What is Kiwiana? New Zealand has a unique Kiwiana culture that is not found anywhere else in the world. From L&P to Pavlova, Number 8 Wire to Hokey Pokey, the colourful and humorous ‘kiwi’ culture is well worth a look. This blog post provides many ways of Exploring Kiwiana in the Classroom.
What is Kiwiana?
So what is Kiwiana? Kiwiana is defined as “items and artefacts relating to or produced in New Zealand.” Explore these items of Kiwiana and you’ll learn more about New Zealand’s history and what it means to be a New Zealander. Did you know, Otorohanga in the central North Island is also known as the Kiwiana Town? They have giant Kiwiana murals and are also home to the Otorohanga Kiwi House. You can check out the Kiwiana Town website here.
The McDonald’s Kiwiburger advert highlighted many of New Zealand’s Kiwiana symbols.
Check out these other links to find out more about Kiwiana:
Exploring Kiwiana in the Classroom
We have some great resources to help you explore Kiwiana in the classroom.
Sort your kiwifruit from your L&P, your number 8 wire from your feijoas, and dive into the kiwi culture with our KIWIANA reading activities. Full of higher-order thinking, our Kiwiana Reading Comprehension passages and engaging text-dependent questions will help your class learn about the unique cultural icons of New Zealand! These activities are great for your guided reading program, or as homework tasks. Check out our Kiwiana Reading Activities here.
If you liked what you saw with our Kiwiana Reading Comprehension Activities, above, we have also put together a set for Lower Primary. This would suit Year 3-4 students, or Year 5-8 students reading at a lower level. Check out our Kiwiana Reading Activities (Lower Level) here.
Exploring Kiwiana through writing
Sort your fish and chips from your lamingtons, your buzzy bee from your L&P, and dive into the Kiwi culture with our Kiwiana writing prompts. This resource includes 20 Kiwiana-themed writing starters in three formats: PowerPoints, Journals, and Worksheets. You can choose the ones that suit your class best. See our Kiwiana Writing Prompts here.
Save with our Kiwiana Bundle
Sort your swanndri from your singlet, your hokey pokey ice cream from your feijoas, and dive into the kiwi culture with our Kiwiana literacy bundle: four fantastic kiwiana-themed literacy resources featuring Reading, Writing, and other activities! Perfect for the NZ (New Zealand) classroom.
These activities are great for early finishers, as part of your literacy program, integrated into a Kiwiana topic unit, or for homework. Click here to see our Kiwiana Literacy Bundle.
Link Kiwiana to New Zealand Geography
Our New Zealand Geography and Kiwiana Culture Unit helps you to explore New Zealand’s geography and Kiwiana culture with your students. Your Year 5, 6, 7 and 8 students will really benefit from this unit. This resource would also be suitable as a whole class unit with scaffolding for Year 3 and 4 students. This resource integrates reading, writing and social studies, so it can be used throughout your day. See our New Zealand Geography and Kiwiana Culture Unit here.
Have fun exploring Kiwiana!
Onwards and upwards,
