Waitangi is often experienced through an adult lens<\/a>, with children expected to follow along.<\/p>\n“Well, going into this, we weren’t alone,” Henare said.<\/p>\n
“It was a want, a need from our community, from our iwi, from our hap\u016b. If you look around the Waitangi space, it’s a very adult space, and our kids are usually just dragged along for the ride.”<\/p>\n
Papam\u012bharo offered an alternative – an immersive, hands-on environment where people of all ages were encouraged to take part.<\/p>\n
Fun was central to the kaupapa, but not in a “loud or over-stimulating way”, Henare said. Instead, the space was designed to support different ages, energies and rhythms, from p\u0113pi through to kaum\u0101tua.<\/p>\n
“This year, we’ve just gone for it and created this beautiful mokopuna space for our mokopuna, where our kids are the atua of the space.”<\/p>\n
Intergenerational care<\/p>\n
![\"Papam\u012bharo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JTOHXU_0S7A0277_JPG.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nPapam\u012bharo is an immersive space. It invites mokopuna, rangatahi and wh\u0101nau to slow down, reconnect and \u201csimply be\u201d.
\nPhoto: Coco Lance \/ RNZ Pacific\n<\/p>\n
![\"Papam\u012bharo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JTNYNR_0S7A0251_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nPapam\u012bharo is an immersive space. It invites mokopuna, rangatahi and wh\u0101nau to slow down, reconnect and \u201csimply be\u201d.
\nPhoto: Coco Lance \/ RNZ Pacific\n<\/p>\n
Intergenerational care was also key, P\u016briri and Henare explained. Throughout the week, kaum\u0101tua and kaitiaki had been present to support the space and those moving through it.<\/p>\n
“Papam\u012bharo came together with k\u014dhanga reo babies, preschoolers, through to our school kids, but our older kids too\u2026 A lot of it’s been around this creation of ideas of taonga t\u0101koro,” P\u016briri said.<\/p>\n
“So we’ve got some of our kaum\u0101tua from around who’ve been amazing, and just coming along on the journey with us, being here to manaaki, all of us throughout this time, ensuring that our babies, our tamariki and our wh\u0101nau are safe during their time here,” she added.<\/p>\n
The space itself had been shaped directly by tamariki and rangatahi. Schools from across Te Tai Tokerau were given design packs, resources and timeframes, with everyone’s mahi coming out “completely different”.<\/p>\n
“So, we gave out design packs to each school. They all had the same resources, the same tohu, the same timeframes, but yet we have 1000 different variations of the same thing. And that is beautiful. It speaks to the individualism of each child,” Henare said.<\/p>\n
There had been poi and r\u0101kau making, tamataiki weaving, and manu rere making, amidst climbing structures and shelters, many made from recycled and natural materials.<\/p>\n
Every piece reflected what mattered to the child who created it.<\/p>\n
“They’ll see that wh\u0101nau is important to them. They’ll see that learning is important to them. And our challenge to the school is, does your curriculum reflect what your kids want?” Henare said.<\/p>\n
Underlying Papam\u012bharo was a belief that children did not need to be taught how to play – they already knew.<\/p>\n
“For us here, they’re the teachers. They’re the ones who know how to naturally play, who have vivid imaginations, who are free to express themselves inside these walls,” Henare added.<\/p>\n
![\"Papam\u012bharo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JTOJ3Q_0S7A0244_JPG.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nPapam\u012bharo is an immersive space. It invites mokopuna, rangatahi and wh\u0101nau to slow down, reconnect and \u201csimply be\u201d. Photographed is Dr Claire Achmad, Children’s Commissioner.
\nPhoto: Coco Lance \/ RNZ Pacific\n<\/p>\n
That belief was echoed by Children’s Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad, who saw Papam\u012bharo as a place where play and culture existed together.<\/p>\n
“It’s a week and a day for everyone in Aotearoa, M\u0101ori, P\u0101keh\u0101, and what I’ve heard from taitamariki here in Te Tai Tokerau is the importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi for them; they’ve talked to me about how it’s an important document\u2026 for all people.<\/p>\n
“They want more taitamariki to feel empowered with knowledge about Te Tiriti o Waitangi,” Achmad added. “Here\u2026 taitamariki are sharing their whakaaro.”<\/p>\n
For her, the leadership already being shown by rangatahi was unmistakable.<\/p>\n
“The rangatahi of today, they are already stepping up to be rangatira, to lead and show the way towards that kotahitanga for Aotearoa, and I think that’s incredibly powerful.<\/p>\n
“Papam\u012bharo is here to ensure mokopuna have space at Waitangi, and have the opportunity just to be themselves here at Waitangi.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Waitangi, Papam\u012bharo stands out as an intentional space. Photo: Coco Lance \/ RNZ Pacific At Waitangi, Papam\u012bharo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-270370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"At](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JTNY22_0S7A0266_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Papam\u012bharo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JTOIIU_0S7A0249_JPG.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n