Kiwi Conservation Club

11/06/2026

🌞 Your Friday Nature Activity
Need a free outdoor activity for tamariki this weekend? We’ve got you covered.
With the shortest day just weeks away, try this cool bushcraft trick – estimate sundown using just your body (and a bit of math!).
You might need to go on a walk to find a spot with a clear view of the sun and the horizon.

📥 Download the instructions: https://forestandbird.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/ExternalDocumentHosting/IQDlHJhOgo9lSZYvVUrVSTIdAVrNUa3wHFdbi-3YusZkbuA?e=I9K3lI

Let us know if you tried this trick!

10/06/2026

🦇New bats on the Bat Map!
📍KCC kids, whānau, and schools have added more bats to our Bat Map!

Check out the latest story about Peta Pekapeka's visit to Ōwhango School (click on the top pink bat in the middle of the North Island).
https://forestandbird.my.canva.site/kcc-bat-map/
Can you figure out if they recorded any pekapeka | bats with the bat detector?

We want to fill in the blank spots in our Bat Map! Are you a KCC member from one of the empty spots on the map? Sign up to host a KCC Pekapeka here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/aWwqwPVG36

08/06/2026

🌊 To celebrate World Oceans Day we're giving away 20 packs of our Deep Sea issue of Wild Things to schools and community groups.

We have a beach-themed issue of Wild Things coming up later in the year. Tell us what you'd like to see in a beachy magazine to go in the draw to win.

Fill out this form to apply: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/S0m7BfxKe9

07/06/2026

🌊 World Oceans Day GIVEAWAY!
Our oceans are full of amazing life – from tiny plankton to giant whales – and they need our help to stay healthy. 💙

To celebrate World Oceans Day, we’re giving away four awesome ocean prizes! 🎉
👉 To enter:
Tell us in the comments… what’s your favourite ocean animal and why? 🐬🐢🦀
✨ Bonus: tag a friend who loves the ocean too!

Every comment = one entry.
🌏 Let’s show some love for the moana – because a healthy ocean means a healthy planet.
🗓️ Winners announced: 18 June

All eyes on a healthy ocean this .

05/06/2026

Find yourself someone who loves you like New Zealanders love nature ❤️🌳🪶

Today is World Environment Day and it’s the perfect moment to celebrate te taiao and our special connection to it. Our environment is like family. But it’s also under serious pressure from climate change, habitat loss, and invasive pests.

It can feel overwhelming, until you bike along the coast or walk amongst the ngahere. When we connect with nature, the challenge to help restore it feels urgent.

We love our environment like family, and we want to protect it. There are so many ways we can awhi our wild places, from our actions to our votes.

Show your love for our environment i tēnei rā because nature is Kiwi as.

04/06/2026

Conservationists are everywhere!
We're people who care about nature and do things to look after it – in big and small ways – at work and school, and in our everyday lives.
What kind of conservationist are you?

Artist: Emma Scheltema
Colouring in from Wild Things, Lights in the Dark

02/06/2026

KCC North Canterbury gathered at Scargill Motunau Reserve for a fantastic Insect Day Out on Sunday May 24 🐞

We kicked things off with a bug walk through the reserve, where tamariki uncovered all sorts of fascinating critters in rotten logs, under stones, and on plants. Each discovery was carefully examined in a bug viewer before being returned to its home.

We were lucky to have entomologist Morgane Merien join us, helping identify what we found and sharing her knowledge along the way.

During the walk, some tamariki also collected different coloured natural items to create a beautiful rainbow – a creative reminder of the colours of nature. 🌈

Afterwards, we headed back to the hall for a delicious lunch and prizegiving. Tamariki had drawn their favourite bug at home and entered the prize draw – and the artwork was incredible! Congratulations to Twyla, who won the art prize. 👏

In the afternoon, we explored a grove of oak trees for a fun sensory challenge. One person was blindfolded and guided to a tree. Their job was to feel and remember it. Then they were then led back to the start and spun around. Once the blindfold came off, they had to find “their” tree again – not an easy task, though some tamariki nailed it on the first try!

It was a truly wonderful day out. Huge thanks to Deschia, Susan, and Eleanor, our amazing North Canterbury KCOs, for organising such a memorable event. 💚

01/06/2026

🏆 Eel-y Exciting June Prize Draw!
Join KCC in June and be in to win a cuddly eel!
This June, we're giving away one eel to a KCC member who renews and one to a new member.
All you need to do to be in the prize draw is sign up to KCC in June. It's that easy!

💚 Whether you live in the middle of the city or out on a farm, KCC will help connect your tamariki to the nature near you. Joining KCC is not just about getting four awesome magazines a year, it's a year's worth of ready-made whānau discovery.

For just $24 a year, your whānau gets:
🌿 Wild Things magazines delivered 4x a year packed full of puzzles, fascinating facts, nature-based activities
🌿 Fun, easy ideas to get kids outdoors and curious
🌿 Access to KCC Adventures (if there’s an active club in your area)
🌿 Bonus snail mail throughout the year (members, a postcard will be swimming into your mailboxes soon)

Sign up via the link in comments 👇🏽.

About us Since 1988, Forest & Bird’s Kiwi Conservation Club | Hakuturi Toa (KCC) has been

31/05/2026

Last week was World Bee Day so KCCer Swara was inspired to write this story about a honeybee named Suzie.

THE BEEAUTIFUL FLOWER {A SHORT STORY}

Once upon a time, there was a bee named Suzie! She woke up on a super sunny morning and wanted to go on a big giant adventure to find yummy nectar and pollen.

First she flew all the way to Australia and found a beautiful flower. It was purple with blue tips and looked like a shiny star! It has a funny science name – Ethicas australias and it ONLY grows in Australia. Suzie drank the nectar and stuffed it inside her special tummy which is called a honey stomach or the crop.

Then she said, "Wheee!" and flew to another cool flower. This one looked like fire! It had bright red and orange tips with warm yellow in the very middle.

Soon, Suzie's honey stomach was totally full and about to pop! So, she flew back to her hive to make sweet honey with her friends.

This is how they do it:
• Suzie barfs the sugary juice right into another bee's mouth!
• The other bee barfs it into a different bee's mouth!
• They keep doing this until the juice gets super thick.
• Then they put it into a honeycomb slot.
• They flap their wings super fast like little fans, so it stays moist.
• Finally, they put a wax seal on top and wait for it to be ready to eat

And that is my story about how busy little bees make awesome honey! The End!

Swara, 8 years.
Wellington

29/05/2026

Your Friday Nature Activity!
Use your eyes and hands this weekend with this fun nature scavenger hunt.

Your challenge is to find:
- Something that lives in the shade
- The SMALLEST or BIGGEST thing you can find
- Something noisy
- Something you haven't seen before
- Something with more legs than you
- Something that hides
- Something colourful
- Something with wings

Link to printable sheet in the comments. 👇🏽