Primary Education Programmes

This beautiful exhibition showcases the talent and variety of weaving by members of Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa. The theme of the exhibition is the elements: earth, wind, fire, water and celebrates the wairua of human beings when the elements are against us.  

Available for a limited time: exhibition closes 10th August 2025.

In-Gallery Programme

Students will learn about the traditions and history of resource gathering and weaving. We will also explore the atua behind the elements and learn some of their puuraakau.

We have two packages available. Each package is 2 hours in length and can take up to 60 students at a time. (doing 2 rotations)

• 1 hour in He aa i uta, He aa i tai with a Museum educator, and 1hour self-led time (in small, supervised groups) exploring the newly refurbished museum galleries with a Museum Eye Spy activity and activity suggestion cards for adults to engage with students. 
  
  
• 1 hour in He aa i uta, He aa i tai with a Museum educator, and 1-hour self-led time in Exscite.
  
  

For a single class (up to 30 students)

• 1 hour in He aa i uta, He aa i tai exhibition with a Museum educator, 1hour with a Museum educator doing a second activity programme of your choosing (or an arts response session), and then time to explore the free parts of the museum with our Eye Spy activity.
  
  

Curriculum Links

• Visual Arts | Ngā Toi
• Social Sciences |Tikanga-ā-iwi

Learning Outcomes

Within the gallery education session, students will have the opportunity to:

• Learn about how people perceive, represent, interpret, and interact with places and taiao/ environment. They may come to understand the relationships that exist between people and the taiao.
• Discern, participate in, and celebrate others’ visual worlds. Visual arts learning begins with children’s curiosity and delight in their senses and stories and extends to communication of complex ideas and concepts.
• Develop visual literacy and aesthetic awareness as they explore experiences, stories, abstract concepts, social issues, and needs.
• View art works, bringing their own experiences, sharing their responses, and generating multiple interpretations. Their meaning making is further informed by investigation of the contexts in which art works are created, used, and valued. 

Come and learn more about Te Winika, the majestic 200-year-old waka taua at the heart of our Museum.

In-Gallery Programme

In this gallery-based programme we will share the puuraakau of the arrival of the Tainui waka, learn about some of the ancestors depicted in the carvings, including exploring how the Kiingitanga formed and the Te Winika story. 

We will also talk about toi Maaori, exploring the way the parts of the building are significant and uphold the mana and wairua of this region. 

We have two packages available. Each package is 2 hours in length and can take up to 60 students at a time. (doing 2 rotations)

• 1 hour in Te Whare Waka gallery with a Museum educator, and 1-hour self-led time (in small, supervised groups) exploring the newly refurbished museum galleries with a Museum Eye Spy activity and activity suggestion cards for adults to engage with students.
  
  
• 1 hour in Tainui and Te Whare Waka with a Museum educator, and 1-hour self-led time in Exscite.
  
  

For a single class (up to 30 students)

• 1 hour in Te Whare Waka gallery with a Museum educator, 1 hour with a Museum educator doing a second activity programme of your choosing (or an arts response session), and then time to explore the free parts of the museum with our Eye Spy activity.

Curriculum Links

• Visual Arts | Ngā Toi
• Social Sciences |Tikanga-ā-iwi
• Aotearoa New Zealand’s Histories

Learning Outcomes

Within the gallery education session, students will have the opportunity to:

• Focus on familial links and bonds, networks and connections, the importance of respect and obligation, and the stories woven into people’s collective and diverse identities.
• Begin to explore the dynamic nature of culture and identity and the social and cultural importance of community practices, heritage, traditions, knowledge, and values.
• Develop visual literacy and aesthetic awareness as they explore experiences, stories, abstract concepts, social issues.
• Experience the stories local iwi and hapuu share about this rohe, understanding that different stories can be held by different iwi and hapuu, and that all stories are taonga to be treasured.
• View traditional and contemporary Maaori art works, bringing their own experiences, sharing their responses, and generating multiple interpretations. Their meaning making is further informed by investigation of the contexts in which art works are created, used, and valued. 

The long term exhibition Huringa Kirikiriroa Shaping Hamilton is a chronological exploration of the development of this area using objects and taonga to present our story, from the arrival of the Tainui waka through to current day. 

This educator-led session supports the new Aotearoa NZ Histories curriculum by telling the narratives of our region. Students will explore our objects and taonga, hear some of the puuraakau of our local area, and understand changes over time.

In-Gallery Programme

We have two packages available. Each package is 2 hours in length and can take up to 60 students at a time. (doing 2 rotations)

• 1 hour in Huringa Kirikiriroa Shaping Hamilton with a Museum educator, and 1-hour self-led time (in small, supervised groups) exploring the newly refurbished museum galleries with a Museum Eye Spy activity and activity suggestion cards for adults to engage with students. 
  
  
• 1 hour in Huringa Kirikiriroa Shaping Hamilton with a Museum educator, and 1-hour self-led time in Exscite.
  
