Youngsters from Goslings pre-school in Ely sampled life in New Zealand with a special session on all things Kiwi.

Ely Standard: Children from Gosling pre school try their hand at the hakaChildren from Gosling pre school try their hand at the haka (Image: Archant)

They watched a haka Maori war dance, sang songs and listened to a traditional tale read by a parent as part of their around the world with Godfrey Goslings adventure.

Since the start of spring term, the globetrotting tots have been learning about each other’s different cultures, helped by their classroom mascot, Godfrey Gosling.

During their New Zealand adventure, the children recreated the world’s steepest street, Baldwin Street in Dunedin, using a ramp made out of card, and raced toy cars down it.

They also built a tower out of blocks and shook it to simulate an earthquake, learnt about opposite seasons and listened to Hairy Maclary stories, penned by New Zealander, Dame Lynley Dodd.

Pre-School manager Michelle Smith said: “It’s a great way of helping the children to learn about each other’s cultural backgrounds and celebrate different nationalities.”

The children’s travels began in Great Britain on January 19, with a whistle-stop tour of Buckingham Palace, using large wooden bricks to recreate the royal residence and small blocks and clocks to construct Big Ben.

The children got to sample haggis, neeps and tatties during their trip to Scotland on Burns Night before making tiger masks, drawing Mendhi patterns on their hands and playing with rice during a session on India.

They then travelled on to Poland, Romania and Hungary.

Mrs Smith said: “We try to find some traditional songs to give them the experience of hearing songs in different languages.

The tiny travellers next stop will be a whistle stop trip to China.