Te Ika a Māui

By Kristin Browne

About this resource
Te Ika a Māui is designed to be an immersive, interactive and exploratory experience that can be developed over several or multiple lessons for children aged 2-7 years. The heart of the story lies in the singing, not only bringing the story to life for the children, but allowing a space for them to recreate the story for themselves through play.

This resource is a product of my own personal journey and has resulted in a blend of kaupapa Māori with Western musical pedagogy. It has come about through love of the narrative and joy of being part of opening the imaginations of tamariki through the medium of music. It was born through the desire to create a resource that is experiential and immersive to stimulate a love of the art of storytelling in children that is relevant to the culture of Aotearoa.

Te Ika a Māui features 6 short recorded songs, in English and te reo Māori with an accompanying narrative. These songs are designed to be performed with minimal equipment, including an external speaker and rākau. Additional resources can be utilised such as found sounds, maracas, xylophones or Boomwhackers. Each chapter begins with the te reo Māori version with the notation of the song following. This format is repeated
in English and each chapter concludes with teaching notes. Pages 31-35 contain the text of both versions which can be printed out for rehearsal and performance.

The songs have been crafted with the developing singer in mind: the songs are short and mostly contain repetitive text with simple melodies. They are written to capture the imagination so they can be moved into the child’s world of play, which in turn makes the experience more meaningful for the child. There is space for preschool and lower primary teachers to build upon the resource by creating opportunities to bring the songs out of the constructs of the narrative and become embedded into play.

The full resource can be downloaded here.

Click here for the link to all the videos and tracks for this resource.

Click here for the ZOOM powerpoint.