  

For a single class (up to 30 students)

• 1 hour in Huringa Kirikiriroa Shaping Hamilton exhibition with a Museum educator, 1-hour with a Museum educator doing a second activity programme of your choosing (or an arts response session), and then time to explore the free parts of the museum with our Eye Spy activity.
  
  

Curriculum Links

• Social Sciences |Tikanga-ā-iwi
• Aotearoa New Zealand’s Histories

Learning Outcomes

Within the gallery education session, students will be exposed to the concepts of:

E kore au e ngaro; he kaakano i ruia mai i Rangiaatea.
We know who we are and where we come from; therefore we can move forward with confidence.

• Maaori history is the foundational and continuous history of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Kaua e uhia te Tiriti o Waitangi ki te kara o Ingarangi. Engari me uhi anō ki tōu kahu Maaori, ki te kahu o tēnei motu ake.
"Do not drape The Treaty of Waitangi with the Union Jack of England, but rather with your Maaori cloak, which is of this country." - Āperahama Taonui, 1863

• Colonisation and settlement have been central to Aotearoa New Zealand’s history for the past 200 years.

Ko te pipi te tuatahi, ko te kaunuku te tuarua.
People use their agency to respond to injustice.

• Access to power and its use and misuse shape life experiences.
• Individuals, groups, and organisations exert and contest power in ways that improve the lives of people and communities, and in ways that lead to exclusion, injustice, and conflict. The course of Aotearoa New Zealand’s history has been shaped by the exercise and effects of power.

The Waikato awa is a vital and sustaining force in the life of the Waikato region. The water of the awa is a habitat for our native creatures, a life force for the whenua and holds cultural, social, economic and historical significance.

In-Gallery Programme

Our one-hour programme will explore the puuraakau of the Waikato awa and whenua and the taiao of our local area. 

Students will spend time in the Whare Waka gallery engaging in discussion and activity learning about what makes our area special and how groups and individuals are learning to protect and revitalise our local taiao.

We have two packages available. Each package is 2 hours in length and can take up to 60 students at a time. (doing 2 rotations)

• 1 hour in Te Whare Waka and other museum galleries with a Museum Educator, and 1-hour self-led time (in small, supervised groups) exploring the galleries with a Museum Eye Spy activity and activity suggestion cards for adults to engage with students.
  
  
• 1 hour in the Whare Waka and other galleries with a Museum Educator and 1-hour self-led time in Exscite.
  
  

For a single class (up to 30 students)

• 1 hour in Te Whare Waka gallery with a Museum Educator, 1-hour with a Museum Educator doing a second activity programme of your choosing (or an arts response session), and then time to explore the museum with our Eye Spy activity.

Curriculum Links

• Science | Pūtaiao
• Social Sciences | Tikanga-ā-iwi

Learning Outcomes

Within the gallery education session, students will have the opportunity to:

• Begin to understand about living things and how they interact with each other and the environment. The emphasis is on the biology of Aotearoa New Zealand, including the sustainability of our unique fauna and flora and distinctive ecosystems.
• Explore how people perceive, represent, interpret, and interact with places and environments. They will begin to understand the relationships that exist between people and the environment.

Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum and Gallery showcases diverse artworks from our region and beyond. We host local, national and international visual art exhibitions that change regularly. 

In-Gallery Programme

Our 1-hour session will explore art and how we respond to art. Students will engage in activities that guide them in how to view and discuss art, and expose them to art ideas, concepts and language. 

For a small group (up to 30 students) we can run a two-hour session, one hour in the art gallery spaces and the second hour in our classroom, where students are guided through an art activity to express their own creative ideas, which can be taken home. 

We have three packages available. Each package is 2 hours in length and can take up to 60 students at a time. (doing 2 rotations) or a small group of up to 30.

• 1 hour in our galleries with a Museum Educator, and 1-hour self-led time (in small, supervised groups) exploring the rest of our newly refurbished museum galleries with a Museum Eye Spy activity and activity suggestion cards for adults to engage with students.
• 1 hour our galleries with a Museum Educator, and 1-hour self-led time in Exscite.

For a single class (up to 30 students)

• 1 hour in our museum galleries with a Museum Educator, 1-hour with a Museum Educator doing a second activity programme of your choosing (or an arts response session), and then time to explore the free parts of the museum with our Eye Spy activity.

Curriculum Links

• Visual Arts | Ngā Toi

Learning Outcomes 

Within the gallery education session, students will have the opportunity to:

• View art works, bringing their own experiences, sharing their responses, and generating multiple interpretations. Their meaning making is further informed by investigation of the contexts in which art works are created, used, and valued.
• Experiment with materials, using processes and conventions to develop their visual enquiries and create both static and time-based art works.
• View artworks of their peers, bringing their own experiences, sharing their responses, and generating multiple interpretations.