- String
- Beads your child likes
- Small craft-feathers
- Needles large enough for the string
- Thread
- Glitter and glue
How to make wall-hanging stars:
Make a triangle by uniting the pieces of driftwood and have your little one help you tie them together with string.
Have your child draw on the felt several stars and help cut them out (or cut them yourself if your little one is not using scissors yet)
Saw the beads on the stars using needle and thread.
Have the little one dip the feathers in glue halfway and glue them to your stars.
The next step is to put glue on both sides of the stars and sprinkle glitter on them.
Tie the stars with string to your driftwoods triangle.
Hang the triangle on the wall with the help of another piece of string, and enjoy the Māori New Year!
This activity has been adapted from Kiwi Families.
Tell Matariki Pūrākau (stories)
Stories and legends are the oldest way of passing a glimpse of a culture’s richness, values, and teachings to the next generations.
To introduce your children to Matariki’s significance, you can tell them the story of
Tāwhirimātea, the God of the Wind. His siblings separated his parents – Ranginui, the Sky Father, and Papatūānuku, the Earth Mother, and that upset him so much that he took his eyes out and threw them into the sky.
That is how Matariki stars – “eyes of the god” (mata ariki) or “little eyes” (mata riki) have been born.
Another legend tells the story of Whaea (mother) and her six daughters, Tupu-ā-Nuku, Tupu-ā-Rangi, Waipunarangi, Waitī, Waitā, and Ururangi. They travelled each year across the sky to visit their tupuna wahine (grandmother). During these visits, the daughters would help their grandmother prepare for the coming year using their specific talents and qualities, and they would gain new skills and knowledge from her, passed on to the next generations.
You can share these legends with your preschoolers at home or make the experience even more engaging by going to a library that hosts Matariki wā korero story time events.
This activity has been inspired by Te Papa.
More Matariki Activities for Preschoolers
Create Matariki tin can lanterns
All Matariki activities for preschoolers can teach your little ones what this celebration means, and this one makes no exception.
Materials you need:
- Gloves for you and the children
- Tins with lids that peel off
- Water
- 1 icepick or a small, sharp screwdriver
- 1 Long stick
- 1 LED light candle
- Masking Tape
- Hammer
- 1 nail
- 1 Pipe cleaner
- 1 Paintbrush
- Beads chosen by your children
How to make Matariki tin can lanterns:
Remove the labels and wash the tin cans thoroughly.
Fill them with water and put them in the freezer overnight. This will prevent the cans from bending too much in the following stages of the process.
Let your children have fun by breaking the melting ice with the ice pick or screwdriver while wearing gloves (if they are older and can safely handle these tools). Or wait for the ice to melt and drain the water.
Take the cans out of the freezer and draw the desired patterns (heart, star, etc.) on them, or use masking tape to stick those patterns onto them.
Put each can on a stable surface (like wood) and use a hammer and a nail to make holes into the outline of the pattern. When you finish, add two additional holes at the top of the lantern.
Remove the masking tape (if used) and paint the outside of the cans with two coats at least. Once the paint is dry, put one end of the pipe cleaner into the tin, thread it with your child’s chosen beads and connect the other end.
Put the LED light candle inside the cans. Hang the cans by the pipe cleaner on the long stick.
Take the lanterns for a Matariki night walk to embrace the spirit of the celebration.
This activity has been adapted from Kiwi Families.
Bake star cookies
Baking star biscuits is one of the most enjoyable Matariki activities for preschoolers, as all kids love cookies.
Ingredients you need:
- 125 grams of softened butter
- 1⁄2 cup of sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp of golden syrup or honey
- 1 1⁄2 cups of flour (a little more if you are using gluten-free flour)
- Crushed boiled lollies
How to make star cookies:
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Put the softened butter into a large bowl, add the sugar, egg, and syrup (or honey), and whisk until creamy. Sift the flour, add it to the mix, and stir until evenly blended.
Sprinkle flour on a working surface and roll the dough until 3 mm thick. Cut circles in the dough and then small star shapes inside each circle.
Place the stars on a tray lined with baking paper and fill each star shape with boiled crushed lollies.
Put the tray inside the oven and bake until the dough is slightly golden and the lolly crumbs have melted. Take the tray out and leave it to cool until the lolly centres settle.
Enjoy the cookies with your family and friends!
This activity has been adapted from Woman +.
Matariki is a time of great joy and reflection on the past, present, and future. This celebration will be more special for your children if you try one or more of these Matariki activities for preschoolers.
If you are in Auckland or Hamilton, check out our “14 Fun Toddler Activities in Auckland” or “9 Fun Toddler Activities in Hamilton” articles for ideas over Matariki!
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