Trentham Kindy outgrows the rest with their sunflowers

Eleanor Wenman Reporter from Upper Hutt Leader

The garden out the back of Trentham Kindergarten has sunflowers that tower over the kids playing outside.

Their tallest sunflower reaches a height of 1.86 metres and has been officially named the tallest in the region under the Daltons Sunflowers in Kindergartens Project.

The kindy planted several sunflowers earlier in the year and the children watched as the flowers grew.

Teacher Debbie Hawinkels said the project had been a great way for the children to learn how plants grew.

“Growing the sunflowers is always popular with the children, who are keen to plant their seeds and then watch their sunflower grow taller,” she said.

She said children, parents and teachers all worked together to look after the plants as they grew.

“We are all so proud that our efforts in this year’s sunflower competition have resulted in the tallest sunflower in our region,” she said.

The Daltons Sunflower competition is run every other year to teach preschoolers gardening skills.

In the Wellington region 1363 children from kindergartens under the Wellington Kindergarten Association took part in the competition.

The final measurements took place on December 6, with all the Trentham Kindergarten students gathering on the sunny day to watch the tape measure being pulled out.

More than 220 kindergartens in 10 regions took part in growing their own flowers. The tallest sunflower was grown by the kids at Frankton Kindergarten in the Waikato. Their sunflower grew 3.2 metres tall.

The budding gardeners have a long way to go before they break any world records however - the tallest sunflower in the world is currently 9.17 metres, grown by Hans-Peter Schiffer in Karst, Germany.

Daltons general manager Colin Parker said the project was all about growing an interest in gardening by giving kids’ hands a chance to get dirty.

“The children love taking a tiny seed, caring for it and watching it turn into a huge blooming flower. The results delivered smiles to both teachers and children, which was everything we hoped for,” he said.